Civic Duties & Responsibilities Scenarios & Response Activity for Civics

This Civic Duties & Responsibilities Scenarios & Response Activity for Civics & American Government reviews our Civic Duties and Responsibilities with real-life examples, making it a perfect, hands-on review activity for your Citizenship unit! Students pair example scenarios to each of our Civic Duties & Responsibilities in a cut-and-paste matching activity, then think critically about our Civic Obligations in a short-answer reflection. This engaging, hands-on activity is ideal for middle school students studying citizenship and civic obligations in Civics, American Government, or American History!

Aligned to the Florida State Standard for Middle School Civics (and easily transferrable to other states’ curriculum, as well!):

• SS.7.CG.2.2 Civic Obligations and Responsibilities

This Civic Duties & Responsibilities Scenario Match for Civics & American Government resource includes:

✯ The  Civic Duties & Responsibilities Scenario Worksheet and Cut-And-Paste Matches. Students pair 10 real-life scenarios with each of our Civic Duties and Responsibilities. A word bank is included. This is great, hands-on practice for students learning our Civic Obligations!

Civic Duties & Responsibilities covered in this activity: 

• Civic Duties: Obey the Law, Pay Taxes, Selective Service, Jury Duty, and Attend School.
• Civic Responsibilities: Being Respectful to Others, Volunteering, Voting, Keeping Informed of the News, Participating in Local Government 

In this activity, students will:

• Read through 10 different real-life scenarios.
• Identify whether the scenario represents a Civic Duty or Civic Responsibility.
• Cut & Paste the scenarios into the appropriate column on the worksheet.
• Using a word bank for guidance, write down which specific obligation or responsibility is being described.

Sample scenarios:

• “Sarah hates wearing her helmet when riding her bike, but several of her friends have received tickets for not wearing theirs. She decided to follow the law rather than pay the fine.” (Obey the Law, Civic Obligation)
• “Sometimes the news seems pretty boring, but Keisha likes to know what’s going on in the world around her. She makes a point to read one online news article every day.” (Keeping Informed, Civic Responsibility) 

✯ The Civic Duties & Responsibilities Short-Answer Reflection. Four questions challenge students to think a little more critically about citizenship and our Civic Obligations.

Sample short-answer prompt:

• Do you think voting should become a required duty of citizenship? Why or why not? Give examples of at least one (1) positive and one (1) negative to voting becoming mandatory.

This resource is presented as a non-editable, printable PDF and includes an Answer Key.

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