Departments in the President’s Cabinet

While the President holds the top role in the Executive Branch, there are other figures who play major roles within the branch. The president has a cabinet of advisers that lead various federal departments. As students are likely unaware of each department and how it operates, it can be helpful for them to research a few!

In this activity, students will create a spider map that explores the role of the president’s cabinet. For each department, students should include the title of the cabinet department, a representation of the cabinet’s role, and a description of thedepartment.

Students may choose from the following departments:

• Agriculture
• Commerce
• Defense
• Education
• Energy
• Health and Human Services
• Homeland Security
• Housing and Urban Development
• Interior
• Justice
• Labor
• State
• Transportation
• Treasury
• Veterans Affairs

Extended Activity

In this extended activity, students will create a spider map that represents specific cabinet secretaries throughout history and represent the effect they had on society. The spider map might include the entire span of American history, or a selected series of years. For each cabinet member selected, students will include a title with the name of the secretary, along with the years they served in office, a visual representation of a specific accomplishment of that secretary, and a description of their representation.

Student Instructions

Create a spider map describing the roles of four executive departments.

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. In the title boxes, identify four executive departments.
3. Write a summary of the department's role in the description boxes.
4. Create an illustration using appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
5. Save and exit when you're done.