Introduction
This lesson plan will involve the students in exploring voting behavior in United States elections and will instruct the students in the location, retrieval, analysis and display of data.
Standards
Addressed
Grade 12 – PRINCIPLES
OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & ECONOMICS
12.6 Students evaluate issues
regarding campaigns for national, state, and local elective office, in
terms of:
1.
the origin, development, and role of political parties noting those occasional
periods in which there was only one major party or were more than two major
parties
2.
the history of the presidential candidate nomination process and increasing
importance of primaries in general elections
3.
the role of polls, campaign advertising and the controversies over campaign
funding
4.
the means that citizens use to participate in the political process (e.g.,
voting, campaigning, lobbying, filing a legal challenge, demonstrating,
petitioning, picketing, running for political office)
5.
the features of direct democracy in numerous states such as the process
of referendums and recall elections
6.
trends in voter turnout, the causes and effects of reapportionment and
redistricting, with special attention to spatial districting and the rights
of minorities, and the function of the Electoral College
Instructional
Objectives
Students will describe the changes in electoral turnout and voting behavior over the past several presidential elections.
Students will identify sources where elections data are stored and will retrieve relevant data.
Students will prepare an analysis of the voting data to identify trends in turnout and will identify factors which may be contributing to changes in turnout.
Students will display their conclusions in a manner which is persuasive and accessible
Student
Activities
Insert brief summaries of your introductory, enabling, and culminating activities. Insert links to online resources in your text and insert links to activities on your student lesson web site.
Introductory Activity
Show students the overhead/powerpoint slide which compares US voter turnout with other western style democracies. include link to slide here
Ask students to consider factors that might account for the differences between the US and other counties.
Show students the overhesd/powerpoint slide which tracks Presidential turnout over time. Include link to slide here
Ask students to consider factors that might account for the differences in turnout over time.
Administer the pre-test to the students. Insert link to pretest here.
Enabling Activity(ies)Instructions for locating elections data:
Step 1: Enter the Census Bureau
web site - in your internet browser,
type in www.census.gov
OR - click on the link in this box.
Step 2: you will see the
Census Bureau web page. Click on the
SEARCH button on the left of the page.
This will bring up the search page.
Step 3: on the
SEARCH page, type elections in the search box, and
click on the Search Titles And Keywords radio button on the right of
the page, then click on the button that says SEARCH.
This will bring up a search results page of web sites.
Step 4:
on the page with search results, click on the blue link that
says Voting and Registration Data
This will bring up the page with reports on voting and registration.
Step 5:
On the Voting and Registration page (hint - bookmark this
page so you can return to it often) scroll down to the heading that
says HISTORICAL TIME SERIES TABLES.
There are two tables - Table A-1 lists registration and voting results
by ethnicity, and Table A-2 lists registratiion and voting results by
region, education, and employment status, for the elections from
1964 through 1998.
When you open the data tables, you should examine
how the data is structured. You will note that the data are organized
into rows and columns. Along the left hand edge of the table are
the years of the elections; across the top of the table are labels for
each of the columns. To find the data for a particular
year , sinply find the year and read across the table. To look at
one particular column over time, simply find the column heading and read
down the table.
Note that every national election from 1964
to 1998 is recorded. You will need to decide whether you want to
look at every election, every Presidential election, or every non-Presidential
election and extract your data accordingly. (Remember, Presidential
elections occur every 4 years, beginning in 1964, and non-Presidential
elections also occur every 4 years, beginning in 1966.)
You should review the data tables and identify
the parts that you wish to look at. You should either copy the data
onto a piece of paper or highlight the parts of the table that you want
to look at and copy them into a spreadsheet or word processor (or you may
copy the entire tables).
Once you have copied the data tables, you
need to begin the analysis. Look at the data and try to identify
trends in voter turnout over time, then examine the different column headings
to try to explain what is happening to turnout over time. You will
probably need to look at several different factors to try to explain what
is happening to explain the changes in election turnout over time.
Assessment
Insert your grading rubric for the culminating activity or a link to your rubric or test document file.
Results
After implementing your lesson (sometime between January & March), insert a chart of your pre-test, post-test, and culminating assessment data.
Web
Resources & Supplementary Materials
Introductory Activity
List and link the web resources
for this activity here. Also link supplementary materials such as PDF files
and /or document files.
Enabling Activity
List and link the web resources
for your learning activity(ies) here. Also link supplementary materials
such as PDF files and /or document files.
Culminating Activity
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Last Revised:
06/30/2000 (insert and update last revision date every time you
work on this page.)