Answers -- Fun, Facts, and Trivia
April 2003 Issue

The Dirksen Center wants to help teachers teach better by giving them the opportunity to use technology to create, customize, and share online learning activities in their classrooms. The Center wants to help students learn more by bringing educational resources together in one place that provide new ways to learn about Congress interactively.

Department Dim or Agency Able?

Teachers, do your students know that the executive branch of our government is made up of more than two hundred different agencies and corporations? These agencies and corporations administer government programs in all areas of American life. We know many of these agencies and corporations by their acronyms. Have your students polish up their familiarity with the acronyms’ names by taking the Acquired American Acronyms quiz on Congress for Kids at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/executivebranch/2_execbranch.htm

1. What U.S. government department or agency gathers strategic information about other countries, evaluates it, and passes it on to the president?

A) General Services Administration
B) Central Intelligence Agency
C) Environmental Protection Agency
D) Bureau of Labor Statistics

2. Lobbyists for school administrators try writing letters, testifying at agency hearings, and other ways to influence the decisions of what U.S. government department or agency?

A) Department of Labor
B) Commerce Department
C) Department of Education
D) Food and Drug Administration

3. The United States Secret Service, which provides protection for the president, vice president, and other officials, is a branch of the _____.

A) Department of Justice
B) Department of Treasury
C) Department of Defense
D) Department of Labor

Answer: The answer is actually none of the above. Thanks to one of our Communicator subscribers, the correct answer is the Department of Homeland Security.

The following is from the Secret Service Web site: http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/history.shtml: 2002 - The Department of Homeland Security is established with the passage of (Public Law 107-296) which in part, transfers the United States Secret Service from the Department of the Treasury, to the new department effective March 1, 2003.

4. The main difference between private and government corporations is that _____

A) One has a board of directors and the other has executive officers.
B) Investors support private corporations and Congress supports government corporations.
C) One reinvests profits and the other returns them to taxpayers.
D) Private corporations are flexible and government corporations are rigid.

Answers to the March issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0303ans.htm

Do you have or know of an online activity you would like The Dirksen Congressional Center to feature on its new Web site for students -- Congress for Kids? The Center is currently seeking online activities that provide new ways to learn about Congress and the workings of the federal government interactively.

If you have questions or suggestions for online activities, contact Cindy Koeppel.