Information is the currency of democracy. Thomas Jefferson
Presidential elections present ultimate, authentic teachable moments, opportunities for us to exploring a variety of literacies with learners at all levels
I recently pulled together an Election LibGuide for our students and teachers and I thought I’d share some of the most popular inclusions.
C-SPAN’s Candidates on the Issues allows users to see each Presidential candidate address the big issues in selected video remarks. The collection of short videos covers the economy and jobs, taxes and deficit, national security, healthcare, immigration, and energy and the environment.
Procon.org’s 2012 Presidential Election is perhaps the most comprehensive portal for election issues research. It is my students’ favorite.
A Candidates Quiz, determines your best candidate match. Among the other features are:
|Candidate Debate Transcripts|
|Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains|
Project VoteSmart’s interactive VoteEasy feature allows you to connect your own opinion to the candidates’ positions on 13 major issues, from the White House lawn (and you can hear a barking dog in the background). From the summary page searchers can select to see further information on the candidate, access his or her speeches, or view the public record.
Factcheck.org, a nonpartison, nonprofit project from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, seeks to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Its new parody sister site, Flackcheck.org, uses humor to debunk false political advertising, poke fun at extreme language, and hold the media accountable for their reporting on political campaigns.
USA Today’s Candidate Match II allows users to compare their own views with the candidates on 14 critical issues, using agree and disagree buttons as well as a sliding scale.
The results from the 12-question Pew Research Center’s Political Party Quiz places the voter on a political spectrum. Results may be filterd for overall responses, economic or social issues. Results may also be compared to Pew survey data by party, age, sex, race, religion and candidate.
ISideWith.com offers a 24-question quiz divided into eight categories allowing users to select both a position and to scale the issue’s level of personal importance.
ElectNext requires a Facebook, Twitter, or email login and promises to present users with a unique and customized candidate guide, based on 10 questions relating to their own selected major issues. Social media comments and opinions are incorporated.
For older students, MTV’s Fantasy Election 2012, designed to resemble a fantasy sports experience, allows players to draft a dream team of candidates and receive points for accountability in areas like transparency and honesty.
Visualizing the election
The New York Times interactive Electoral Map assesses how states may vote, based on polling, previous election results and state political geography and allows users to develop their own voting scenarios.
Also check out the similarly interactive Rand McNally Play the Election, where users may play a variety of speculative games and Electoral College voting can be tracked back to 1960.
The new Twitter Political Index is an index that measures tweeters’ feelings about the candidates relative to the more than 400 million tweets shared each day.
Among the many instructional tools for studying the election are:
- New York Times Learning Network 2012 Election Unit (aligned to the CCSS)
- Living Room Candidate (exploration of campaign advertising from today back to 1952)
- Edutopia’s Five-Minute Film Festival: Remixing Civics
- The National Constitution Center offers a wonderful downloadable Election 2012 Student Guide, a poster to engage students in critical thinking around the candidates, as well as an activity that asks them to Address America [with] Your Six-Word Stump Speech
- C-SPAN Classroom offers a growing number of instructional activities connected to its significant video archive
- Eight Steps to the White House (CNN) offers an animated look at the election process.
Frank Baker shares his instructional media literacy talents with these materials:
- Media Literacy & Politics: What Every Student Needs To Know
- MiddleWeb about the Debates
- Lights, Camera Debate” with Debate Watchers Worksheet
Thanks to my new student intern, Brandon Richardson, for his help in getting this resource list started!