Thirty middle schoolers are huddled in groups, passionately debating whether their new island nation should have a unicameral or bicameral legislature. One student jumps up—"But wait! If we only have one house, what happens when they all agree on something terrible?" Another counters, "That's why we need the judges to serve for life!" A third chimes in, "Life? That's how you get tyrants!"
Welcome to constitutional role-play, where students don't just learn about government—they build it from scratch. When Paulo Freire wrote about transforming education from passive reception to active creation in his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he described almost this exact scene. The key difference: instead of middle schoolers, it was Bolivian farmers, and instead of learning for a school standard, it was to build new local governments.
In constitutional role-play, teachers consistently report breakthrough moments when students realize their "perfect" constitution has created an accidental dictatorship, or when they discover their system has no way to resolve conflicts between branches. These aren't failures—they're the kinds of authentic learning experiences that help students prepare to become engaged citizens. We might not be able to create perfect constitutions, but by attempting to do so, students engage in the necessary critical thinking to combat authoritarianism, navigate difficult societal issues, and learn to collaborate with those they disagree with.
The "Make a Constitution" activity transforms each of your students into a fledgling nation-state. Students begin by creating their own countries—complete with flags! Using interactive flowcharts, students make real choices about their government's structure and craft their country’s constitution.
Students must then test their carefully crafted constitutions against real world scenarios. Can their constitutions survive early crises of government? There’s only one way to find out! Download the complete "Make a Constitution" activity and watch your students transform from middle school students into civic leaders.
The Make a Constitution activity is available here.
Blog image citation: Ohio History Connection. Make a Constitution. Columbus, 2025.
