Lesson Plan
What are Checks and Balances?
Life is about balance, and that applies to government too! Use this civics lesson with your students to teach them about the system of checks and balances, and why these are an important part of American government.
Grade:
View aligned standards
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to explain the system of checks and balances.
Introduction
(2 minutes)- Invite students to take out a whiteboard and whiteboard marker.
- Display an image of a scale.
- Give students 30 seconds to jot down all their ideas, knowledge, and observations about the scale.
- Collect a few answers and explain that a scale shows whether two things are balanced in weight.
- Share with students that this scale is used as a visual to demonstrate that the branches of the government must be balanced, too.