Description
Activity
This is a tactile activity to support teaching the separation of powers in class. Small cards contain job titles or people, and students need to consider whether the card fits in either the Legislature/Parliament, Executive, Judiciary or more than one (Legislature/Executive). Answers are provided on the template.
Duration
10-15 minutes
Preparation
- Explain the separation of powers to the class.
- Cut up labels to hand out to students, or put them on their tables/chairs.
- Designate areas with a sign:
a. Left of classroom = Parliament/Legislature
b. Back of classroom = Executive
c. Right of classroom = Judiciary
d. Front of classroom = More than one arm of government
Instructions
- Ask students to move into the area of the classroom that corresponds to their place in the separation of powers, based on their role.
- Go through each section and check that everyone is with the right arm of government – ask students to tell everyone who they are. If incorrect, identify where they should be and reallocate.
- Point out any fun connections – eg. Minister for Police (the big big boss! Responsible in Parliament), Police Commissioner (head of the Department), Police Officer (reports to the Police Commissioner)
Follow Up Ideas
- If you started with the easy level, repeat the exercise moving up to medium and hard.
- Ask students to write their own list of job titles/people in the Separation of Powers as an assessment task.
