Summary
In this lesson, students analyze the political ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke by brainstorming why people create governments, comparing and contrasting monarchies and democracies and debating as a class which philosopher was right about the amount of power a government should have.
Essential Question(s)
How much authority should a government have?
Snapshot
Engage
Students discuss the need for governments and how they function in a society.
Explore
Students watch videos about democracy and absolute monarchy and create a T-Chart outlining the differences between the two forms of government.
Explain
Students read an article about John Locke and Thomas Hobbes and develop a one-sentence summary of each using the POMS strategy.
Extend
Students debate the merits of Locke and Hobbes in groups using the Debate Team Carousel strategy, culminating in a class discussion about students’ opinions.
Evaluate
Students create short summaries from the perspective of each philosopher using the Six-Word Memoirs strategy.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
T-Chart handout (attached, one per student)
The Philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes (attached, one per student)
Debate Team Carousel handout (attached, one per student)
Sticky notes
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Review the essential question and lesson objectives on slides 3 and 4.
Show slide 5. Ask students to think about the question, Why do people create governments? Have students talk about the question with a partner; then ask for volunteers to share their thoughts. Have a class discussion about why governments are needed for a society to function.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Pass out the attached T-Chart handout, one for each student. Show slide 6 and announce to students that they will watch two videos about different types of governments. As they watch the videos, have students complete each side of the T-Chart.
Show slide 7. Play the first video about monarchies. Show slide 8. Play the second video about democracies.
After students watch the videos, show slide 9. Ask them to share their T-Chart with a partner to compare the information they included. Ask students to share their T-Charts with the class.
When all groups have shared their T-Charts, have students discuss the major differences between monarchies and democracies.
Ask volunteers to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of monarchies and democracies.
Explain
30 Minute(s)
Introduce students to two philosophers who wrote about the best type of government for a society.
Show slide 10 to introduce Thomas Hobbes, who lived from 1588-1679 in England. He wrote many books, but his most famous is Leviathan, which is about his ideas on government. Hobbes wrote Leviathan during the English Civil War, which heavily influenced Leviathan.
Show slide 11 to introduce John Locke, also an Englishman, who lived from 1632-1704. He also wrote many books, including Two Treatises of Government, a text that was influential in the formation of many governments.
Pass out the attached handout, The Philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, one for each student. Have students read the handout in pairs and answer the guiding questions located in the second column of the handout. After students have completed this, show slide 12. Have students use the POMS: Point of Most Significance strategy to develop a one-sentence summary of the most important part of the handout.
Ask students to share their Point of Most Significance and use this time to clarify or correct any misconceptions students have about Hobbes and Locke.
Extend
20 Minute(s)
Introduce students to the Debate Team Carousel strategy. Arrange students into groups of four and pass out the attached Debate Team Carousel handout, one for each student.
Show slide 13 and read the question to students. Explain to the class how the Carousel works:
Ask students to write a response to the question in the first box with their reasoning.
Pass #1: Once each student has written their response, have them pass their papers to the student on their right.
Instruct the second student to read the response in the first box and add a sentence that supports the response in the first box.
Pass #2: Have students pass their papers to the student on their right a second time.
Instruct students to read the responses in the first two boxes and add a sentence that opposes the response.
Pass #3: Have students pass their papers once more.
Instruct students to read the responses, and in the last box to add their own opinion supported with their reasoning.
Pass #4. Have students pass the papers back to the owner, who should read the responses left by group members.
Ask volunteers to share some of the arguments that were written down. As the whole class to discuss their opinions on the theories of Hobbes and Locke. Invite them to answer the question: Who was right about how much power a government should have?
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
For the final activity, pass out two sticky notes.
Show slide 14. Introduce students to the Six-Word Memoirs strategy. Ask students to use sticky notes and create two memoirs, one from the perspective of Hobbes and one from the perspective of Locke. Instruct students to create memoirs that do not exceed six words.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Debate Team Carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/110
K20 Center. (n.d.). POMS. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/101
K20 Center. (n.d.). Six-word memoirs. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/75
K20 Center. (n.d.). T-Chart. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/86
PBS Learning Media. (n.d.). All Hail the King! What is a Monarchy? |[Video]. Politics on Point. PBS. https://oeta.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/all-hail-the-king-what-is-a-monarchy-video/wviz-politics-on-point/.
PBS Learning Media. (n.d.). This is What Democracy Looks Like. [Video]. Politics on Point. PBS. https://oeta.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like-video/wviz-politics-on-point/
Public Domain Pictures (n.d.) Public institution building. [Graphic image]. https://publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=13466&picture=government-building
Wikipedia. (n.d.). John Locke. [Digital Image]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lockeia
Wikipedia. (n.d.) Thomas Hobbes. [Digital Image]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbesedia