③ Transfer · Solve the problem

Phase 3 — Meet the problem

⛔ Gate check: only open this phase once students have finished Surface and Deep. This is where they transfer everything they built into a real, messy decision.

This is Problem-Based Learning. Students don't answer questions about government — they step inside the problem as founders and stakeholders of a new society, and the teacher guides rather than tells. The whole phase runs the problem-solving process named in §113.18(c)(22)(B).

Problem-solving teaching · d 0.61§113.18(c)(10), (c)(22)(B)

Step 1 · Meet the Problem

Read the narrative aloud. Read it once for the story, then again for details students will need.

A new community has come together to share a land and a future. Some have lived here for years; others have just arrived. They speak more than one language and follow more than one faith, but they have agreed on one thing: they will build a society together, and they need to decide how it will be governed.

Until now, decisions have been made by whoever spoke loudest at the meeting. It has not gone well. A dispute over water rights was settled unfairly. A promise made to one family was broken by another. People are beginning to worry: who really holds the power here, and what stops that power from being used against us?

So the community has called a founding council. Every group has sent someone to speak for them. Some want a single strong leader who can act quickly and keep order. Some want every decision put to a vote of all the people. A merchant wants clear, stable rules so trade can grow. Others worry most about protecting the rights of people who might be outvoted.

The council must answer the hardest questions a society ever faces: Who holds power? What powers will the government have, and what limits? How will decisions be made? And how will everyone's rights be protected? The society cannot move forward until the founders decide.

First reaction (not answers yet): what did you notice? What do you wonder? Keep it open — the point is to pull students into the problem.

📚 Sources: iCivics · Foundations of Government ↗ · Britannica · Constitution ↗

Multiple perspectives · d 0.75§113.18(c)(11), (c)(12), (c)(13), (c)(14)

Step 2 · Take a stakeholder role

Assign or let students choose a stakeholder. Each will reason from that person's point of view. Every role has something real at stake.

👑 The order-keeper

You want one strong leader who can act fast and keep the peace. Too many voices, you fear, means nothing gets done. How much power should a single leader have — and who limits it?

🗳️ The voice-of-the-people

You believe every decision should belong to all the people, by vote. How do you make sure the majority rules without ignoring or harming the minority?

⚖️ The merchant

Your trade depends on stable, predictable rules that don't change on a leader's whim. What kind of government keeps rules steady so a community can prosper?

🛡️ The rights-defender

You worry most about the people who could be outvoted or silenced. What rights must be written down and protected no matter who is in charge?

🕊️ The cultural & faith leader

You speak for a community with its own traditions and beliefs. How does the new government respect different cultures and let them live freely together?

🌱 The young person

You will live longest under whatever is decided today. What kind of government do you want to grow up in — and pass on?

📚 Sources: CIA World Factbook · Government types ↗ · United Nations · Universal Declaration of Human Rights ↗

Problem-based learning · d 0.53§113.18(c)(22)(B), (c)(19)

Step 3 · Hunches → Know → Need-to-Know

Build three shared columns on chart paper. This defines the problem and plans the inquiry — the first moves of §113.18(c)(22)(B).

💭 Hunches	✅ Know (from the text)	❓ Need to know
Our guesses about what kind of government would work best and why.	Facts we can point to in the story (a new, mixed community; decisions made by whoever spoke loudest; unfair outcomes; a founding council; four questions to answer).	Questions we must answer to decide — What government types exist and what are their trade-offs? How do real societies limit power? How are rights protected? How do other diverse societies stay fair?

Turn “Need to know” into the H of KWHL: How will we find out? (which sources, whom to ask). Record it — this is the class's research plan.

📚 Sources: iCivics · Foundations of Government (curriculum) ↗ · Our World in Data · Democracy ↗

Transfer strategies · d 0.75§113.18(c)(13), (c)(14), (c)(19)

Step 4 · Inquiry & investigation

Groups pursue their “Need to know” questions using vetted sources (see the facilitator guide for suggested public sources). Students gather and use valid information, applying the source routine they practiced in Phase 2. Keep filling the Learned column of KWHL as answers come in.

Teacher-as-guide moves: answer a question with a question; point to a source, not the answer; ask “How do you know?” and “Whose point of view is missing?”

📚 Sources: iCivics · Foundations of Government ↗ · CIA World Factbook · Government types ↗ · Britannica · Rule of law ↗ · UN · Universal Declaration of Human Rights ↗. Full list + how-to in the facilitator guide.

Weigh & choose · d 0.75§113.18(c)(22)(B), (c)(21)

Step 5 · Propose & defend a government structure

From their stakeholder's point of view, each group develops a recommendation for what kind of government the new society should build — its powers, its limits, and how it will protect rights — and defends it with evidence and trade-offs. Assessment happens throughout the process, not only here (the reasoning is the point).

Groups present an 8-part problem/solution brief (poster, slides, or spoken):

Title & group members (and your stakeholder role)
What is the problem?
Why is it a problem — and for whom?
Who are the stakeholders?
Options we considered (advantages & disadvantages of each government type)
Our recommended government — who holds power, what powers & limits it has, and how rights are protected, including the trade-offs it asks people to accept
The evidence and sources behind it
How we'd know if it worked (and what happens the first time power is tested)

📚 Sources: Britannica · Constitution ↗ · iCivics · The Constitution ↗

Evaluation & reflection · d 0.75§113.18(c)(22)(B), (c)(13), (c)(14)

Step 6 · Debrief & metacognition

Close the loop — the evaluate step of the problem-solving process. Discuss across roles so students hear how the same question looked from every side.

Did our government answer the real problem — who holds power and how rights are protected — or just give power to our own side?
Did we use evidence from more than one source? Whose point of view did we still miss?
How did the choice look different from the order-keeper's chair than the rights-defender's? What trade-off did each option cost?
Transfer: where else does this problem-solving process fit — a decision about rules and fairness in our school, club, or town today?

Connect to today & to the standards: real societies have made these same choices — some built limited governments with strong rights protections, others concentrated power in one leader. Name the six steps students just used — that is §113.18(c)(22)(B).

📚 Sources: Our World in Data · Democracy across the world ↗ · CIA World Factbook · Government types ↗

🧑‍🏫 Facilitator guide & sources ✅ Assessment pack

‹ Phase 2 — Deep Unit home

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.18; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This region and scenario are a teaching fiction based on real questions about how societies govern themselves.