Project Citizen works across the curriculum, not just in the social studies classroom. Project Citizen aligns with many of the language arts (language arts standards), science (science standards) and math (math standards).

Students:

• Identify a problem to study
• Gather information
• Examine existing solutions
• Develop their own public policy
• Develop an action plan
• Reflection, the learning experience

Project Citizen consists of three main components

The Porfolio

The portfolio is an organized collection of information which makes up the class's plan related to a public policy issue the class studies. The portfolio contains such things as written statements, charts, graphs, photographs and original artwork. It is made up of four (4) panels of foam core board, no larger than 32" wide by 40" that portray:

What students have learned about the problem selected

What students have learned about alternative policies that address the problem

What students have selected as their class policy to deal with the problem

What action plan students have determined will get the government to adopt their policy

The Simulated Hearing

The purpose of the simulated hearing is to provides students with a forum for presenting the information learned while creating their portfolio. Each group (problem, alternative policies, class policy and plan) has 4 minutes to present the most significant information from its part of the portfolio. They "testify" before a panel made up of 2 - 3 community members who listen to their prepared testimony and ask follow -up questions for 6 minutes.

A typical round of testimony is

• 4 minutes prepared testimony
• 6 minutes follow up questions
• 4-5 minutes of feedback by community members

The Competition

This is when students have the opportunity to have their work judged on a formal basis. The format is exactly as described above but at the competition, class scores are ranked and classes are presented awards according to how they rank. There are three levels of competition is Arizona. The 2001 Regionals will be held on April 27 in Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson. The State Competition is scheduled for May 4 at the Phoenix Crown Plaza in Downtown Phoenix. The Portfolio of the State Champion class will be sent to the National Project Citizen Finals.