Election Related Class Activities

These are some election related class activities/assignments that can be used in social work classes.

1)    Offer students the option of working on a campaign.  Leave the choice of candidates up to them, but ask for a narrative of what they did for the campaign. Ask how they applied their community organization/policy practice skills in the campaign.

2)   Create an assignment where students critique campaign websites. What is the message?  Is it clearly presented? Is it integrated with social media?

3)   Create an assignment where students compare candidate positions around social welfare issues in a scorecard.

4)  Create an assignment where students examine your state's PACE allocations.  Did the candidates win or lose?  Do they support social work?

5)   Create an assignment where students follow the money. Select a candidate.  Where did this person get money for their campaign? Who are their competitors?  Where did their money come from? Look at their profile on Open Secrets and Ballotopedia?

6)  Who votes for social work? Trace legislative votes of lawmakers on issues important to social workers.

7)  Create an assignment where students watch  the candidate's debates and Fact Check Candidate Claims. 

8)   Create an assignment where students examine a candidate's social media efforts.  What do they use? Is it effective?

9)  Create an assignment where students consider a Congressional District.  What are the demographics in terms of income, age, gender and ethnicity.  How do to registered voters compare with all of the population.  Look at the electoral history.  Who won and by how much?

10)  Offer students the option of working at the polls and report on their experiences

11)  Try a simulation game.  A list is available on this site.

12)  Create an assignment where students create a plan to add social workers to the list of candidates. How do we recruit them? What kind of support do they need?

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