Introduce Your Students to the Election Process!

I found this app to be extremely useful in teaching students how to become informed voters and really liked how it presented a wide range of topics for students to choose what is important for THEM. I appreciated that the app was created for a wide range of learners and their learning styles. There were visual aids, a narrator speaking directions, and highlighted words that when clicked on would give the definition of that word. I also appreciated that it presented debates that would engage the students higher order thinking skills; however when looking at the SAMR model I don't believe this app hits the higher levels (e.g. modification and redefinition). It is a great tool to learn about voting but it does give them the opportunity to create anything based on what they learned. In my opinion this app presents the process of voting in a much better way than I could. One thing that I found difficult with this app was maneuvering around the app. I had to play around with it and make a few guesses of what to do next. It would have been more user friendly if the narrator gave specific instructions to move on or if there were written out directions that popped up when the next step was ready to be taken. Although this app was a great teaching tool, I wish it would have given the students the opportunity to create a debate or a presentation at the end to get them involved and engage in higher level thinking.

<a href="http://civiceducator.org/review-cast-your-vote-icivics/">Cast Your Vote is a great game about elections</a>. It does a great job offering accessibility to all learners. You can play the game in Spanish, and the handout in the teacher's guide is also translated into Spanish. Students can play on a mobile device, so they don't need a laptop. Throughout the game, difficult words are also directly linked to definitions, providing scaffolding for struggling readers. I liked the variety of tasks that students complete in playing the game. This gives them a good sense of the different ways you can go about learning about a candidate. It also demonstrates that there's only so much you can learn at home on the Internet. At some point, you need to get up, leave your house, and attend a real town hall, debate, or meeting. I also liked the variety of topics, issues, and solutions that were addressed in the campaign. These seemed to represent a gamut of real issues and potential solutions. However, there wasn't any depth to them. That may be besides the point, because the purpose of the game isn't necessarily to teach the students about those issues and solutions. But just a little more depth would have been nice. You may find gameplay is a little on the long side, too. The game didn't feel too long, but at the end I realized it had taken me about 40 minutes to complete it. If a student took their time, I can see this reaching 50 or 60 minutes. That's problematic if you want to finish the game in one 40 minute class period. I'd be a lot less worried about this if I taught in longer block periods. I also liked that there weren't necessarily easy choices. When I played, I was presented with several city council candidates and none of them aligned with me completely. There were things I liked about each, as well as things I didn't like. I had to make a tough decision about who to vote for. Overall, the new version of Cast Your Vote is great. It's fun, engaging, and models how to be an informed voter. I wouldn't spend too much class time on it, but I think it's a great way to spend two or three days during the days leading up to an election.

I like the simulation of civic engagement that this game provides. It can help students to think critically about actual political debates. I don't think this tool could be used too many times, it is a one level game, which I predict would not engage students for very long.