While the President holds the top role in the Executive Branch, there are other figures who play major roles within the branch. The president has a cabinet of advisers that lead various federal departments. As students are likely unaware of each department and how it operates, it can be helpful for them to research a few!
In this activity, students will create a spider map that explores the role of the president’s cabinet. For each department, students should include the title of the cabinet department, a representation of the cabinet’s role, and a description of thedepartment.
Students may choose from the following departments:
Extended Activity
In this extended activity, students will create a spider map that represents specific cabinet secretaries throughout history and represent the effect they had on society. The spider map might include the entire span of American history, or a selected series of years. For each cabinet member selected, students will include a title with the name of the secretary, along with the years they served in office, a visual representation of a specific accomplishment of that secretary, and a description of their representation.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a spider map describing the roles of four executive departments.