Left to Right: Integrating Technology and the Election in Your Classroom

As November approaches, we are surrounded by tons of resources and information related to the upcoming election. Between the news, rallies, debates, and even bumper stickers, political stories are everywhere this time of year, so why not incorporate them into your teaching? Here are some fun ways to introduce the material to students and even get them involved in their own electronic poll!

At Scholastic's website, students can learn election basics like who is running for President and the history of Election Day. There is a student interview with President Obama, political vocabulary, and an area to virtually “Meet the Candidates!”. Check out these great resources for an election-themed math lesson:

• Once students have an idea of who is running, teachers can create a free online poll. Students can see the results instantly, and class results can then be compared online to the Scholastic Student Vote Winner.
• The New York Times FiveThirtyEight Blog is a great source of election-related charts and graphs you can share with your students. 
• If you’re looking for election-related videos to help reinforce your lesson, NBC Learn’s Decision 2012 has pulled together a collection of videos and related resources on the 2012 election.

Engage your class in a discussion of how we use polls, charts, graphs, and other organizational tools to help us understand the election, identify patterns in different groups, and predict possible outcomes.  Check out PowerUp’s resources on Organizing strategies in math for more ideas.

Image source:
  by  DonkeyHotey