Teaching

HarvardX/EdX American Government course: 

My online HarvardX/EdX introduction to American Government course is free of charge, and the sessions can be taken in any order. The course is intended to supplement your for-credit introductory American government course, in the classroom or online. It has 24 sessions, each 20-30 minutes in length. The 24 sessions are divided into four groups of six lectures each: Constitutional Foundations (e.g. Federalism), Institutions (e.g., Presidency), Mass Politics (e.g., Public Opinion), and Public Policy (e.g., Foreign Policy). The videos are closed captioned to accommodate students with hearing difficulties. Links to each session are listed below.

If using Zoom, WebEx, or other online teaching platform, you can play it during a class session. If you want students to view a session before class, you can share the link with them by email or through Blackboard, Canvas, etc.

TEST BANK. 

The test bank for the video presentations has 144 questions – four multiple-choice questions and two short-answer questions for each of the 24 sessions. Answer key is included.

SYLLABUS:

 If you are creating your course syllabus, here is a model syllabus that combines text readings with the videos. The videos can be assigned for viewing before the class session or you can show them to your class at the beginning of each session as a starting point for offering your own thoughts about the topic and prompting student discussion. Link to Syllabus

COURSE TRANSCRIPTS: 

Access to the Course video transcripts are available here.[COURSE TRANSCRIPTS]

Course Videos- select title to view session

CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS

Political Culture 

Limited Government

Representative Government 

Federalism 

Civil Liberties 

Civil Rights 

MASS POLITICS 

Public Opinion 

Political Parties 

Campaigns & Elections 

Political Movements 

Interest Groups 

News Media 

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 

Congress and Constituency

Congress and Party 

Presidents & Domestic Policy 

Presidents & Foreign Policy 

Federal Bureaucracy 

Supreme Court & Judiciary

PUBLIC POLICY 

Social Policy 

Fiscal & Monetary Policy 

Welfare & Income Policy 

Regulatory Policy 

Foreign Policy 

Review Session 

 

Course Syllabus

Select to view 2 minute trailer video

 

 

Recent Books

We the People: An introduction to American Government

Click to get free desk copy (for college & dual credit AP high school instructors)

Click to get free desk copy (for non dual-credit AP, honors, and regular American government high school teachers. When prompted about the nature of your request, paste the following sentence: I’d like to review for adoption Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 15th edition, McGraw Hill, ISBN: 9781265634568)

To order: Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 15e (McGraw-Hill, 2021), ISBN: 9781265634568.  

For preparing your syllabus, the Table of Contents can be found here. A draft syllabus can be found here.

We The People 15th Edition cover