Unpacked Content
Knowledge
Students know:
- How political party membership impacts the behavior of elected officials.
- How political parties are organized in local, state, and national levels as well as the type of membership in parties.
- How third parties impact the political process in America's two-party system.
- How the presence of political parties in American government shape outcomes in the political process.
Skills
Students are able to:
- Differentiate between the different levels of political parties in both their organization and function.
- Explain in mathematical concepts how plurality representation creates a two-party system as opposed to proportional representation.
- Evaluate how political party actions over time have shaped political practices, political alignment, and voter behavior.
Understanding
Students understand that:
- The nature of the American two-party system, such as the role of third parties and regional strongholds of the two major parties, as well as how political parties operate on local, state, and national levels, greatly affects elections.
Vocabulary
- plurality representation
- proportional representation
- independent voter
- party machine
- disillusionment
- congressional campaign committee
- platform
- two-party system
- party realignment
- third party
