The Vice PresidencyActivities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning works well for the Vice Presidency because the office’s evolution from ceremonial role to governing partner invites students to grapple with real decisions, documents, and debates. Memorizing constitutional clauses or historical dates alone won’t capture how informal relationships shape power, making role-play, timelines, and document analysis ideal for building both content knowledge and critical thinking.
Learning Objectives
- 1Analyze the constitutional basis for the Vice President's duties and compare them to the expanded responsibilities of modern Vice Presidents.
- 2Evaluate the impact of specific Vice Presidents on presidential administrations and national policy.
- 3Compare the strategic considerations involved in selecting Vice Presidential running mates across different election cycles.
- 4Explain how the Vice Presidency has evolved from a largely ceremonial role to a key position in the executive branch.
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Role Play: VP Selection Committee
Students are assigned roles as campaign strategists for a hypothetical presidential candidate. Each group receives a candidate profile and must select a VP from among four options with different strengths and weaknesses (geographic balance, policy expertise, demographic representation, governing experience). Groups present and defend their selection to the class with strategic reasoning.
Prepare & details
Explain the constitutional duties and modern roles of the Vice President.
Facilitation Tip: In the Role Play: VP Selection Committee, assign roles that require students to justify their choices using both constitutional rules and political strategy.
Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging
Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet
Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency
Students build a collaborative timeline of major VP milestones from Adams through the current administration, identifying the key decisions, relationships, and historical events that changed the office. They annotate each entry with 'constitutional,' 'statutory,' or 'conventional' to classify the source of each change.
Prepare & details
Analyze how the Vice Presidency has evolved over time.
Facilitation Tip: For the Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency, have students pair primary sources with a one-sentence explanation of how each event expanded or limited the VP’s role.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Document Analysis: VP Tie-Breaking Votes
Students research two significant Senate tie-breaking votes by the Vice President (the 2017 DeVos confirmation, the 2021 COVID relief legislation) and analyze the policy stakes, the partisan context, and what each vote reveals about the VP's constitutional role. Each pair prepares a brief explanation for the class.
Prepare & details
Evaluate the significance of the Vice President's role in contemporary politics.
Facilitation Tip: During Document Analysis: VP Tie-Breaking Votes, ask students to count how often the VP actually presides versus how often they simply wait for a tie.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Think-Pair-Share: Does the VP Have Real Power?
Students read short profiles of two Vice Presidents from different eras (Garret Hobart and Dick Cheney) and discuss with a partner what changed and why. The class then identifies the structural, political, and personal factors that determine how much influence a VP actually has in any given administration.
Prepare & details
Explain the constitutional duties and modern roles of the Vice President.
Facilitation Tip: In the Think-Pair-Share: Does the VP Have Real Power?, provide a sentence stem like 'The VP’s influence depends on…' to structure responses.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Teaching This Topic
Experienced teachers approach the Vice Presidency by balancing constitutional text with political reality. Avoid presenting the office as a static hierarchy; instead, emphasize that power flows from relationships and historical moments. Use primary documents to show how practices evolve, and encourage students to question whether growth in the role strengthens or weakens democratic accountability. Research suggests that framing the VP as a case study in informal power helps students grasp the difference between formal authority and actual influence.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like students explaining how the Vice Presidency’s functions have changed over time, citing specific examples from activities. They should distinguish between constitutional duties and modern roles, and assess how personal relationships and historical context influence power. Clear, evidence-based discussions and clear written responses show understanding.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring the Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency, watch for students assuming the VP routinely presides over Senate sessions. Redirect them by asking them to note how many entries in the timeline actually describe the VP actively running the Senate.
What to Teach Instead
During Document Analysis: VP Tie-Breaking Votes, clarify that the VP’s constitutional role is narrow by having students tally how often they cast tie-breaking votes versus preside. Use the Senate’s official records to show that active VP involvement is rare and usually brief.
Common MisconceptionDuring the Think-Pair-Share: Does the VP Have Real Power?, watch for students assuming the Vice Presidency is always the second most powerful office in government.
What to Teach Instead
During the Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency, have students compare the influence of different VPs by ranking their policy impact using the timeline entries. Ask them to explain why some VPs were more influential than others despite similar constitutional roles.
Common MisconceptionDuring the Role Play: VP Selection Committee, watch for students selecting a running mate from the same home state without considering the 12th Amendment constraint.
What to Teach Instead
During the Role Play: VP Selection Committee, require students to explain how their choice complies with the 12th Amendment by verifying that the VP is from a different state than the presidential candidate. Provide the constitutional text as a reference during the activity.
Assessment Ideas
After Document Analysis: VP Tie-Breaking Votes, present students with a short biography of a historical Vice President (e.g., Hubert Humphrey, Al Gore). Ask them to identify two specific policy areas they influenced and explain how their role differed from the constitutional duties listed in the documents.
During Think-Pair-Share: Does the VP Have Real Power?, pose the question 'Has the Vice Presidency become too powerful?' Facilitate a debate where students use historical examples from the Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency and constitutional text from the Document Analysis to support their arguments.
After Timeline Activity: The Evolving Vice Presidency, ask students to write down the most significant change in the Vice Presidency since the mid-20th century and one reason why this change matters for the functioning of the executive branch.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask students who finish early to research and present on a Vice President not covered in class, focusing on how their influence compared to modern expectations.
- Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters for the Think-Pair-Share to help struggling students structure their arguments about VP power.
- Deeper exploration: Invite students to compare the modern VP’s role with that of other countries’ vice leaders or deputy leaders using a short comparative reading.
Key Vocabulary
| Presidential Succession | The order in which officials are eligible to assume the powers and duties of the U.S. presidency. The Vice President is first in this line. |
| President of the Senate | A constitutional duty of the Vice President, involving presiding over Senate sessions and casting tie-breaking votes. |
| Governing Partner | A description of the modern Vice Presidency, where the VP acts as a close advisor and active participant in policy-making and administration. |
| Running Mate | A candidate for Vice President who runs on the same ticket as a presidential candidate. |
Suggested Methodologies
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