Election Issues<\/p>\n
Which issues are important in this election and why? How\u00a0are the political parties planning to address these issues?<\/p>\n
Elections present an opportunity for citizens to discuss\u00a0and debate issues and evaluate how different parties\u00a0will address issues of importance. Some issues are more\u00a0politically important than others.<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD BACKGROUNDER (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n In this lesson, students discuss and rank the top challenges\u00a0facing Ontario today. After reviewing the electoral process\u00a0in Ontario, students work in groups to investigate an\u00a0election issue and compare the positions or solutions\u00a0proposed by each of the parties and\/or candidates.\u00a0Students use the concepts of political thinking to assess the\u00a0different viewpoints and evaluate the proposed actions. In\u00a0the \u2018Consolidation\u2019 activity, students reflect on which issues\u00a0matter most to them and which issues have become the\u00a0most important in the election campaign and why.<\/p>\n By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:<\/p>\n CPC3O<\/em>: A1, A2, B2, B3, A1.1, A1.2, A1.4, A1.5, A1.7, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3, B2.1, B2.2, B2.3, B3.1, B3.2, B3.3<\/p>\n DOWNLOAD CURRICULUM LINKS (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n Within a few days of the lesson, ask students to survey\u00a0at least five family or friends in the community about the\u00a0issues they want to see addressed by political parties in\u00a0the election. Which election issues do they care about the\u00a0most? Which issues or challenges do they believe should\u00a0be addressed by the next government?<\/p>\n 1. Initiate a class discussion about election issues and\u00a0current challenges facing Ontarians (related to provincial\u00a0government responsibilities). Students should voice their\u00a0own opinions and those of friends and family collected in\u00a0the \u2018Readiness\u2019 activity. The goal should be to create a list\u00a0of 10-12 issues or areas of concern.<\/p>\n 2. As a class, review the concept of political significance\u00a0and co-create criteria to evaluate the list of election issues\u00a0from the discussion.<\/p>\n Teacher Note: Recall the definition of political significance<\/strong>\u00a0when developing the criteria. It is a political thinking\u00a0concept that looks at the importance of particular policies,\u00a0civic actions, issues, events, or developments, based on\u00a0their impact on the lives of citizens, or their influence on\u00a0government decision making.<\/em><\/p>\n Sample criteria:<\/p>\n Ask students to respond to the following questions\u00a0for each issue: Definitely not\/Probably not\/Probably\/Definitely<\/p>\n 3. In small groups, have students rank the issues and\u00a0identify the top five or six issues.<\/p>\n 4. Teacher can poll each group and ask which issue they\u00a0ranked first and last. Follow up with a class discussion.<\/p>\n 5. After the class discussion, give students a few minutes\u00a0to rank the issues on their own. Students should record\u00a0their rankings for later use.<\/p>\n 1. Ask students to fill out the \u2018before\u2019 column in the\u00a0Anticipation Guide (Activity 11.1<\/a>).<\/p>\n 2. Review the election process in Ontario using the\u00a0following guiding questions and support tools (Slide\u00a0Deck 11<\/a>, \u2018Elections in Ontario<\/a>\u2019 video).<\/p>\n Teacher Note: The number of electoral districts will increase\u00a0from 107 to 124 for the general election on June 7, 2018.\u00a0This includes four ridings in Northern Ontario, where\u00a0previously there were two, in order to improve electoral\u00a0representation in the far north. They include Kiiwetinoong,\u00a0Mushkegowuk-James Bay, Timmins and Kenora-Rainy River.<\/em><\/p>\n 3. Assess current knowledge of the upcoming election and\u00a0demonstrate where students can find out their electoral\u00a0district and which candidates are running for election.<\/p>\n Teacher Note: You can find out which electoral district\u00a0you live in by visiting the Elections Ontario website and\u00a0accessing the ‘Voter Information Service<\/a>\u2019 tool (enter your\u00a0postal code or lot and concession address). Elections\u00a0Ontario will also post the list of candidates and this\u00a0information will be updated on a daily basis during the\u00a0election. The final list will be posted after the close of\u00a0nominations on May 17, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n 4. Divide students into groups and assign each an issue\u00a0from the top issues identified in the \u2018Minds On\u2019 activity.\u00a0Some issues may need to be broadened for this research\u00a0investigation. Ask students to research their issue and\u00a0assess how each party or candidate\u2019s plans to address it\u00a0using the following guiding questions (Activity 11.2<\/a>).<\/p>\n Background information and any related statistics<\/p>\n Teacher Note: Review definitions of policy plank and party\u00a0platform.\u00a0Encourage students to use primary and secondary\u00a0resources, news articles and commentary, party websites\u00a0and they could even contact the candidates directly.<\/em><\/p>\n 5. Have each group present their research investigation to\u00a0the rest of the class. Alternatively, you can post the group\u00a0work around the classroom on walls or create stations,\u00a0and use a Carousel format where students move in small\u00a0groups from station to station.<\/p>\n Ask students to re-visit their individual rankings from the\u00a0\u2018Minds On\u2019 activity. Did their rankings change after the\u00a0presentations or carousel walk? Why? Or Why Not?\u00a0Have students submit a written response to the following\u00a0question:<\/p>\n A) Individual assessment as learning:<\/p>\n Review the political thinking concept of objectives and\u00a0results. It focuses on factors leading to events, policies,\u00a0decisions, and\/or plans of actions and their intended\u00a0and unintended consequences. Objectives and results is\u00a0a useful concept because it helps us analyze the reasons\u00a0and results of actions and determine how governments\u00a0and citizens can best get things done.<\/p>\n Ask students to self-assess their understanding of the\u00a0action activity using the criteria for objectives and results\u00a0(Activity 11.3<\/a>).<\/p>\n B) Ask students to fill out the \u2018after\u2019 column in the\u00a0Anticipation Guide (Activity 11.1<\/a>).<\/p>\n Title Election Issues Guiding Question Which issues are important in this election and why? How\u00a0are the political parties planning to address these issues? SUMMARY Elections present an opportunity for citizens to discuss\u00a0and debate issues and evaluate how different parties\u00a0will address issues of importance. Some issues are more\u00a0politically important than others. DOWNLOAD BACKGROUNDER (PDF) In this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-secondary-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}LEARNING GOALS<\/h3>\n
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SUCCESS CRITERIA<\/h3>\n
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CURRICULUM LINKS:<\/h3>\n
READINESS<\/h3>\n
MINDS ON<\/h3>\n
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ACTION<\/h3>\n
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\naction on the issue<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nCONSOLIDATION<\/h3>\n
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ASSESSMENT IDEAS<\/h3>\n
SUPPLEMENTARY TOOLS<\/h3>\n
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