A presidential election is a lot like the 2004 World Series, and it's also a lot like choosing an orange in a paper bag. Apply the process of the electoral college to these two analogies with a set of lessons about government representation and its history in American politics.

Concepts

the electoral college, voting, voting rights, the united states constitution, the united states government, presidential elections

Show More Show Less

Additional Tags

social studies

Show More Show Less

Instructional Ideas

• Use in a social studies class when discussing the electoral college, or in a student government club to discuss representation and elections
• Have young historians compare the elections mentioned in the resource to recent (or current) presidential elections

Classroom Considerations

• Some of the primary documents may be hard to read; try finding other versions of the documents if they don't print well

Pros

• Prompts scholars to think critically about a process they might not know anything about
• Explains a complicated system with apt metaphors and comparisons
• Comes with a teacher reference resource

Cons

• None

Common Core

RI.7.1 RI.8.1