According to an article in Education Week (Vol.28 No. 7, October 8, 2008), Historic Election and New Tech Tools Yield Promising Vistas for Learning, Teachers are using the technologies students are using to teach literacy skills for the 21st Century. According to the article, “The idea is to teach kids as young as possible to be able to navigate this increasingly complicated media world by giving them some basic tools for analysis, …whether they are using Facebook, Wikipedia, or a textbook,” said Cyndy Schiebe, an associate professor of psychology at Ithaca College in New York state and the executive director of Project Look Sharp, which provides resources on presidential campaigns over the past 200 years. New technologies, she added, help students synthesize information from a variety of sources, analyze issues, and compare current events with the historical record (all examples of reference and research skills).”
One teacher in the article has his students analyzing candidate video footage on the campaign and in the debates. Using text-mapping tools, students examine and analyze candidate’s rhetoric and their positions on various issues. Students then engage in lively debate. A terrific forum in which to engage your students is in an online discussion where some students may feel more comfortable voicing an opinion.
Another teacher in the article has his students analyzing how candidates “frame and package information on their Web sites, and learning to question and verify claims made in the ads, using Factcheck.org and other Web sites that gauge the accuracy of campaign materials and news reports.”
“It’s a real advantage to be able not just to be a passive consumer of media,” Mr. Block said, “but to take some of the skills and theory from class and apply them to what you’re watching.”
“That kind of critical thinking, some experts say, reflects the skills that students will need to compete in a global economy. According to a report released last month by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, there is a growing need for workers who have “the ability to respond flexibly to complex problems, communicate effectively, manage information, work in teams, and produce new knowledge.” (See Education Week, Sept. 17, 2008).
Some other ideas from the article include using “[i]nteractive maps…with states coded in red or blue according to which party’s candidate they voted for in previous elections, show in graphic terms how the Electoral College picks the president. Using poll results that are updated regularly up to the election,” students can make predictions of who might win.
Many of the Web resources with classroom applications for election-related lessons have the potential for developing” the desired 21st Century Skills. For example the Living Room Candidate initiative calls for students to view campaign ads and “work across elections to see thematically how some of the same issues emerge election after election.”
SSS Standards addressed using technology and the 2008 election the research and reference content area of FCAT aare:
Benchmark LA.A.2.3.3: The student recognizes logical, ethical, and emotional appeals in texts. Benchmark LA.A.2.3.5: The student locates, organizes, and interprets written information for a variety of purposes, including classroom research, collaborative decision making, and performing a school or real-world task. Benchmark LA.A.2.3.6: The student uses a variety of reference materials, including indexes, magazines, newspapers, and journals, and tools, including card catalogs and computer catalogs, to gather information for research topics.Benchmark LA.A.2.3.8: The student checks the validity and accuracy of information obtained from research, in such ways as differentiating fact and opinion, identifying strong vs. weak arguments, recognizing that personal values influence the conclusions an author draws.
Resources for the 21st-Century Lessons on the Election:
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