The project is Internet-based dialog, among high school government classes throughout the United States, about the priorities of government as expressed in the federal budget. Each class, representing its own congressional district, decides on a legislative agenda. Students iron out details of federal budget proposals. They post these budget proposals on the Virtual Congress SM floor. The proposals consist of what is to be accomplished by the proposal, how it will be implemented, detailed cost analyses and changes to dollar amounts of specific budget line items from actual agency budget requests.
Students then vote and answer concerns voiced by real constituents.
As a resource for the students, the project provides a comprehensive detailed listing of the thousands of budget lines items, taken from actual agency budget submissions. The student's actual Congressional representative will visit the class to answer questions about the legislative and budgetary process. The project concludes with student-led press conferences , where students voice their agenda and conclusions. Based on resource technology methodology , students will exercise critical thinking as they research the answers to their own questions. The teacher guides students through a challenging learning collaboration by encouraging students to interrogate their own suppositions and verify their facts.