POLITICAL SCIENCE 1, LOITERMAN
TO ALLOW THIS COURSE TO MEET THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND CALIFORNIA STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO--
1: *Discuss the political philosophies of the framers of the United States Constitution.
2: *Discuss the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of government and how each operates under the U.S. Constitution as it has been amended and interpreted.
3: *Explain the political processes that operate under the U.S. Constitution as it has been amended and interpreted including parties, interest groups, the formation of public opinion, voting and other forms of political participation, nominations, political campaigns, the Electoral College and the role of the media.
4: *Identify the rights and obligations of citizens in the political and legal system established by the U.S. Constitution.
5: *Compare the nature and general principles of the U.S. Constitution with the California constitution and their major provisions.
6: *Explain the nature and processes of California state and local government.
7: *Describe the relationship of state and local government and the federal government today and explain the resolution of conflicts that led to that relationship.
ADDITIONALLY UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO--
8. Feel comfortable communicating the course material to others as a result of weekly oral and written practice with classmates and/or the instructor.
9. Communicate to others facts, analyses and evaluations of current events, political websites and candidate debates, related to the meaning of democracy to the student
and to others.
10. Communicate the procedures that must be followed to register to vote in the Tuesday, June 6, 2006 election and to vote electronically, by mail, in person, and through arrangements made for military personnel.
11. Explain to others the candidates, offices and issues voters will find on the Tuesday, June 6, 2006 ballot in an area where the student lives or takes an interest in and the processes by which they were placed on the ballot.
12. Demonstrate the ability to access electronic databases available off-campus with a password obtained from a LAHC librarian to find current and past periodical sources that relate to the content of this course.
13. Feel comfortable participating in or observing government and/or political activities such as meetings of government bodies or their committees, or political campaigns, debates or forums at the national, state or local level as the result of practice outside of the classroom during the semester.
14. Define the significance of margin of error with respect to the measurement of public opinion through polls.
15. (Chapter 5) Distinguish between unscientific straw polls and random probability samples or other scientific survey methods to describe or predict political opinion and behavior.
16. (Chapter 7, 10, 15) Provide examples from U.S. elections and U.S. foreign policy that demonstrate how the rules, procedures and processes by which decisions are made affect outcomes such as election victory, the number of parties in a legislature, and the decision to go to war.
17. (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) Explain how public opinion results from the messages sent and received through the media by incumbents, candidates, political parties, and interest groups, including individual businesses and domestic and foreign governments.
18. (Chapters 6, 10, 11, 12, 13) List actions or decisions taken by officeholders of one major party that are likely to a appeal to members and/or supporters of the other major party. (See number 9 above).