Voting for the next president of the United States is about finding the candidate who most closely aligns with your own values and sense of democracy. High schoolers become acquainted with the candidates from the 2016 election with a...

Imagine a lesson that models for learners how to separate facts from opinions. How to detect bias. How to evaluate a source of information. How to identify propaganda. Although designed for middle schoolers, the activities in this packet...

Don't let the young citizens in your social studies class get all their election information from inflammatory commercials and arguing pundits. Use a lesson plan from C-SPAN to guide class members through an election season with a...

Students watch election commercials for a homework assignment. They analyze the commercials and create a commercial for a fictitious candidate using the techniques they observed.

Students examine the presidential candidates and their election platforms. They further analyze the platforms by creating a chart to determine which candidate most represents his or her beliefs and values.

Students explore television commercials to classify them into categorizes. In this commercial categories lesson, students brainstorm about commercials that catch their attention. Students analyze the categories for commercials and then...

Students are videotaped in an interview and then view commercial footage.  In this creating commercials activity, students view a commercial and write the components they find in it.  Groups make commercials and share.

Political ads are designed to play on viewers' emotions. The focus of this resource is on ads that feature children, either to establish the candidate as family friendly, or to create fear for children in the minds of viewers. Groups...

Students research the issues and platforms of candidates and separate propaganda from process in order to choose a candidate to support. Students examine political parties and their contributions to shaping the foundation of the...

Students explore how political candidates use mass media to deliver their messages to voters. Focusing on specific issues in the upcoming election, students create television commercials representing different parties' views.

The verbal techniques and emotional appeals contained in the language used in political ads plays a vital role in creating the impact of the ad. As class members continue their study of Presidential campaign commercials from 1952–2012,...

As an introduction to a series of related resources that examine political advertising and commercials from 1952-2012, class members use the provided rubric to analyze and rate the effectiveness of the emotion, persuasion, factual...

Class members investigate the role media should play in a healthy democracy. As part of this study, groups analyze political advertising, use FactCheck to assess not only the veracity of but the persuasions techniques used in candidates'...

Learners explore political candidates' viewpoints on issues that contribute to the "common good." In this political candidates activity, students read and view mixed media to identify political issues that contribute to a civil society....

Students conduct political campaigns. In this campaign investigation lesson, students research political parties and political offices. Students choose an office to run for and create election videos that incorporate propaganda techniques.

Students watch two commericals from previous presidential elections on the topic of healthcare. After reading an article, they identify the position of the various candidates for the 2008 election. In groups, they brainstorm their own...

Learners explore political advertising. They discuss what informed voters should know about upcoming elections and identify the four main types of ads and view a video to identify the types of ads. Evaluating the ads, they identify...

Just how true is the information contained in political ads? Determining the veracity of campaign ads from the 2008 presidential race is the focus of a lesson that introduces class members to several fact-checking resources.

Learners examine the financial committment to running a campaign. They discuss the difference between electroal and popular votes. They realize how involved a political campaign is!

What strategies are employed when creating propaganda? Your young historians will learn about six different techniques utilized in the construction of political propaganda, particularly in the advertisements of World War I. The...

Register, establish a platform, make campaign speeches, and design campaign advertisements with a study of presidential elections. Young citizens engage in various activities that mimic the election process.

One of the great things about technology is that it lets youngsters visit museums that may be many miles away. With this resource, middle and high schoolers can visit the portrait galleries at J. Paul Getty Museum, located in Los...

Students watch tapes of televised presidential debates dating from 1960. They analyze debates and participate in mock debates.

Students listen to music and the different messages it sends and then they make a theme song for a campaign. In this theme song lesson plan, students learn about propaganda and the importance of music.