No Prep Plans: Hunger Games Inside Panem — Design a Better Panem

No Prep Plans: Hunger Games Inside Panem — Design a Better Panem

What if students could take everything they have learned about power, inequality, representation, resources, and government control in Panem and use it to build something better?

In this culminating Hunger Games novel study lesson, students move beyond analyzing what is wrong with Panem and take on the role of constitutional designers. Their challenge is to identify the structural problems within Panem’s government and design a fairer alternative system from the ground up.

Through the Government Reconstruction Challenge, students consider representation, distribution of power, economic inequality, individual rights, regional voice, transparency, accountability, and resource distribution. Most importantly, they discover that designing a fair government is not as simple as fixing one problem—every decision creates consequences and tradeoffs.

Grades: 6–10
Time: 1–2 class periods (45–60 minutes each)

What's Included
- Teacher directions
- Student-friendly lesson overview
- Mini research questions
- 5-step Government Reconstruction Challenge
- Diagnose Panem: What Needs to Change? analysis activity
- Build a Government That Balances Power activity
- Build the Government Reconstruction Plan
- Government power and representation mapping
- Resource distribution analysis
- Tradeoff and safeguard analysis
- Final government design verdict
- Color student pages
- Printer-friendly black-and-white student pages

Students Will
- Identify structural problems within Panem’s government
- Examine power, representation, inequality, resources, and control
- Distinguish symptoms of an unfair system from their underlying structural causes
- Prioritize reforms needed to create a fairer Panem
- Determine which responsibilities should belong to national, regional, or shared government
- Design a system for citizen and district representation
- Trace how governmental power moves and identify ways to keep it in check
- Develop safeguards against concentrated or abused power
- Design a fairer system for distributing resources between regions
- Analyze the tradeoffs created by different government structures
- Create and stress-test an original government system
- Defend their design using evidence and reasoning

Great For
- The Hunger Games novel studies
- Culminating novel activities
- Dystopian literature
- Government & civics connections
- Argumentation & evidence
- ELA + Social Studies integration
- Collaborative learning
- Critical thinking
- End-of-unit projects

Original Work & Novel Disclaimer
This resource is an independently created, original educational work designed to support classroom study of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
This product is not affiliated with, authorized by, sponsored by, or endorsed by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, the publisher, or any other rights holder associated with The Hunger Games. The novel title, characters, fictional locations, and other intellectual property associated with the novel remain the property of their respective rights holders.

No portion of the novel is reproduced or included. All instructional materials, research prompts, analysis activities, worksheets, and project materials are original educational content intended for supplemental classroom use alongside legally obtained copies of the novel.

Please Note
- Novel is not included
- Designed for classroom educational use
- Students should have access to The Hunger Games
- Some research activities may require internet access