Does the Public know anything about our Government?

In my ancient world class, we studied Democracy during our ancient Greece Unit. Athens, along with their leader Pericles, invented Democracy as a way to rule their people. However, saying "Democracy ruled the people" isn't quite right. In a Democracy, the people rule themselves. The basic form of Democracy is when the people/citizens rule. They can vote, elect leaders, and have freedom. Since we live in a country with Democracy, I thought it would be interesting to have my students go out into the public and see what people actually know about our own form of government, democracy. They had to interview five adults, age 25 and older. I sent them out with a basic questionnaire. The results came flying in and when we analyzed them last week, we got a good picture what the public knows (or perhaps a better way to say it is 'doesn't know"). Click the link to see the results of our Ask the Public interviews. Here's a little preview: only 14% of the people interviewed got a 100% on the entire sheet. Also, for the question of "Who is President?" The results were NOT 100%...

View Results of "Ask the Public" Interviews

Know anything about Democracy? Click here to fill out the survey.

Interacting with the Public

During our Ancient Greece Unit, we learn/talk about Democracy. Athens started it as a form of government and we have that as our government, so there is an obvious connection. I am having my students interview the public to see what they actually know about democracy. So to get things started, I went to the mall in Sioux Falls and asked random people some questions to see for myself what people actually know. The video above is my experience at the Sioux Falls Empire mall. It was an interesting day, to say the least. 
 Application for Education: I think it's great to have your students go out into the public and interview people, ask them questions, and teach them about what we are learning. For this example, my students are essentially "teaching" the adults about democracy and in particular, what questions they get wrong. It gives them purpose in the assignment and in the learning. They need to learn the material so they can go out and help others. In a history class, there could be many different things you could have your students go interview people with: civil war information, american revolution information, government, etc. Reading: have students interview adults about their favorite books, why they like them, etc. English: have students give a grammar test! Any topic could be turned into an opportunity to interview the public.