Political candidates work hard at creating an image they believe will appeal to voters. High schoolers collect 10 photos and other images of a candidate and analyze them to determine what techniques create a positive or negative impression.

Separating political rhetoric from propaganda is no small feat. Class members are challenged to examine two different sources about a candidate in an upcoming election and determine whether the primary purpose of the source is to inform...

How do advertisements evoke specific thoughts and feelings? Class members find out through the exploration of the Internet, videos, television, magazines, radio, and posters. Learners investigate commercial advertisements, political...

Students explore political persuasive writing. In this government and persuasive writing lesson, students work in groups to write text and create graphics for a  brochure describing and promoting a predetermined political candidate.

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,...

What does it take to win the White House? A video game allows young political operatives to try their hand at winning 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by deciding on key issues, where and how to spend campaign dollars, and the role of polling...

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 activity that introduces class members to several fact-checking resources.

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...

Election years provide the opportunity to evaluate news media as well as the next prospective president. High schoolers read about the same event in several different news sources, varying in type, origin, and political leaning,...

Campaign ads target both timely issues and general themes. Presidential campaign ads from 1952 and 1988 provide class members an opportunity to compare how the topics ads choose to address can dramatically influence election outcomes.

Why is voting important? A social studies unit presents a non-partisan approach to the importance of voting, to voting laws and procedures, and to resources that voters need to become informed voters.

Students conduct political campaigns. For 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.

"Life is like a box of chocolates. . ." "Barack is a Mac, Hillary is a PC." Literal and figurative analogies are featured in a presentation that models how to use analogies to bolster arguments.

This lesson may be used to introduce students to the system of primaries and caucuses by which candidates for U.S. president are nominated by their parties. After completing this lesson, students will understand the process by which...