Online Curriculum Helps Kids Understand the Election Process

By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 8/19/2008 10:04:00 PM

Just in time for Election Day, Media Education Lab! and PBS Teachers have released their latest multimedia curriculum: ACCESS, ANALYZE, ACT: A Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement.

The curriculum is designed to help develop students' understanding of the presidential campaign process by harnessing the power of Web 2.0 for teaching media and information literacy, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and technology skills. The curriculum has more than a dozen social media tools that can engage young learners in the political process. There are also videos and lesson plans for teachers.

Start by visiting the Blueprint page to get a big picture perspective on the curriculum. Then, watch three video modules for teachers on the Access, Analyze and Act pages that showcase how teachers can integrate social media tools into teaching and learning. Students can explore an interactive Quiz to measure and reflect upon their civic engagement. The full Curriculum Guide includes nearly a dozen high-interest lesson plans that incorporate Web 2.0 tools to promote civic engagement and 21st century skills. Librarians and teachers can use these activities to strength their students’ 21st century learning skills for civic engagement. Then they can share their experiences and opinions about using these new materials on the site’s wiki.

The Media Education Lab at Temple University is a research and community outreach programs for media literacy education.