Improving American Elections and Voting: A Project-Based Learning Experience

Engage your students in this in-depth project-based learning activity where they get to propose reforms to the American election system. In this activity, students work collaboratively to create their own interest group and develop a persuasive campaign to present before the "Presidential Commission on Electoral Reform." In their groups, students seek to identify three major areas of reform and propose solutions to these areas to help improve America's election system. This is a great activity for promoting critical thinking about American elections and how they can be reformed.

This activity comes with plenty of scaffolds to support student progress and thinking in creating their presentation as well as to support teacher implementation. These include: student brainstorming guide; slideshow blueprint form; project checklist to direct group progress; and guide to developing strong questions to ask of other groups. In addition to the project, extension assessment options are provided, including: a class deliberation along with teacher question script and an individual student writing assessment (plus rubric). A guide to implementing in the classroom is provided. Rubrics are included.

Looking for a more traditional assessment or want to complement this with a traditional test? Check out Elections and Voting in America Test Bank.