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Vote Smart Lessons
The following lesson plans have been prepared by Project Vote Smart as a resource for teachers of government and social studies.
- Who Represents Me? - A Quiz
- How Congress Works
- Campaign Promises - Election Year Activity
- Campaign Promises - Non-Election Year Activity
- Track the Candidates
- How Do People Decide Who to Vote For?
- Types of Ads
- Political Parties - An Online Activity
- Lesson Plans Elsewhere on the Web
Lessons prepared by Elise Senter, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, and Johonna Hill.
Who Represents Me? - A Quiz
Objective - To use the Vote Smart Web to find out who the local representatives are, and assorted biographical and political facts about those representatives.
Do you know who the elected officials from your district are? These are the people who should be your own personal advocates in your state capitol and in Washington, D.C. If you don't know who your representatives are, you can use the Vote Smart Web to look them up and answer the following questions about them.
1. Senate(2):
2. Representative:
3. State Senator:
4. State Assembly/House:
5. What is the address for your U.S. Representative in Washington?
6. How about the address when he or she is at home in the District?
7. Did your Representative take the Political Courage Test?
8. If so, what were his/her Top Two Legislative Priorities?
9. How did he/she vote on Term Limits?
10. How much money did he/she take from Political Action Committees during the last election cycle?
11. How was he/she rated by groups concerned with gun issues?
12. Where did he/she go to school? Where was he/she born and where does he/she live now?
How Congress Works
Objective - To be able to explain how a bill becomes a law.
In order to monitor your employees, you need to know something about the environment in which they work and the political realities of representative government. You elect two senators from your state and one representative from your congressional district. They go to Washington to represent your interests, and to make laws that will govern your country, your community and your family. Do you know how they actually make these laws?
Using the Vote Smart Web and any other sources you can think of, find out exactly how a law is made. Then use your knowledge to create a clear diagram which demonstrates the most typical way in which proposed legislation is enacted into law. After you have your diagram, answer the following questions and complete the chart.
1. How long do you think it would take for a bill to go through this process?
2. How many bills a year do you think become law?
3. What are some of the rules that are different for the house and the senate? Why do you think our founders created different rules for each chamber?
4. The following terms are related to the passage of laws. First, look them up to be sure you have a complete understanding of their meaning. Then, indicate what chamber they are used in, if you think they would affect how long it takes to pass a bill (lengthen or shorten?), or whether they would have an effect on whether the bill is passed at all.
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Definition and chamber:
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Effect on length of time before passage: |
Effect on actual passage: |
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Cloture:
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Filibuster:
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Discharge Petition:
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Discharge Resolution:
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Germane:
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Rider:
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Veto:
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Override:
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5. Once you have completed this table, indicate where these terms might fit in on your diagram of how legislation becomes a law. You might want to make a color code by using one color for terms that might slow legislation down and another color for terms that could speed it up.
Campaign Promises - Election Year Activity
Objective - To identify major issues, learn what the candidates positions were/are on these issues during the election and compare those stances to their actions once elected, using Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test and Major Votes. Students should be able to discuss the concepts of negative advertising, campaign rhetoric, and bias.
What is a campaign promise? What influences the claims candidates make during the election? How do you separate rhetoric from reality?
Vocabulary:
Where might you be able to obtain examples of rhetoric?
- Campaign Commercials (for and against the candidate)
- Campaign Literature
- Newspaper, TV or Radio
- Candidate Web Pages
- Candidate "stump" speeches
- Where else?
See how many examples of candidate rhetoric you can find in any of the above sources or those of your own brainstorming.
Then, by comparing that rhetoric with candidate's voting records and Political Courage Test responses, you can check the accuracy of the claims made by candidates. Does the rhetoric line up with the reality?
Questions to consider:
1. How do negative "mudslinging" ads work? Why do candidates use them?
2. How many reasons can you think of to explain why a candidate would misrepresent the facts?
3. Can you more clearly see a bias in the rhetoric when you compare it to the Political Courage Test response? What elements does the bias include? To whom do you think the candidate was trying to appeal?
Campaign Promises - Non-Election Year Activity
Objective - To identify major issues, learn what the candidates positions were/are on these issues during the election and compare those stances to their actions once elected, using Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test and Major Votes. Students should be able to discuss the concepts of negative advertising, campaign rhetoric, and bias.
How do you know that the people you hire are going to do what they said they would during the campaign? Being a long distance employer is a challenge, but Project Vote Smart can help you.
1) With a partner, choose an issue covered on the Political Courage Test, such as:
- Balanced Budget Amendment
- Campaign Finance
- Abortion
- Term Limits
2) One partner should research your representative's campaign promise -- how they said they felt about the issue during their campaign for office, and what they said they were going to do about it. The other partner will be responsible for discovering what they have actually done.
Suggested Sources:
Issue Stances
Voting Records
After you are done with your research, share your findings with your partner. Do they match up? If they do not, why do you think a candidate would change their mind and vote differently then they said they would originally?
Write a letter to one of the representatives you have researched, either commending him/her for voting in line with campaign promises, or asking why they changed stances.
Track the Candidates
Objective - To identify all candidates for President and Congress, the major issues and how the candidates stand on these issues.
Which elections are taking place this year? Do you know who is running? Do you know what the issues are? Will they effect you? As a class (or on your own), try keeping track of the candidates for at least one race from beginning to end to see how a job applicant becomes a hired employee.
1. Who are the candidates for each race? Identify the incumbent (if there is one).
2. Use Project Vote Smart to obtain a full list of candidates, their parties and addresses.
3. When you made your first list, did you leave out many candidates? Why? Which candidates do you think get the most media attention?
4. Do you know anything at all about these candidates? What? Make a list of anything you know or assume about them.
5. Where did you get the information you listed above? From the media? From your family?
How Do People Decide Who To Vote For?
Objective - To identify ways in which people get their information on candidates and evaluate the usefulness of these sources.
There are two types of voting. Which kind do you think most elections are decided by?
Prospective Voting means "forward-looking". This is when voters look carefully at both candidates and evaluate how their future will be if they vote for each person. This type of voting requires looking closely at the ISSUES.
Retrospective Voting means "backward-looking." How have things been in recent years? If the answer is good, then the voter is likely to re-elect the incumbents. If the answer is not so good, then the voter is likely to vote for the challengers.
Vote for the challenger if
- groceries are expensive
- mortgage rates are high
- rent increases
- unemployment
- no money to save
Vote for the incumbent if
- low costs for staple items
- little or no inflation
- little or no rent increase
- unemployment is low
- saving money
Can you think of other reasons a retrospective voter might vote for the incumbent or the challenger?
The Brainstorm
How do people get their information about the candidates for whom they are voting? Brainstorm a list of as many places you can think of where people get their political information.
- TV
- Project Vote Smart
- And...?
The Interview
Your teacher will lead the class in developing a questionnaire about how individuals get information on their candidates. You should then take the questionnaire home and use it to interview two adults (parents, grandparents, brothers/sisters, etc.)
The Questions
As you are interviewing people, think about these questions. You will discuss them as a class after all the interviews have been completed.
1. How do you think the source of information might effect the way people vote?
2. What do you think is the most effective source of information for the candidates?
3. What is the most useful source for the voters?
4. Are you happy with the information you are receiving from these sources? Do you think that the kinds of information available now will enable you to make a well-informed choice when you are old enough to vote?
Some suggestions for the brainstorm if the students get stuck:
- Project Vote Smart
- Newspapers
- TV News
- Family
- Friends
- Radio
- Campaign Ads (how many different mediums do these come in? Besides TV, there are billboards, yard signs, buttons, bumper stickers -- not to mention speeches, public appearances, etc)
- Campaign Literature
- Internet
- Magazines
You may want to discuss the differences and similarities between these sources. Which ones are likely to have bias and which ones are not? For older students, they may be able to find the same information in several sources with a different bias in each source. Will they be surprised to learn that even newspapers and the radio have biases?
Types of Ads
Objective - To learn to recognize the different types of political ads and gain an understanding of why candidates may chose to conduct issue-less campaigns.
There are four main types of ads:
- Negative - One candidate portrays the other in an unfavorable light.
- Warm and Fuzzy - Candidates make the viewer feel good about the country or his/her campaign.
- Humorous - Candidates elicit a laugh or smile from the viewer.
- Scary - Candidates evoke images of fear (usually combined with a Negative ad).
Can you think of examples that fit into each of the four types? After you have closely observed some political ads, answer the following questions.
- What are the key messages communicated in each advertisement?
- Which type of ad was more memorable? Why?
- Which do you think would be most effective in convincing viewers to vote for (or against) a candidate?
- Did you learn from the ads? Did they help you to decide which candidate to support?
- What do all types have in common? Do they provide factual information or do they evoke an emotional response?
- During which programs do the ads play? What time of the day do you see the most ads?
- What are the limitations of a 30 second commercial?
- How important is a candidate's look in these ads? What type of image are they trying to create?
- If you were the campaign manager for a candidate for congress in your district, what type of ad would you try to create?
Political Parties - An Online Activity
Objective - To understand what a political party is, how the major parties originated, and gain an awareness of the existence of other parties outside of the big two.
Vocabulary:
Overview of Political Parties:
The first official political party in the United States was the Federalist Party. It began in 1789 when George Washington was elected to his first term. Our first President won the popular vote in eleven states and was unanimously elected by the Electoral College.
The Federalist party existed for about 25 years and gradually died out because it did not win another Presidential election after John Adams' victory in 1797.
The oldest political party in the United States today is the Democratic party. It was founded by Thomas Jefferson and was first known as the Democratic-Republican Party. By Andrew Jackson's election in 1828 it had become a fixture in American politics, as later did the Republican Party which started in 1856 as a minority party. As a result of a three-way split in the Democratic Party in 1860, Abraham Lincoln become the only minor party candidate in American History to win a presidential election. From that time on, the Republicans have shared equal billing with the Democrats as our major parties.
Between 1778 and 1997 there have been 19 Democratic Presidents, 17 Republican Presidents, 4 Whig Presidents, and 2 Federalist Presidents.
- Can you name some of the third parties today?
- Who were some of the people who ran for President in 1996 from parties other than the Republicans or Democrats?
- Do you think it is possible that you will see the development of a new major party in your lifetime?
- Once you find some candidates from different independent parties, pick one party to research. Research the party on the web, and contact the party to request printed information. Then prepare a report for your classmates to inform them about this party. Do you think anything would be different in your life today if a member of this party were president?
Lesson Plans Elsewhere on the Web
Government-Related Lesson Plans:
The Academy Curriculum Exchange
AskERIC Lesson Plans - Social Studies
Civnet Curricula, lesson plans, and syllabi relating to civics. Includes lesson plans in English, Spanish, and French.
Columbia Education Center
Curricular Materials of the Center for Civic Education
Houghton Mifflin Education Place - Social Studies Activities
The Lesson Plans Page - Social Studies
Sites With Links to Lesson Plan Sources:
Awesome Library - Social Studies Lesson Plans
Lesson Plans and Teaching Strategies Links gathered by Dr. Marty Levine of California State University, Northridge.
Other Educational Resources on the Internet
Aerial Views of the Nation's Capitol An online photographic exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution.
History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teacher "The major purpose of this home page is to encourage the use of the World Wide Web as a tool for learning and teaching and to provide some help for K-12 classroom teachers in locating and using the resources of the Internet in the classroom."
National Council for the Social Studies "Welcome to the NCSS Online Educator's Area! Here you'll find resources for social studies education including news, professional development opportunities, information on meetings and seminars, and links to local and regional social studies organizations." Includes Web Tech, an online column about teaching with Internet resources.
Smithsonian Photographs A collection of photographs online from the Smithsonian Institute.
Social Studies School Service Materials for teaching social studies.
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