This election has been unlike any in modern history. Presidential elections are exciting for students and provide an opportunity to discuss and debate a range of issues in the classroom. Below, we have complied our list of free, useful websites that can help teach students about our nation’s most pressing issues and the way our democracy works.
Election: Lesson Plans, Resources, and Primary Sources
PBS Learning Media Election Central: This site features a wide range of election information including: election news, history, videos, interactive materials and ideas for facilitating classroom debates.
C-SPAN Road to the White House: For video clips of the candidates, look no further! The C-SPAN Road to the White House site features video coverage of many of the campaign stops by Democratic and Republican contenders.
Win the White House Election Game: Looking for ways to add gamification to your election teachings? This simulation game allows your students to run their own presidential campaign and learn about the electoral process through engaging gameplay.
Great Free Resources for Teaching Election 2016: With links to in-house content, as well as classroom-friendly political websites, this NewYork Times Learning Network collection will enable students to conduct in-depth research into a variety of election issues.
Citizens, Not Spectators: Designed to promote voting among young Americans by providing engaging voter education to students in grades 4-12. This useful curriculum for students will help to “demystify the voting process,” with lessons that help students understand voter registration, how voting works, how to become an informed voter and why it is important to cast an informed vote.
Additional Election Day Resources:
- National Education Association Elections Page: Lesson plans for all grades, activities, election background information and topical resources about the 2016 election season.
- ReadWriteThink: Today Is Election Day Lesson Plan: Features free lesson plans, classroom activity ideas and additional websites to help get your students involved with Election Day.
- Elections: Everything You Need From Scholastic: Resources students can use to study elections and mock election ideas for your classroom.
- National Archives and Records Administration: Electoral College Resources: Features Frequently Asked Questions, information about the electors, predictions as well as historical election results.
- The TED-Ed Lesson; The Electoral College Explained by Christina Greer: Discover how an individual vote contributes to the popular vote and each state’s electoral vote in different ways- and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
- TED-Talk: Why Do Americans Vote on Tuesday: In this humorous talk, Jacob Soboroff shares the history of Election Day and shows how voting on a Tuesday affects voter turnout.
How are you planning or how have you incorporated the Election in your classroom?
