Excluded! Problem-Based Learning Unit

About this curriculum

NAGC Curriculum Award-Winner! This unit focuses on the Chinese exclusion laws, which were enacted in the 1880s to prevent further Chinese immigration in the United States. Students take on the role of government officials trying to decide whether to support the Geary Act. They must investigate a variety of issues related to immigration and decide what to do to solve the problem of the influx of immigrants to the U.S. National Association for Gifted Children Curriculum Award-Winner! This unit focuses on the Chinese exclusion laws, which were enacted in the 1880s to prevent further Chinese immigration or settlement in the United States. Students take on the role of government officials, using values and priorities that represent concern for the public good. They investigate how and why the Chinese exclusion laws came into being from the vantage point of Congressmen and -women from California trying to decide whether to support the Geary Act. The students are forced to consider what reasonable limits can or should be placed on immigration in a country that urges, “Gi…