Lesson Plan: Gerrymandering

Subjects:

Social Studies – Government/Civics, Geography

Grade Level:

9-12

Lesson Duration:

• One to two class periods

Essential Questions:

• Which criteria should matter most when drawing district lines?
• How has the partisan balance of House seats shifted over time? How have redistricting and gerrymandering contributed to that shift?
• How does race intersect with and affect redistricting?
• What are some consequences of gerrymandering?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Analyze historic and contemporary maps to determine how the balance of power in Congress has shifted over time.
• Define gerrymandering and explain how it is used.
• Analyze the intended and unintended consequences of creating Majority-Minority districts.
• Prioritize and justify the use of redistricting criteria.

Materials:

• Retro Report video “Gerrymandering Tilts Political Power. Here’s How Redistricting Affects Democracy.“
• Student Activity handout for the links below:
• Interactive Map: Electing the House of Representatives | American Panorama
• Short articles, including:
  • What is gerrymandering? | Vox
  • What is racial gerrymandering? | Vox
  • Majority-minority districts | Ballotpedia
• Interactive Map: Dave’s Redistricting
• Graphic Organizer for students to analyze the interactive tools listed above.
• Optional: An interactive tool for students to participate in a whole-class discussion about redistricting criteria. Recommendations include:
• Google Jamboard
• Padlet

Procedure:

1. Students will begin by examining the interactive Electing the House of Representatives map. The questions are rooted in both contemporary and historic analysis.
   1. The launch page includes instructions for “How to use this map.” The teacher should model how to toggle different views and find the written explanations of districts and individual elections.
   2. Emphasize to students that although the census is completed in years ending in zero, the new maps do not take effect until the following even-numbered year.
   3. The teacher may want to explore the tool to offer specific connections to their own state or community.
   4. Due to the overwhelming amount of information in this tool, the teacher may want to stop and debrief after students have completed the first section of the assignment.
2. Students will read three short article segments that define gerrymandering, racial gerrymandering and Majority-Minority districts. The articles are linked below:
   1. What is gerrymandering?
   2. What is racial gerrymandering?
   3. Majority-minority districts
3. Either as a whole class, or individually, have students watch the Retro Report video, “Gerrymandering Tilts Political Power.”
   1. Beyond their analysis of the consequences of gerrymandering and the creation of Majority-Minority districts, the teacher may want to use discussion questions listed below:
   2. How does gerrymandering contribute to heightened levels of partisanship and political polarization?
   3. What changed in the 1990s to create the situation at issue in the film?
   4. How does geography affect the likelihood of success for the Democratic or Republican parties?
   5. What other factors besides gerrymandering lead to polarization?
4. The next interactive tool for students is one that will be familiar if they completed Lesson 1: Reapportionment & Redistricting. Students will use Dave’s Redistricting to hypothesize which state congressional maps might be gerrymandered and which ones may not be.
   1. Students may need a refresher in how to use this tool. In particular, demonstrating how to toggle between map settings and color-coding may be beneficial.
   2. Students will not only find example states where districts are gerrymandered or not gerrymandered, but will also articulate their reasoning.
5. The “Extension Activity” asks students to take six different redistricting criteria, place them in preference order and provide justification for their choices. Additional resources/articles for redistricting reform are listed below:
   1. A Better Way to Draw Districts | Brennan Center for Justice
   2. Why Redistricting Reform Goes off the Rails | CATO Institute
   3. All About Redistricting | Loyola Law School
   4. Fighting Gerrymandering in the States | Indivisible
6. The ranking activity provides a great opportunity for students to interact and discuss their opinions.
   1. Within the classroom, this might be accomplished by placing numbers 1-6 around the room or in a line on the wall. The teacher could list one of the criteria and have students move to the number where they ranked that criterion, and then defend their answer.
   2. Done digitally, the teacher could use Google Jamboard or Padlet and have students place their reasoning for each criterion on the virtual board.

About the Author:

David Olson is the Director of Education for Retro Report. Prior to joining Retro Report, David was an award-winning teacher of U.S. History, A.P. U.S. Government and Politics and Criminal Justice at a public high school in Madison, Wisc.

Standards

Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.5: Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7: Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

C-3 Framework Standards for Social Studies:

• D1.4.9-12. Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
• D2.Civ.3.9-12. Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements on the maintenance of national and international order. 
• D2.Civ.4.9-12. Explain how the U.S. Constitution establishes a system of government that has powers, responsibilities, and limits that have changed over time and that are still contested.
• D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
• D2.Civ.8.9-12. Evaluate social and political systems in different contexts, times, and places, that promote civic virtues and enact democratic principles. 
• D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
• D2.Geo.2.9-12. Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their political, cultural, and economic dynamics.
• D2.Geo.5.9-12.  Evaluate how political  and  economic decisions  throughout  time have  influenced  cultural  and environmental  characteristics of various places and regions. 
• D2.Geo.8.9-12. Evaluate the impact of economic activities and political decisions on spatial patterns within and among urban, suburban, and rural regions.
• D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
• D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.
• D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

AP U.S. Government and Politics Course Framework:

• Disciplinary Practice 2.a. Describe the facts, reasoning, decisions, and majority opinion of required Supreme Court cases.
• Disciplinary Practice 2.d. Explain how required Supreme Court cases apply to scenarios in context.
• Disciplinary Practice 3.c. Explain patterns and trends in data to draw conclusions.
• Disciplinary Practice 3.d. Explain what the data imply or illustrate about political principles, institutions, processes, policies, and behaviors.
• Reasoning Process 2: Explain how the steps or stages in a process relate to each other.
• Reasoning Process 4: Explain the relevance, implications, and/or significance of similarities and differences.
• Unit 2: CON-3.C: Explain how congressional behavior is influenced by election processes, partisanship, and divided government.
  • CON-3.C.1: Congressional behavior and governing effectiveness are influenced by:
    • Gerrymandering, redistricting, and unequal representation of constituencies have been partially addressed by such Court decisions as Baker v. Carr (1961), which opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and stated the “one person, one vote” doctrine, and the no-racial-gerrymandering decision in Shaw v. Reno (1993)
• Unit 5: PMI-5.c: Explain why and how political parties change and adapt.