POWER OF VOTING -- ACTIVITIES:
Following each activity will be the project outcome addressed with suggested
web site/sites to assist in the completion of the activity.
- The students will be given an overview about the three branches
of the government and their basic functions. This overview can be done whole
class with a graphic organizer. · Students can further explore
information on http://dodo.crown.net/~mpg/election/govt.htm (Project
Outcomes 1 and 3 )
- Working in cooperative groups of four of five, the students will
learn and understand election vocabulary. Each group will be given one or
two words to research, define in own words, write in a meaningful sentence,
and present. · To research vocabulary the following site
can be used: http://www.vote-smart.org/reference/primer/election.html (Project
Outcomes 1, 2, and 4)
- Students will conduct a voting simulation in two phases. In phase
one, students will register to vote and research the candidates and issues.
In cooperative groups, students will be assigned a candidate and one of
his/her platform issues to research and present. ·Suggested web sites
for phase one: http://dodo.crown.net/~mpg/election/96.html
orhttp://www.cnn.com or http://www.vote-smart.org/index.html
. In phase two, students will vote in ballot fashion and tally the election
results. (Project Outcomes 1, 2, and 3)
- Using ClarisWorks and continuing in cooperative groups, students
will create spreadsheets and graphs from tallied voting results. From the
graphs, students will make comparisons between their results and national
elections outcomes. ( Project Outcome 2 )
ASSESSMENTS:
- Teacher will evaluate completed activities to determine student progress.
Each student will have criteria sheets that will focus on the expected outcomes.
- A daily individual/ group journal will be kept citing questions and
concerns raised about the election process and at least one fact learned.
- At least one completed enrichment activity.
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES:
- Students can seek keypals in other regions of the US to compare voting
simulation data.
- Using e-mail, students can explore candidates' platform issues with
students from other US regions and compare relevancy and importance to each
region.
- Students can use graphs from Activity 4 to create their own math word
problems.
- Using web site http://www.dayton.com/kidsnet/elect3.html students
will compare popular vote and electoral vote to define and understand their
relationship.
- Students can locate World Wide Web sites to find past presidential
election results.
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:
POWER OF VOTING