Introduction
2016 is a big year in the United States, it's ELECTION YEAR! You and your classmates are going to be assigned to work on the campaigns for the upcoming elections. You will be tasked with having a good understanding of the electoral process, the stance and agenda of the political party you are working with, as well as the parties you are running against. Be sure you understand what it takes to win an election, our countries future is dependant on your involvement!
Task
You will be creating a campaing advertisement for the candidate of your political party. This campaign ad will be presented to the class, where you will address your peers and inform them of your candidate's stance and agenda in attempts to persuede them to vote. Your votes are the future of our country, let's make them count!!!
Process
You will be working on the WebQuest with a partner, one of you will be taking on the role of Campaing Manager, the other will be taking on the role of the Advertisement Specialist. You will be assigned a political party to represent. The goal of this WebQuest is for you two to create an advertisement that clearly demonstrates your candidate's stances on major issues, and their primary agendas for what they wish to accomplish during their Presidency.
*If you are assigned to one of our two major parties, please be sure to focus your research on their political agendas and not the scandals that may be surrounding them!
Decide who will be taking on the role of Campaing Manager, and who will be taking on the role of Advertisement Specialist. You will see how you will be evaluated in the next section. Below are links where you can start your research, but you are more then welcome to find other resources as well!
1) Review our country's resources for voters. Investigate the tips and frequently asked questions, so you have a good understanding of the voting process, and consider how this impacts your voting future.
http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/
2) National Public Radio's website has full coverage of the elections up until this point. Many of this information is not covered by other mainstream news sources, so this would be a good place to begin your research to get a foundation before heading over to other news sources.
http://www.npr.org/sections/elections/
3) CNN is well known for it's election coverage. Review the information, videos, and survey results here to learn about the journey towards Election Day that has occured thus far.
4) Rock-The-Vote is typically aimed at young voters, to encourage them to engage in this new found civic duty! Learn about how and where to vote, who is voting, and come up with ideas on how to reach your audience in your campaign.
Evaluation
Campagin Manager:
-Issues are presented in a comprehensive manner
-Party's stance on issues is clearly explained
-Factual Accuracy
-Organization, Mechanics (grammar, spelling, neatness), and Overall Presentation
-Group input and participation
Advertisement Specialist:
-Creative Advertisement is produced
-Ad includes two to three significant political issues
-Other party is addressed
-Organization, Mechanics (grammar, spelling, neatness), and Overall Presentation
-Group input and participation
Conclusion
Congratulations! You are now all politically aware citizens who know about issues and controversies surrounding our upcoming elections this year! From this assignment, you were able to create advertisements and presentations that depict the information many of our voters need to know for their participation. Now, you can go confidently into the world and know how to research important issues and political members so that you can make a difference in future elections! Stay active, stay engaged, and stay motivated to keep improving!
Teacher Page
This WebQuest was based off the following lesson: