East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design
Author: Lynn Dawson and Mary Jankowski
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 7th grade
Title: Election 2000
Length of Unit: Two to three weeks
Materials Need:
Power Macintosh G3 computer
Internet access
printers
large T.V. monitor
word processing program
Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):
Social Studies:
III. Civic Perspective
Content Standard III, 4: All students will explain how American governmental institutions, at the local, state, and federal levels, provide for the limitation and sharing of power and how the nation's political system provides for the exercise of power. (American Government and Politics)
- Evaluate information and arguments from various sources in order to evaluate candidates for public office.
Prior Knowledge:
- The students must know who is running in the Presidential election.
- The students must know how to use the Internet to research the issues.
Cue Set:
The teacher begins discussion by asking the students two questions:
- What qualities do you want in a leader?
- How can citizens with many different ideas reach a decision regarding who is to become the President, our country's leader?
Best Shot Instruction:
- After the students understand the many expectations made of the Presidential candidates, they begin to investigate the issues facing the potential leader of our country.
- To begin, the students spend one class period determining who is running for the office of President and what the candidates’ backgrounds are. Then the students form opinions about the candidates representing the two major political parties.
- They use the Internet to research election material to learn the main issues (i.e., firearms laws and healthcare). The students formulate opinions on the issues and must provide rationale in support of their decisions. Once they make their decisions about the issues, the students must decide which candidates they support. They use search engines to locate Web sites which contain the candidates’ views such as those of the political parties, national publications, and news services featuring current events. They may also use the newspaper and magazine databases that identify specific articles on chosen subjects.
- The students conduct debates on the issues, using the information they have gathered in their research. They try to influence one another to vote for their respective candidates.
- At the end of the unit, the students vote in a mock election for the candidates who best represent their views. They must submit their rationale for voting as they do along with their ballots.
Reteaching and Enrichment:
The students watch a televised debate between the Presidential candidates. Afterwards they discuss whether the candidates presented themselves and their platforms well.
Review and Closure:
To conclude this unit, the students tally the votes and read the explanations. They then determine whether they were successful in changing the minds of others during the class debate.
Assessment:
- The teacher evaluates the student's rationale for voting. If he/she researched and understood the issues, the vote should correspond with his/her stand on the issues.
- The student must pass the test with 80% mastery.