School Improvement in Maryland
Evaluating Political Advertisements
How do interest groups try to influence elections? As part of their study of the election process, groups view 30-second advertisements produced by advocacy groups and use the provided worksheet to evaluate these ads. They then craft...
Curated OER
Political Campaign Ads
During a political campaign, you can hardly turn around without encountering an endorsement or attack on a candidate. High schoolers examine the ways that negative advertisement, positive advertisements, and everything in between can...
Curated OER
Electoral Politics
Students formulate their own opinions about the issues in an election campaign through a critical examination of political advertisements, candidate debates, and political cartoons.
Carolina K-12
Propaganda, Spin and Soundbite Politics
It's all about the spin! In an introduction to propaganda techniques and soundbite politics, scholars first learn about common propaganda techniques before seeing them in action in the context of the 2016 election cycle. Activities...
National Council for the Social Studies
Analyzing a Product or Political Advertisement
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...
Museum of the Moving Image
Understanding the Language of Political Ads
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,...
Curated OER
Ad Nauseam
Students explore the role of special-interest groups in American campaigns. They create their own political advertisements.
Curated OER
TV ATTACK ADS AND THE VOTER
Students read about the history of negative political advertisements in U.S. elections. In this politics instructional activity, students view several ads for opposing candidates and analyze and discuss the content. Students write...
Curated OER
Political Advertisements
Students are shown how to analyze the messages and the impact of the candidates' politicial adertisements in print, video, and audio formats. They are shown the techniques that candidates use to influence voter decisions and how to...
Curated OER
All Aboard The Campaign Train!
Students explore campaign politics. In this political campaign lesson, students investigate multimedia sources in order to examine the structure of political parties and platforms from previous presidential elections. Students then...
C-SPAN
Evaluating Historical Presidential Campaign Ads
Political ads flood the airwaves each election cycle. An activity including more than a dozen political ads from iconic presidential campaigns helps learners unpack how the sausage gets made during election "silly season." Using the...
Curated OER
Political Science: Political Analysis Through Satire
Students identify, analyze and explain examples of politcal satire. They discuss the role of political satire in the democratic process and create and present examples of political satire.
Historical Thinking Matters
Social Security: 3 Day Lesson
What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...
Curated OER
Behind the Ad: The Process of Producing a Political Commerical
Students examine how advertisements are produced for political campaigns. In groups, they view various examples of different advertisements and create their own ad by completing the steps listed in the lesson plan. They share their ad...
Classroom Law Project
Should we believe everything we read? Becoming a discerning consumer of media
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'...
Teacher Web
1920's Magazine
What a creative and engaging project to incorporate into your studies of the 1920s! Your young historians will work in groups to design a magazine discussing the political and cultural topics of the decade, each member writing one...
Curated OER
The Media
Students identify various forms of media used in a political campaign and compare the different formats as vehicles for distributing political messages. They analyze the effectiveness of candidate's uses of different media.
Curated OER
Hillary Clinton's Voting Record Distorted
Learners examine how political advertisements can be used to deliver messages and stir emotions. Using a political ad from the 2006 Senate election, students generate questions based on the claims in the ads. They research information to...
Curated OER
John McCain's Tax Stand Misrepresented
Students examine how political advertisements can be misleading. Using a political ad against tax reform, students generate questions based on the claims in the ads. They research information to support or refute the claims in the ad and...
Curated OER
Amnesty: More Than a Word
Young scholars explain how the use of certain emotive terms affects voter's perceptions. Students assess how word choice by political parties can changes our thinking on a subject. After viewing ads by the two political parties, young...
Curated OER
Storytellers: Pearl Jam "Never Let Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story"
Students analyze the lyrics from a Pearl Jam song and examine the concept of truth in political advertising. They watch the video, "VH1 Storytellers: Pearl Jam," participate in a class discussion, conduct research, and prepare a report...
Curated OER
ESL Reading Comprehension-Job Advertisements
In this ESL reading comprehension worksheet, students read job advertisements and complete associated comprehension questions, 6 total.
Curated OER
Religion and Peace
Students explore peacemaking efforts. In this religion and ethics instructional activity, students examine the religious, social, and political values that accompany peacemaking efforts on a global scale. Students create and implement...
Curated OER
The First World War
High schoolers examine the process and effects of World War I on different segments of the population, beyond the political, diplomatic and military framework of the war. They analyze the memoirs of soldiers, read poetry of the time, and...