Welcome!
The U.S. Embassy School Election Project 2020
Will our state go red or blue?
A collection of short videos introducing the functions of this Moodle course.
Section
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Introduction
This course section introduces you to the U.S. Embassy School Election Project and your adopted U.S. state. In the next weeks, you will become a 'virtual citizen' of one U.S. state, an expert on its population, and predict how it is going to vote on Election Day.
General Contents
General announcements for this course. Only teachers can post here. Posts are automatically forwarded to all students via email.
Getting Started
Get a first impression of your adopted U.S. state and make a first prediction how it's going to vote.
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1. The Electoral System
Section 1 introduces you to the electoral system of the U.S. Learn how the President of the U.S. is elected, what happens during the individual phases of the election campaign, and why it is necessary to focus on the individual states.
The Electoral System—Basics
Learn from a video and a viewing guide how the U.S. President is elected.
Take a quiz on the U.S. electoral system and compete against your classmates. One person (a classmate or your teacher) must set up the quiz and share the quiz code with the class. A registration is not required.
The Electoral System—Step by Step
Form expert groups and explore the individual phases of the election campaign in more detail.
This section contains the state fact sheets with loads of information, statistics, and further resources to help you predict, how the citizens of your state will vote on Election Day.
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2. The Candidates
Section 2 is about the two candidates, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. Learn about their biographical background, their public personas, and their perception by the American public. This includes different text types: political advertisements, campaign websites and social media, and political cartoons.
Meet the Candidates
Get to know the Republican and Democratic candidates for President of the U.S. - who they are and where they come from - and prepare a role play of their 'character whitnesses'.
Campaign Ads
Understand how the candidates want to be seen by the public by analyzing their campaign advertisements.
Understanding Political Cartoons
Learn how the public and the media see the candidates by analyzing their depiction in political cartoons.
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3. The Campaign Issues
Section 3 explores the topics and issues that American voters will be discussing this fall. This includes getting an overview of the 2020 campaign issues, researching select issues in more detail, and finding out where the candidates stand on these issues.
The Campaign Issues
Review the issues that might decide the election outcome and what the candidates say about them by conducting an online research and producing an 'issues chart'.
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4. The Election In Our State
Section 4 is the most important section of the project: Here you will return to the focus on your adopted state, get to know its history, culture, population, and local news media. Is your state going to turn red or blue? Make a well-researched prediction and participate in the school competition.
Predict Your State's Vote
Dive into your adopted state - it's culture, voting history, political discourse, population statistics, economy, local media, and much more - to predict its vote on Election Day.
Participate in the Student Competition
Make a prediction of your state's election outcome and create a well-researched and creative outcome to enter the nationwide school competition of the U.S. Embassy School Election Project 2020.
The competition deadline is Sunday, October 25, 2020, at midnight (Central European Time).
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More resources from the Virtual Town Hall
This section contains useful online resources that will help you design a creative outcome to present your election prediction. For example, you will find web tools to create timelines, videos, presentations, comics, etc. Also, take a look at the resources for royalty-free images, videos, and audio.
Tools
Resources for this task
- TIP: Analyzing cartoons File 172.7 KB PDF document
- TIP: Conducting research File 141.4 KB PDF document
- TIP: Doing project work File 184.8 KB PDF document
- TIP: Giving presentations File 159.2 KB PDF document
- TIP: Golden rules of cooperation File 233.8 KB PDF document
- TIP: Independent work File 383.4 KB PDF document
- TIP: Linking ideas and sentences (vocabulary) File 88.0 KB PDF document
- TIP: Role plays File 588.5 KB PDF document
- TIP: Solving a mediation task File 112.7 KB PDF document
- TIP: Writing an article File 151.9 KB PDF document
- TIP: Writing (general) File 688.0 KB PDF document
- TIP: Viewing films File 398.4 KB PDF document
- TIP: Materialien zum selbstständigen, standardorientierten Lernen - classroom work File Uploaded 21/07/16, 15:17
How to Moodle
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Transatlantic collaboration
If your course is working together with a (German or American) transatlantic partner, this section offers so-called 'tandem activities' that will help you to get to know each other and cooperate on the election project.
Teachers' corner
These resources are meant for German and U.S. teachers collaborating in the same course. Resources in this section are invisible to students.
- Telecollaboration Manual: A Teachers' Guide File Uploaded 15/07/20, 12:03
- Telecollaboration Manual: A Teachers' Guide (PDF) File Uploaded 15/07/20, 12:04
1. Information exchange tasks
Tasks in this category are intended for the first phase of your virtual exchange. These activities will help your students get to know each other, including their peers schools, home towns and states, and develop rapport and trust between both sides.
2. Comparison and analysis tasks
Tasks in this category engage learners in going one step further and carrying out comparisons or analyses of cultural products from both cultures and exploring differences, similarities, and below-the-surface information about both sides.
3. Collaborative tasks
Tasks in this category ask learners to work together to produce a joint product or conclusion, such as the prediction of the election outcome. These tasks involve a great deal of coordination and planning but also bring about substantial amounts of negotiation of meaning both on linguistic and cultural levels as learners strive to reach agreement on their final product.
Assessment and reflection
Activities and resources in this section provide some useful ideas for engaging your students in reflection about their virtual exchange and possible ways of including assessment in this teaching unit.
