Running (Check) Mate

Prepare your classes for election year debates with a series of activities that model how to watch televised debates and how to evaluate the moderators as well as the debaters.

Young historians investigate how sexism impacted the 2020 United States presidential election. They examine media coverage of the six women candidates, engage in a four-corners debate reacting to statements about gender and the...

How do the presidential debates of 2016 compare to the debates from the 1980's? What about the 1960's? Evaluate a chosen candidate or issue from the 20th and 21st centuries with a lesson plan focused on political debates. Middle and high...

This site from PBS News Hour contains great information on the presidential election debates of the 2000 election between Bush and Gore. It contains text articles of the debates in entirety.

Scholars assess how word choice and linguistic patterns affect a presidential debate. They examine candidates' words for repetition and analyze what this repetition means. Then they locate countries that fit the expression free world. In...

Scroll back as far as 1960 to watch and interact with highlights from debates between presidential and vice presidential candidates over the years. Examine ways the candidates debate topics of the economy, gun control, and civil rights....

An interview with Ms. Ferraro, first female vice-presidential candidate, regarding the 1984 debate against republican candidate George Bush.

The pages in this section summarize available information on major historic political debates. Click on the buttons at the bottom to learn about debates that occurred in each respective year. It provides videos and transcripts of many...

A full transcript of the historical debate including an audio version and links into other viewpoints and opinions about the debate.

High schoolers examine the function of presidential debates. In this civics lesson, students view segments of presidential and vice presidential debates. High schoolers analyze the answers given in the debates and identify the platforms...