Presidential Election Curricula for the Gifted
As the excitement builds this fall with the upcoming election, teachers and parents will want to have good resources at hand to help gifted students understand the election process. Here are just a few resourses. If you have other good resources to share, please list them in the comments area of this blog entry.
Specific Curricula
Rutherford Public Schools in New Jersey has developed
curricula for their gifted program, grades 7–8. The information is very general and includes objectives, course outline, curriculum content standards, assessments, resources, and activities.
One of the resources used in the Rutherford Public Schools curriculum is the
Interact simulation The Presidential Election Process. Interact recommends this curriculum for grades 5–8. If you scroll down on this page, you will see that Interact materials were recommended in my June 28, 2008 blog entry.
General Resources
Fact Monster from Information Please explains how a president gets elected. Follow links on the left side of the page to find extensive information on Campaign 2008, presidential conventions, and facts about U.S. elections.
FactCheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.
PolitiFact.com rates the accuracy of candidates' statements on their records, attacks on opponents, and organizes statements by issue/topic.