The 2008 presidential race offers a unique teaching opportunity for students of all ages. To bring this historic election straight into classrooms, the Vanderbilt Virtual School has created an interactive videoconferencing program that gives 5th through 12th grade teachers a curriculum and a slate of expert instructors, including CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, to share with their students.
“This year’s journey to the White House provides numerous ‘teachable moments’ for students,” Patsy Partin, director of the Virtual School, said. “We have created a program, with a detailed curriculum, that teachers can use to examine many of the issues in the news this election season—from analyzing campaign ads, to the role of technology in reaching youth voters, to the politics of immigration, race and gender.”
The program consists of 15 videoconferences that stand alone or may be taken as a series. Dobbs will lead the series’ final class Oct. 30 with a discussion of key election issues. Other presenters include former Nashville journalists Pat Nolan and Tim Chavez, Tennessee state Rep. Beth Harwell, and Vanderbilt faculty members John Geer, Tony Brown and Carol Swain.
So far, students from schools across the country, ranging from Anchorage, Alaska, to Mays Landing, New Jersey, have participated.
“By participating in the ‘Race For the Presidency’ videoconferences, teachers have a unique opportunity to teach about presidential elections and the election process, the electoral college, current issues, the importance of making informed decisions and the importance and privilege of voting,” Partin said.
All of the sessions will take place via videoconferencing, and students and teachers will have an opportunity to ask questions and talk with the presenter and with their counterparts at other schools during the sessions. Archived video of each session as well as its curriculum will be available online after the event.
There are two sessions for each videoconference, and space in each videoconference session is limited to seven classrooms per session. Fourteen schools can participate in the two sessions. Registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The cost is $75 per school. The sessions began Sept. 19 and will end Nov. 4 with a mock online election.
To register, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool. A full schedule of events is
available on the site.
The Vanderbilt University Virtual School was founded in 1991 with support from the Nashville business community. The school hosts videoconferences on many different topics each semester for public, private and home-schooled students across the nation and abroad.
For more Vanderbilt news visit VUCast, www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu