I currently teach a government and civics course at my school which perfectly aligns with this standard of using technology for civic engagement. This course was designed to help my students better understand the role of government in their daily lives, as well as learning how the government is run on a daily basis. I chose to use project based learning rather than the traditional lecture based instruction. My reason for this choice was to improve student engagement allow students to directly apply leaned content to real world application.
Since the presidential election took place this year it was a perfect segway for students to understand the election process in the U.S. and experience the election first- hand. I also had students who were interested in volunteering for election day and wanted to learn ways they could help with the upcoming election. We explored elections and the process of voting past and present and examined how the use of technology has changed this process. I asked each student to select a candidate of their choice and create Facebook or social media post in support of their candidate. This was a perfect way to show my students first-hand the influence of technology in the upcoming election. There was a true sense of excitement in the presidential election and also a better understanding of the process and voter rights.
Throughout this course I always found ways to relate the topics being studied to the lives of the students and then also have students come up with ways to tie in what we are learning in class. If students see real life applications from what they are learning in the classroom, they are more deeply invested in the course.
Since the presidential election took place this year it was a perfect segway for students to understand the election process in the U.S. and experience the election first- hand. I also had students who were interested in volunteering for election day and wanted to learn ways they could help with the upcoming election. We explored elections and the process of voting past and present and examined how the use of technology has changed this process. I asked each student to select a candidate of their choice and create Facebook or social media post in support of their candidate. This was a perfect way to show my students first-hand the influence of technology in the upcoming election. There was a true sense of excitement in the presidential election and also a better understanding of the process and voter rights.
Throughout this course I always found ways to relate the topics being studied to the lives of the students and then also have students come up with ways to tie in what we are learning in class. If students see real life applications from what they are learning in the classroom, they are more deeply invested in the course.