Most people are eager to offer their opinions about topics of interest, but what's the most effective way to collect and assess these opinions as a matter of fact? High schoolers learn about the history of polling, as well as the pitfalls of biased and illegitimate polls, with a thorough lesson plan. After watching a series of video clips about different aspects of polling, they choose a topic for their own polls and work on collecting responses from peers.

Concepts

polls, elections, presidential elections, presidential campaigns, demographics

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members complete the first step of the assignment as homework the day before the lesson
• Use in a sociology class or during a focus on elections in social studies
• Brainstorm a list of additional topics for learners to choose from when conducting their own polls
• Connect the lesson to a math class when compiling and and analyzing poll results

Classroom Considerations

• Based on the topics in the polls, be sure to foster an environment of maturity and cooperation to avoid unnecessary conflict based on personal opinion
• Lesson requires four days to complete; consider condensing or extending the steps to fit with your schedule and curriculum

Pros

• Provides polling worksheet in both PDF and Google document formats, allowing for editing and sharing
• Covers several interesting and topical areas of focus for polls, including the use of phones and the Internet
• Includes links to all necessary video clips

Cons

• None

Common Core

RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.7 RH.11-12.2 RH.11-12.7 RH.11-12.9