With control of the House and Senate at stake, the 2002 elections are a great opportunity to help students obtain the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for them to assume "the office of citizen" - as Thomas Jefferson called it - in our democratic republic.

NewsHour Extra, the education resource section of the Online NewsHour, has developed lesson plans to help teachers and educators engage students in an exploration of four main democratic themes: how legislation is made and how it affects individuals and communities; political polling and public opinion; political commercials and forms of political persuasion; and voter turnout and the power of the vote.

There are also stories outlining what's at stake in the 2002 House races and the importance of each Senate race.

Each one of the lesson plans is designed to work as written, but we encourage teachers and educators to modify the curriculum according to your needs and those of your students. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please e-mail us at extra@newshour.org

1. How this election could change the U.S.
-- Students ask their congress member and the leading opponent to select the five pieces of legislation most important to them, and put together a David Letterman-type list.
-- Once you have the list of bills, each is described in a single paragraph.
-- Students then perform a cooperative group webbing activity, where they write in one of the bills in the center of a graphic organizer web and trace results which could affect their local communities, their families, and themselves, if the bill passes. Example: if Congress passes a prescription drug coverage bill for the elderly, how will it affect grandma? Drug companies in our state? Future drug research? Students as they grow older, and must support aging parents?

3. Political Polling in your community
-- Students read about polls and error. Students compose their own poll.
-- Each student commits to surveying a certain number of adults in his own community who say they are definitely going to vote in the upcoming election.
-- Students compile results and publish on local and national Web sites.

3. Analyzing Political Commercials
-- Over a week, students watch for and record (on paper) a political commercial on TV.
-- They analyze the commercial for techniques of persuasion.
-- Cooperative groups of students use a storyboard template (downloadable) to make their own commercial for a fictitious candidate for local, state, or national office - using the techniques learned.

4. Bringing Out the Vote
-- Students develop a flyer, incorporating the low percentage of voter turnout in off year elections in your state. They include a listing of the major races/candidates in November 2002. Students look up the polling location for the school's immediate community and feature it prominently on their flyer.
-- Students produce and distribute hundreds of these flyers in the neighborhood.
-- Local affiliate PBS stations could feature students bringing out the vote this way, on the Monday night before Election Day.

Author Syd Golston is an educational administrator, curriculum writer and historian. She taught secondary Social Studies for 20 years, wrote lessons and in-serviced teachers in 40 states as Supervisor of Education for Kids Voting USA, and serves now as Dean of Students at Alhambra High School in Phoenix, Arizona.