Resources (158 KB pdf)Resources
Recommended Public Broadcasting Web sites
American Experience: The Presidents
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/2008
Explore election and campaign themes through guiding questions that help you navigate American Experience video clips featuring issues in past presidential campaigns. Watching these engaging historical video clips helps provide context for understanding current campaigns.
Ask Your Lawmaker
www.askyourlawmaker.org
Pose questions to specific Congressmembers and vote on other users' questions. Capitol News Connection journalists will track down the lawmakers, pose the most popular and best questions, and post the answers on the site as audio files. Students can actively contribute to the political discourse through their questions and votes while they learn about effective questions and tagging.
BallotVox
ballotvox.prx.org main site
www.flickr.com/photos/23736174@N06/favorites photo archive
ballotvox.vodpod.com video archive
del.icio.us/ballotvox tags and links to various resources
Explore political views through popular blog posts, videos, pictures, and podcasts created and submitted by regular people—user-generated content about the candidates and issues based on local perspectives. Via e-mail, students can submit links to media they find or create to BallotVox moderators, who decide which submissions to post.
Budget Hero
americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/budgethero
Play this fun, animated game to see how fiscal decisions we make today might affect our personal and national future. Control spending in defense, education, health care, the environment and other areas. Read about the pros and cons of your decisions.
NOW: Burning Questions
www.pbs.org/now/election-2008/questions.html
Explore a rich collection of video, articles and links that students can use to study particular election-related issues. "Burning Questions" asks critical questions such as "Is the electoral college system fair?" and provides answers along with links to NOW clips and election resources across the Web.
Campaign Audio
campaignaudio.prx.org
Use the curated multimedia resources on this site to research candidates and issues. The radio pieces, supporting articles, and links provide resources for public radio or student news producers.
Get My Vote
www.npr.org/getmyvote
Explore and post audio, video and/or text commentaries regarding personal political convictions and what it takes for candidates to earn users' votes. Users can rate, review and discuss submissions. Moderators and users monitor content for appropriateness. National Public Radio shows will utilize the commentaries. This offers a great opportunity for students to make their voices heard.
Idea Generators: Health Care, The Economy and The American Dream
americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08
Explore key research on issues, then share and comment on ideas for solutions posted by fellow users, which are displayed in map and category formats. Within the Idea Generator for each issue, post your own ideas, vote on the feasibility of others' ideas, and see what others think of yours.
ITVS Community Classroom: Vote Democracy!
www.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/votedemocracy.html
The films "Please Vote for Me" and "Iron Ladies of Liberia" offer thought-provoking perspectives on the changing nature of democracy across the globe. The educator guide and video modules help students explore topics such as international democracy, women in leadership roles, and media literacy.
NewsHour/NPR Election Map & You Predict Game
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/primaries/states/
See election results, voter polls and links to state-by-state news items as your pointer hovers over different areas of the map. Students can easily connect to local issues and stats. The "You Predict" button allows users to change the map to predict winners as they assign states' electoral votes.
Public Radio Exchange
www.prx.org
PRX is a database of audio pieces on a wide range of topics created by the public media community. This Web site enables listeners to access diverse, high-quality programming.
Select a Candidate Quiz
americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/selectacandidate
Take the matchmaker quiz and see which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions on political issues.
Vote By Issue Quiz
www.votebyissue.org/election2008
Take this matchmaker quiz, based upon direct quotes from candidates, to predict how your views will line up with their views on specific issues in the election. Then, see how your predictions match up with the actual candidates.
You Decide
www.kqed.org/w/youdecide
Vote "Yes" or "No" on issue-based questions – regarding immigration, health care, taxes, and more – to begin this devil’s advocate game. Then, reconsider your answer through a few rounds of short readings presenting opposing views. Finally, see how your informed opinion compares to other users'.
Other Recommended Web sites
Social Media
Blogging Safely
www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/january-february-2006/professional-edge.html
This brief article gives eight key suggestions for safe blogging.
Creating Your Own Media
www.ourmedia.org/learning-center
This page offers a variety of accessible resources for users to get started creating and sharing video, audio, text and multimedia content on the web.
Civic Engagement & Elections
Declare Yourself
www.declareyourself.org
Declare Yourself is a national non-partisan, non-profit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election. This is an online campaign resource designed to energize and empower young voters.
Fact Check
factcheck.org
Fact Check is a non-partisan, non-profit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. The site monitors the accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
Fact Check Ed
factchecked.org
This site introduces principles of rhetoric through creative lessons on reasoning, argument, evaluating evidence and determining the difference between facts, beliefs and values.
Media That Matters Film Festival
www.mediathatmattersfest.org
The Media That Matters Film Festival is a showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. These films from communities around the world engage diverse audiences and inspire them to take action.
You Choose '08
www.youtube.com/youchoose
You Choose is a You Tube channel that includes video clips from political speeches, news and user-generated videos about the campaign and issues.
National Mock Election Game
nationalmockelection.org/game
Play the game "The Road to the Capitol," which simulates a presidential candidate's campaign from start to finish.
Politifact
politifact.org
This Web site rates politicians' statements from "True" To "Pants on Fire" and keeps track of who misquoted politicians and how. There is also a guide to Internet sources that is divided into categories for Government, Policy and Advocacy.
Redistricting Game
www.redistrictinggame.org
A fun game about gerrymandering that makes an important and complicated concept accessible to students. This site helps students understand exactly how their votes count. It includes links for activism and provides information about how gerrymandering works in your own state.
Youth Noise
youthnoise.com
Youth Noise is an online community for youth social and political activism, with opportunities to learn, share ideas and take action.
Youth Media Exchange
ymex.org
This site allows youth to upload videos and other media related to global issues. Users can react to uploaded media with ratings and comments and can also post media as a response.