This lesson provides several activities for students to help them understand coverage of election night as they watch on November 5th, 2024. Teachers can choose to have students view election night coverage while taking notes, mapping the electoral votes as they come in, playing a vocabulary BINGO game, evaluating election night speeches, or comparing news networks’ coverage of election night. 

Since the 2020 presidential election and the coronavirus pandemic, some states have continued to shift how they conduct elections and new trends have emerged regarding how voters participate in elections. This lesson has students hear from experts and election officials discussing how states process ballots and what people should expect on election night. It explores issues such as mail-in and early voting, state laws relating to the counting of votes, and election night reporting. Using this information, students will develop a list of reminders, suggestions, and advice to use as they watch election night coverage.

In this lesson, designed by former C-SPAN Classroom Teacher Fellow Jane Highley, students will predict the results of an upcoming presidential or senatorial election. The purposes for this lesson include for students: (1) To draw reasonable & unbiased conclusions based on election data., (2) To cultivate quantitative analytical skills., and (3) To draw distinctions between what you want the data to say and what the data actually says.

In this lesson, students will view video clips highlighting competitive states in the 2024 presidential race. Using information from these video clips and polling data, students will make predictions for each swing state and use an interactive electoral college map to determine which candidate will win the 270 electoral votes needed to become president. Students will be able to identify pathways for both candidates to win the Electoral College and evaluate the likelihood of each scenario.

In this lesson, students will view video clips of the 2024 presidential candidates from the two major political parties discussing specific issues like the economy, immigration, and the environment. Students will use these primary source video clips of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to summarize the candidates’ views on these issues and formulate their own opinions on the candidates.

This lesson has students view and analyze clips from each of the 2024 presidential debates. Students will view video clips of specific questions discussed during the debate and evaluate the effectiveness of each candidate’s response. This lesson will be updated to include clips from each of the presidential and vice-presidential debates as they air on C-SPAN.

Using clips from the 2024 party conventions, this lesson has students compare the speeches given at each party’s convention, develop summaries of the messaging and priorities of each party, and evaluate the effectiveness of each party’s message.

For the first time since the 1980s, the two presidential candidates have opted to not participate in a debate held by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Instead, the two candidates have agreed to debates hosted by specific media outlets. This lesson has students use one of several viewing guides and activities to help them understand and analyze these debates. Teachers can choose to have students analyze the debates by using a rubric, through a BINGO activity, or by focusing on topic, criterion or modes of persuasion.

In this lesson, students will view video clips of the 2020 presidential candidates to summarize the candidates’ views on specific issues and formulate their own opinions on the candidates. 

This lesson has students view and analyze clips from each of the 2020 presidential debates. Students will view video clips of specific questions discussed during the debate and evaluate the effectiveness of each candidate’s response. This lesson will be updated to include clips from each of the presidential and vice-presidential debates as they air on C-SPAN. 

Using clips from the 2020 party conventions, this lesson has students compare the speeches given at each party’s convention and evaluate the effectiveness of each party’s message.

This lesson features notable examples of celebrity endorsements of presidential candidates at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in each presidential election cycle since 1984 - the first year that C-SPAN covered the political conventions in their entirety. Students engage in a choice engagement activity, choosing to study one Republican and one Democratic celebrity endorsement, and "assess whether celebrity endorsements matter."

From C-SPAN and American History TV's 9-part series "Historic Presidential Elections" comes this collection of lesson plans exploring historical presidential elections, the issues of the day, and their impact on the country.

• Lesson: 1800 - John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson (16 Clips)

• Lesson: 1860 - Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas vs. John Breckinridge (13 Clips)

• Lesson: 1876 - Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden (11 Clips)

• Lesson: 1912 - William Howard Taft vs. Woodrow Wilson vs. Theodore Roosevelt (17 Clips)

• Lesson: 1932 - Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin Roosevelt (11 Clips)

• Lesson: 1948 - Harry Truman vs. Thomas Dewey (13 Clips)

• Lesson: 1960 - John Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon (15 Clips)

• Lesson: 1968 - Richard Nixon vs. Hubert Humphrey vs. George Wallace (15 Clips)

• Lesson: 1980 - Jimmy Carter vs. Ronald Reagan (15 Clips)

In this lesson, students will learn about different types of propaganda by examining examples presented in the media. Students will then apply that knowledge to past and current presidential campaign speeches and advertisements.

This lesson looks at videos explaining the contested presidential elections occurring in 1800, 1824, 1876 and 2000. They will apply this knowledge by describing similarities and differences between these examples and determining what lessons can be learned from these elections. 

This lesson has students explore the challenges that incoming administrations face during presidential transitions by hearing from historians and from White House staff With this information, students will develop a list of best practices that can be used during these transitions. 

This lesson provides multiple options and activities for students to engage with and analyze presidential inaugural addresses starting with Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration in 1981.  

This lesson has students learn about the significance of official campaign announcements and explore examples of candidate's campaign announcements.

In this lesson, students will watch clips of candidates who represented a first in American presidential campaigns. 

In this lesson, students will learn about five high-profile challenges to incumbent presidents from within their own party: in 1912, 1968, 1976, 1980, and 1992. 

In this lesson, students will use a choice board to view videos of historical presidential campaign advertisements and analyze the features found within each to determine the overall effectiveness. 

This lesson looks at what factors make good campaign advertisements and has students evaluate historical presidential campaign ads.

Students will watch and evaluate Presidential debates from previous election years and determine the speakers' positions, message, and effectiveness of that message. 

This lesson explores the provisions for federal elections in the original U.S. Constitution and the subsequent amendments.

This lesson looks at the challenges that states face in holding elections during the pandemic and if vote-by-mail policies can address this. 

This deliberation has students explore the history of the Electoral College and view videos arguing for and against reforming the Electoral College. 

This lesson has students analyze the findings of a C-SPAN/Ipsos poll on voting and elections and make inferences about these results. Students will use charts and data to examine public perceptions of voting and elections and draw conclusions about current trends. 

This deliberation has students explore state voting and registration laws across the country and compare them to their own state’s laws. 

This lesson looks at the history of voting discrimination, the protections provided by the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 and the impact of the Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder. 

This lesson provides context on foreign interference in elections and has students view video clips from experts and policymakers on different ways to address foreign interference in U.S. elections.  

This lesson has students explore what characteristics make effective ads and what characteristics do not and apply those characteristics to examples of advertisements.

In this lesson, students will explore the background and evaluate the effects of this Citizens United v. FEC.  

This lesson explains the idea of big data and how it is used in political campaigns. 

This lesson looks at recent surveys and political polling about voter participation and seeks to answer the question, "Why don't eligible voters vote?" Using video clip of political scientists, pollsters and journalists, students will identify factors that affect voter participation and develop possible strategies to improve voter turnout in U.S. elections. 

This lesson looks at the contributing factors for this political polarization such as media consumption, demographic changes, levels of economic inequality and geography.

This lesson has students learn about the basics of polling including concepts like margin of error, representative samples and the different methodologies used by pollsters.  Students will develop strategies for interpreting political polling data and apply these strategies to current examples of political polls.

Students will learn about polls and the polling process, including associated vocabulary.

This lesson has students look at trends and data involving youth political engagement and explore various ways that young people can participate in politics.