Johnathan Gomez

Dr. Blanco

CI 350

1984 U.S. Presidential Election Webquest

Introduction

You just turned 18 years old, just in time to vote in the 1984 Presidential Election. You

have narrowed your choices down to the Republican Party candidate (Ronald Reagan) and the

Democratic Party candidate (Walter Mondale). You realize as a voter it is your job to be as

informed as possible to make your choice on whom to vote for, and that is what you want to do.

Task

The learners will be able to make an informed decision on which candidate they would

vote for in the 1984 U.S. Presidential Election as if they were voting in it as it happened.

Process

Here is where the students will get into learning the information. I have listed three

websites in the resources that the students are required to view and read all three of the websites

in the resources as well.

The first step is where each student must read the article from the Encyclopedia Britannica

website. This will give them the background they need to get a start on their research on which

candidate will get their vote. There will be no assessment here for this step because it purely the

learners gaining background information for what is coming and what will proceed in the 1984

election.

The second step is where a lot of the lesson takes place. This is where the learner will take the

campaign materials website and review all the brochures on the candidates and for their first

choice of who they will support in the election. They will also review the television ads that are

there as well. Also, the learners are going to campaign the class for their candidate. They will

divide into groups of supports of each candidate and canvas other students both in the class

whom are undecided and some of the students in cooperating teachers’ classes. In addition those

whom are in support of a candidate will have to print out the sticker of said candidate and display

it on their desk like it was a yard sign. Those whom are undecided will get notecards that say "I

am Undecided Tell Me About the Candidates." This step will last the whole lesson until the

teacher holds an "Election Day" where the video from the night of the 1984 Presidential Election

showing the winner is played in the classroom.

The third step is played in the middle of the second. This will be after the students divide up into

groups; the teacher will spend a couple of days showing the 1984 debate in the classroom for the

students.

Lastly, will reflect on their feelings to the 1984 Presidential Election in a podcast after the

"Election Day" and tell about their experience with the project and how they felt after doing all

the campaigning and such and how winning or losing the election felt. The podcasts will be the

assessment used by the teacher.

Resources: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1575886/United-States-presidential-

election-of-1984 http://www.4president.org/ocmi1984.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jj_xt5G1sFE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e4t1qKGFao

Evaluation

The evaluation on this webquest is really quite simple. The student will be evaluated

individually on a podcast they on their feelings to the 1984 Presidential Election after the

"Election Day" and tell about their experience with the project and how they felt after doing all

the campaigning and such and how winning or losing the election felt. The grading will be

placed on the completion on the podcast, it being email to the teacher, and if the student presents

the teacher with a series of good facts supporting their feelings. Some of the expected things to

be expressed in the podcast is: The feeling when you see you're candidates name at the reading

of the election results, how do you go about your campaigning & what do you think you did

good and bad for campaigning and what will you do better next time. In addition, the student

should address why the supported their candidate and at three good reasons to that question. The

rest of the 2-3 minute podcast should be them addressing the way the feel about the 1984

Presidential Election as a whole and what made it so historical in their eyes.