I am working on converting my library web site to a new host. Seems like the story of my life lately.
Anyway – the pathfinders definitely should be updated. Today I searched for a few reliable and OBJECTIVE sources about the two-party system for one of our Government projects.
If you have time – just take a look at what comes up on Google and other search engines. Lots of opinions, not much objective history of the system. I had to resort to putting an article about wikipedia on the page. Not that there is anything wrong with that….. But yes – there is. I am not an opponent of Wikipedia – but surely there must be other good sites out there that will give “just the facts, ma’am”. The popularity index however is pushing the controversial material to the top. I am sure if I keep digging, I will find something else. How many teenagers will dig any further than the first page? The first 3 results?
Naturally – before the wikipedia article I have included links to my databases. But the kids have to type in a password … and it doesn’t look like Google… and why do they need reliable and objective information anyway….?
How about books? BOOKS? Are you crazy? Search a catalog… get up and locate a book on a shelf… read something longer than the length of a screen? That’s just too hard. Sigh…..
Jacquie,
Have you seen this?
Electing a US President in Plain English.
http://www.commoncraft.com/election
Doug
Thanks Doug. I love this series, but did not realize that they have one about electing presidents.
My all time favorite however is still Zombies in Plain English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnfyradCPY
Jacquie,
I received this info in an email from Annenberg Media Update this weekend:
Democracy in America Unit 12,
“Political Parties: Mobilizing Agents”
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/democracyinamerica/dia_12 . The
unit includes an interactive and downloadable readings by Alexis de
Tocqueville and others; click on “Pre-Viewing Activity and Discussion”
for a discussion of the two-party system. Other programs in the series
are also relevant to the topic.
> Find ideas for teaching about elections at the high school level with
Making Civics Real Workshop 2, “Electoral Politics”
.
> The Constitution: That Delicate Balance
discusses critical
issues in presidential elections in Program 3, “Nomination, Election,
and Succession of the President.”
Hope the ideas are helpful. Marcia
Thanks Marcia. I will have a look, and will add what I find to my page. I just wonder how many kids go blithely off to Google and use the junk that appears at the top of a search using the term “two-party system”. And just accept it as gospel. It never occurs to them to ask for help or to check the library web page. Oh well. I keep trying.