The Democracy Project's Sticker Race activity and online community offers many opportunities for you and your students to examine election-related topics such as issues, persuasion, and map-reading.
Related Lesson Plans:
Honk If You Agree: Part 1 (C, Wm, La)
Students will learn that there are factors involved in helping an individual detect issues and then come to oppose or support those issues. It is important for children to identify issues of importance, form their opinions, and support those opinions with evidence and reason. They will also learn how to state their feelings in a persuasive manner.
Honk If You Agree: Part 2 (C)
Using “Honk If You Agree! Part 1”, the students will prioritize their opinions by a hierarchy of value, and then be able to communicate those opinions in an effective and persuasive manner.
Sticker Race: A Guide for Parents
The Democracy Project’s Sticker Race activity and online community offers many opportunities for you and your child to examine election-related topics such as issues, persuasion, and map-reading.
- Participate in the Sticker Race. Work together to come up with one or more stickers to submit for voting. You can also print out your child’s sticker(s) or send the link to family and friends.
- Revisit the Sticker Race to see how your child’s sticker is collecting votes.
Topics To Talk About:
Discuss with your child why he or she chose particular issue(s) for which to create stickers with questions such as:
- Why is this issue important to you personally?
- How do you think this issue affects us a family?
- How is this issue important in our community?
Bring up the possibility that if you visit the site regularly over the course of several months, some of the less popular issues might become more important. What might occur to make that change?
The Power of Persuasion
Discuss with your child how, when creating a sticker, he or she selected words, symbols and colors to emphasize a personal stand on the issues to persuade others to feel the same way. Possible questions might include:
- Why did you choose the words and images you did when creating your sticker?
- Do you think it’s a powerful thing to do to capture someone’s attention and persuade them?
- What are some other examples of this from television, books, movies, songs, organizations, heroes, and maybe even family, community members, or friends?
- Is there a responsibility that comes with using persuasion? Could persuasion be either good or bad?