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Get Students Involved in the Election Process The producers of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer are preparing the.Vote and the.Gov-a series of eleven 4- to 5-minute reports on the 2008 campaign leading to the inauguration of the next president. After Election Day, the series will evolve from the.Vote to the.Gov and look at the process of forming a new government, identifying key issues for the new administration and new Congress. The video segments, hosted by the.News journalists, will be provided free to middle school and high school teachers and their students throughout the fall campaign. Each segment of the.Vote and the.Gov is accompanied by online, standards-based activities that will give students the opportunity to create multimedia works: you.Edit allows students to rework and re-edit video material provided by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, and you.Report serves as a home for student-generated content (students' perspectives on policy issues and the election process). All segments will be closed captioned. An initial the.Vote report has been posted online, allowing educators to become familiar with the.Vote and the educational opportunities it provides. Regular production will begin in September and run up to the inauguration in January 2009.

Discover the Stories of New Americans The New Americans Web site offers an educational adventure for students in grades 7-12. The site supplements the PBS documentary series, which explores the immigrant experience through personal stories. Interactive sections of the site allow students to explore the immigration experience through a timeline, maps and activities in tracking family history and examining the effect of immigration on the nation. Eleven lesson plans involve students in activities such as analyzing factual data or conducting oral histories of first- or second-generation immigrants. For workplaces, schools and community organizations that would like to use shorter stories from The New Americans to increase understanding of recent immigrants, Active Voice and Kartemquin Films offer three brief, themed Video/DVD Modules and Discussion Guides for a nominal fee.

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator

Free online guide maps digital-age skills to social studies projects and tasks

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator

New technology on the Internet-from geographic-information systems (or GIS) to create-your-own-map programs-is allowing teachers to tap into students' own interests and show them that geography is much more than filling in country names on a photocopied map. "It brings them into the world community," Cunha says. "It makes the flat map come alive."

On this page, you can share your experiences and opinions about the new curriculum materials, ACT, ANALYZE, ACT: A BLUEPRINT FOR 21st CENTURY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, developed by PBS Teachers and the Media Education Lab. Your feedback and reflections on the lesson plans, videos and interactive quiz will help us improve our curriculum.

As the Internet has evolved into a major source of information for students researching history and social studies, it also has become a place where hidden agendas and false information can trip up both students new to a topic and teachers searching for credible sources of historical data.

A free online computer game from Cable in the Classroom lets students experience the pressure cooker of a presidential campaign, requiring players to manage campaign money, lobby interest groups, and make gut-wrenching decisions when scandal threatens their bid for the White House. First created during the 2004 campaign season, "eLECTIONS" was refined and reintroduced this year. Players can run for president as a Democrat, Republican, or third-party candidate and can choose their platform issues, ranging from taxes to national defense to education. Each player moves through a game board that includes pitfalls such as small-scale family or campaign scandals. As the 2008 presidential race heats up this summer and fall, the site's creators say eLECTIONS could be a valuable tool to help students understand the events driving the campaign. "eLECTIONS is an excellent resource for teachers and students who are trying to understand the events and decisions that shape voter contests," said Joanne Whe