Teaching The Types of Local Government in Michigan: Model Building

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: What are the kinds of local governments in Michigan

MCF Benchmark: Evaluate how effectively the federal government is serving the purposes for which it was created.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include: Synthesize and evaluate information to draw conclusions and implications based on their investigation of an issue or problem.

Materials needed:

  • Handout A--Relevant websites
  • Handout B--Focus questions
  • Handout C--Local government graphic organizer
  • Handout D--Local government information packet

Methodological procedure:

  1. Introduce the lesson by first putting a list of five to ten services or jobs on the board such as airports, water, sewers, animal control officers, police, garbage collection, firefighters, road workers, teachers etc. Ask students to think about where those services come from and who employs those various individuals. Also, ask students to think about the various local divisions of government that surround their homes. Encourage students to think about the things that effect them on a day-to-day basis. Who provides the daily things that they may take for granted? What types of local governments are there? Brainstorm with the class. List on the board the various units of local government that students come up with. Lead students to discover that there are six major categories of local government in the State of Michigan including: (1) Counties, (2) Cities, (3) Townships, (4) Villages, (5) Special Districts, (6) and Public School Districts. Ask students to consider the following questions: What do they do? How are they similar or different? Why are there so many categories?
  2. Students should then be put into small groups and assigned one of the six previously mentioned types of local government to research.
  3. Have students complete handout 'B' through on- line research. Provide students with a list of relevant websites, included with this lesson as handout 'A.' You may also want to give them Handouts 'C' and ''D' as additional resources.
  4. Students will share some of their answers with the class. Engage the class in conversation about the similarities and differences between the different units of government. Ask students to think about why the different units of government exist and whether or not they are serving the purposes for which they were created.

Author's notes:

Groups can be arranged to meet unique classroom numbers or computer stations available. The legos are an example of a manipulative that can be used to visually demonstrate an understanding of the orgainzation of local government in Michigan. The models also demonstrate student knowledge of how local government entities interact and sometime overlap. Other manipulatives can be used in place of legos, including post-it notes, blocks, colored chips, etc.

This is a long lesson, feel free to allot 3-4 days. Make sure to give students plenty of time to research their type of government.

Assessment strategies:

  1. In their groups, students will work on creating a lego model to represent their form of government . The model should visually explain the structure, organization and function of their particular unit of local government.
  2. Each group should be given different color legos so that each form of local government is easily recognizable by its distinct color.
  3. Keep the class focused on the fact that their models are three-dimensional representations of the facts that they have collected from their research.
  4. When students are finished, have groups present their models to the class and explain clearly how their project represents that unit of local government. Present in the following order: city, township, village, public school district, and special districts/authorities. (Starting with the clearest forms and then moving on to the more complicated ones.) This will help students to see that school districts and special districts/authorities can overlap the political and geographic boundaries of counties, cities, townships, and villages.
  5. When students are explaining their models, make sure to ask them why their model was constructed the way that it was. Classroom conversation should center around the differences and similarities between the local government groups and how they are both physically and politically organized.
  6. Lego modeling as an assessment is graded on a pass/fail basis. If all members of the group can clealy explain how the local government entities are represented in the model, they should be given credit.
  7. The lesson can conclude with each individual student handing in the answers to their focus questions from the internet research. Alternatively, every student can list the three most important facts about each of the six different forms of local government.
  8. If they were not given out before, pass out Handouts 'C' (graphic organizer of local government organization and structures) and 'D' (local government facts).
  9. Students can also be asked to think about, answer aloud, or answer in writing the following questions:
    1. Identify why the the local units of government exist. Summarize the purposes they serve.
    2. Why would one form of government be more desirable to reside in than another? Which community would you rather live in and why?
    3. What are some specific services provided by the units of government?
    4. What sub-categories of local government does your own community have such as mayor-council form or council-manager form?
    5. Do the local governments serve the purposes for which they were created? Why or why not?

Available downloads:

  • Handout "A", (24 K)
    List of relevant websites for the internet search project
  • Handout "B", (37 K)
    List of focus questions for the internet research project
  • Handout "C", (30 K)
    Graphic organizer of the local government structure in Michigan
  • Handout "D", (143 K)
    Packet of information on local government in Michigan

Suggested web sites: