Central Question: Do we need to reform our present system of financing campaigns?
Task: Posing as members of
various interest groups, student teams use the Internet as a resource to
design
a campaign supporting their group's position
on campaign finance reform.
A. Assumptions:
Culminating activity is introduced on the first day of the unit.
Students work in teams for a portion of each
day of the unit. Teams are provided
with step-by-step instructions
and a project checklist
to be initialed by the
teacher as teams complete each step.
Teams meet periodically with the teacher to discuss their progress.
Before
each meeting, students turn in an interim
work project that is specified on the project checklist. The teacher
provides feedback on team progress and
students revise their work based on feedback.
B. Details:
Student teams will design an advertising campaign that includes these elements:
a television commercial,
a mass mail flyer, a billboard and a speech
to be given before a Congressional hearing on campaign finance
reform. Students will use a multimedia
presentation program to demonstrate their campaigns. Students are
provided
with an example
of a persuasive campaign on an issue such as gun control.
Each team will have five members with the following responsibilities:
Project Coordinator: (Coordinates
the efforts of team members to ensure that all elements of the project
are
completed on schedule. Leads members
in researching the topic and developing a campaign strategy. Delivers
the speech to Congress).
Script Writer: (Composes the
commercial script. Assists in developing a storyboard for commercial
if group
chooses not to do a live performance.
Acts in commercial if group chooses to do a live performance. Assists
in
composing the flyer).
Speech Writer: (Composes the
speech script. Assists in composing the flyer. Acts in commercial
if group
chooses a live performance).
Graphic Designer: (Designs
the billboard and flyer. Assists in developing a storyboard for commercial
if group
chooses not to do a live performance.
Acts in commercial if group chooses to do a live performance).
Technical Director: (Uses
group ideas to produce the final presentation. Uses technology tools
to assist with design
tasks in producing commercial, flyer,
and billboard).
Teams are assigned to the following interest groups: Democratic
Party, Republican Party, National Association
of Broadcaster, Common Cause, National
Association of Manufacturers, AFL-CIO, ACLU. Using websites provided
on a teacher-designed
webpage, student's investigate their interest group's views
on campaign finance reform and do
background research on the issue.
To guide their investigations, each group completes a data
retrieval chartwith the
following headings: Description
of my group; description of the problem; proposed solutions to the problem;
my group's position; arguments for this
position; opponents' arguments; responses to opponents' arguments.
Date
retrieval charts must be approved by the
teacher before teams can design their campaigns.
C. Assessment:
A group project rubricassesses:
accuracy and thoroughness of information, identification of opposing
arguments,
creative defense of position, clarity
of expression and quality of final product. Following project presentations,
individuals
will write an editorial
defending their personal view on the issue.