Web sites can help students understand elections
By Jinny Gundmundsen
Gannett News Service
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| A youngster checks her choices on a Kids Voting ballot. Online sites for kids provide information about the election process.
Advertiser library photo |
Scholastic News Online, a news site for kids, has a guide to the presidential election, presented in a manner that children in Grades 3 to 8 can understand. It explains the differences between open and closed primaries, what a caucus is, when the primaries are held, and what happens at the Democratic and Republican conventions. The step-by-step guide takes kids through the process as if they were running for president.
The site also provides a forum for young journalists to report on the elections. The Scholastic Kids Press Corps, a diverse group of kids from across the country, has been interviewing the candidates. "They get away with questions that other journalists just can't ask," says Suzanne Freeman, Scholastic News Online editor. The youngsters' reporting includes a series of interviews with the candidates' children.
There are also games and other interactive activities, including a scavenger hunt, which sends kids to some of the candidates' Web sites to find information. Kids will be able to vote in a mock primary and a mock election.
For teens interested in learning more about the differences between the Democratic candidates, Online NewsHour, the Web site of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," offers a helpful and fun resource.
The candidates vying for the Democratic nomination have each submitted their opinions on 14 key issues, including Social Security, taxes, the U.S. role in Iraq and healthcare. Teens can explore those positions. In an amusing twist, teens can see whom they should vote for by taking a "Vote by the Issues Quiz" in which readers blindly read the positions of the candidates on 14 key issues and then vote for the position with which they most agree. The site tabulates the votes so teens can discover which candidate they agree with most.
