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Constitute
Pros: Easy-to-use site lets users search, review, and compare constitutions from countries around the world.
Cons: Lessons for classroom use aren't provided; the complex language and content may be too challenging for some students.
Bottom Line: Quickly and easily access almost any country's constitution, locate an excerpt, or compare governments.
Although created by academics for government officials who are writing new constitutions, this site offers many classroom applications. For direct student use, a lesson could be developed in which students pick a specific topic or issue and research how it is addressed by the constitutions of different countries. With preparation, you could pull excerpts for a primary-document analysis of constitutional issues.
Another possible use is to have students create visual representations about a specific topic to break down the complex issues addressed in the constitution. This type of activity would be especially valuable for English language learners who are learning both vocabulary and content. Finally, reviewing and comparing a number of constitutions could serve as valuable background for creating an original constitution, perhaps as a culminating activity.
Constitute is a website that enables you to read, search, and compare constitutions from around the world. Searches can be filtered by country, region, date, or topic. Currently, 191 constitutions are available for review and analysis in English, while Arabic Constitute includes 54 independent states' constitutions. The topic filter sorts constitutions based on selected issues and important provisions. For example, you can find specific information about religion, citizenship, or guaranteed rights without reading the entire document. In addition, you can compare and contrast multiple constitutions on a particular topic, such as the election process or the structure of government, by selecting that tag and viewing the sections of a constitution that relates to that theme. You can also choose to view multiple constitutions side by side, and you can pin those comparisons and your observations to another space to keep track of your reactions Documents or excerpts can be viewed online or downloaded as PDF files.
The educational value of Constitute is as a resource for reviewing and analyzing primary documents. Teachers will need to create relevant curriculum for their individual classes. As is, the documents are written at a high level with much “legalese” (difficult vocabulary) and are probably best suited for advanced learners. If used with general education students, providing definitions of key terms and using short excerpts would be beneficial. The site has a clean and simple layout and is easy to navigate, even if the highly specialized legal language can seem impenetrable for a lay audience.
Students from different countries may find it interesting to compare the U.S. Constitution with the one from their country of origin in a variety of different areas. Constitute is definitely a time saver for finding, sorting, and excerpting constitutions, and for helping students explore the topics of rights, laws, and government.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
A Great Tool for Government, History and World Cultures Courses
This is a great tool for students to use within the context of a larger project. I enjoy the quick ability to search the constitutions based on preset topics. It helps give instant perspective and comparison with other nations. The ability to compare to the US constitution (and others) is invaluable. It is helpful for students to begin immediate analysis of various nations and their ideals. Although constitutions for nations can be found anywhere online this site has a level of interaction beyond the simple pdf files. This is a modification of what is already publicly available. They are slowly adding historical constitutions which can help increase the usefulness of the site. If those improvements continue then the site can be useful for classes that focus on events centered in history such as the French Revolution or the dissolution of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. As it stands the focus sits on events primarily in the 20th century due to the modern nature of many constitutions. The site is best used in conjunction with other material such as news articles or general histories. For example, when reading the DPRK's constitution the question arises of what is "juche"? Really all of the material needs to be placed within larger contexts. The site is a tool for not only beginning to understand other nations but the start of analysis on how and why they tick.
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