Teaching About the Elections

This presentation reports the results of several experimental studies that test the impact of a civil dialogue intervention on college students’ civic engagement. Results show that students who discussed public issues with a diverse group of peers expressed higher levels of civic efficacy and an increased willingness to talk to others about politics. Qualitative data collected during the studies shed additional light on Gen Z’s hopes and concerns about democracy.

Amber Wichowsky is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs and holds the Leadership Wisconsin Endowed Chair for the Division of Extension at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a political scientist, she conducts civically engaged research to explore how diverse communities engage contentious and complex public issues and the social and institutional contexts that shape civic engagement.

In this session, we will address the state and power of the youth vote. We will provide up to date information on voter registration among 18 and 19 year olds in Wisconsin and provide step-by-step instructions on how to run a student-led/adult-supported voter registration drive in high schools.

This session will be presentation and workshop based.

Beth Sondel  is the Director of Education and Organizing at The Civics Center, a national non-partisan organization working to ensure that all high school students have a reason and an opportunity to register and vote. For the past two decades, Beth has been working towards access, equity, and civic opportunity for young people. She started her career as a middle school teacher and camp director. Then, after completing her MEd in Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School and her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, she served on faculty in the School of Education at North Carolina State University and the University of Pittsburgh. Most recently, Beth has been working in youth advocacy. She has supported young people in using their voice and their vote to advocate for an end to the school to prison pipeline, honest and authentic history curriculum, and LGBTQ+ protection and representation in their school districts. Beth is originally from Madison, WI but currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her partner, daughter, and three cats.

The C3 Framework describes civics and government as the study of how people participate in a governing society, along with knowledge of the political system established by the U.S. Constitution, state and local governments, and legal systems. It also emphasizes the inculcation in students of civic virtues “that enable citizens to contribute to the common good by engaging in political and civil society” (NCSS, 2013, p. 103). This conception of civics and government, however, over attends to the cognitive aspects while neglecting the non-cognitive dimensions of civic participation, engagement, and action. This lack of attention to the non-cognitive aspects is exacerbated when considering that civic engagement encompasses a set of strengths and dispositions that need to be taught and emphasized far differently from cognitive thinking skills—particularly when teaching about voting and presidential elections. This interactive workshop will help teachers explore how to navigate the emotional complexities of teaching about presidential elections, and participants will leave with practical strategies to effectively and equitably center students’ emotions in discussions about presidential elections and civic engagement.

Brittany L. Jones is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo. Informed by her experiences as a high school social studies teacher, Brittany’s research explores anti-racist social studies teacher education and how racialized emotions inform the teaching and learning of social stuides. Utilizing critical frameworks  of race and discourse, Jones’s work also interrogates how race, power, and racialized emotional discourse intersect within social studies standards and curricula. Her work has been published in outlets such as Theory and Research in Social Education and Equity & Excellence in Education.

Learn more about redistricting in Wisconsin and across the nation. In this session, State Democracy Research Initiative staff attorneys Bryna Godar and Emily Lau discuss recent developments in the national redistricting landscape, including Wisconsin Supreme Court redistricting case Clarke v. WEC, the state of partisan gerrymandering law across the country, and the impacts of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Bryna Godar is a Staff Attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Bryna joined the Initiative following a clerkship with Judge Jeffrey R. Howard on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She was previously a Legal Fellow with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Emily Lau is a Staff Attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She joined the Initiative after earning her law degree from Yale Law School. While in law school, Emily was an intern at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office in the Complex and Affirmative Litigation Team and a student in the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project clinic, helping the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office litigate cases under the California Unfair Competition Law.

This session will provide an overview of tribal governments, sovereignty, and treaties of American Indian nations in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. The concept of tribal sovereignty for tribal nations centers on the concept that they have the inherent right to self-govern. Based on the United States Constitution, treaties, and Supreme Court decisions, Indigenous nations have a unique government-to-government relationship with the U.S. federal government, and are largely independent of state, local, and county governments. Session participants will examine why it is important to generate a deeper and more complex understanding of tribal governments, sovereignty, and treaties and how it has and continues to impact the state of Wisconsin and the United States.

David J. O’Connor is originally from and is a citizen of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe or Ojibwe) in northern Wisconsin. In January 2012, he became the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). In David’s role at DPI, he supports school districts’ efforts to provide instruction on the histories, cultures and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations and tribal communities, often referenced as Wisconsin Act 31, and the education of Native American students.

Carrie Ray-Hill, Senior Director of Digital Learning at iCivics, will share tips and tricks from the field that showcase how to engage your students with and beyond games and interactives. From grouped play to advice columns, you will leave with a solid grasp of what’s on offer at iCivics Elections HQ as well as valuable tools to use with any learning game or activity.

Carrie Ray-Hill has spent the last 14 years bringing playful learning to classrooms. She’s credited on more than 20 games and interactives serving as lead content producer for iCivics. Carrie collaborates with both institutional partners (Council on Foreign Relations, Colonial Williamsburg) and government entities (Department of Defense, National Endowment for the Humanities) to create award-winning projects for classrooms across the United States. Before joining iCivics in 2010, Carrie taught humanities courses across grades 4-12 in St. Louis and Washington, DC. In addition to seeking out the finest of cheeses, Carrie spends her spare time watching British panel shows and killing zombies.

It’s time to teach about elections! What better way to examine this process than with short and engaging films about historic examples of chaotic conventions, groundbreaking political ads and the historical roots of key campaign strategies. Explore several Retro Report video and resource collections related to presidential campaigns. These interactive and FREE resources are a perfect fit for US History and Civics classes.

David Olson serves as the Director of Education at Retro Report, a non-profit media company dedicated to connecting history to today’s news. In his capacity, David designs Retro Report’s free curriculum and professional development. Prior to joining Retro Report, David taught for more than a decade at Memorial High School in Madison, WI and has also taught Intro to American Government at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. David has spread his passion for civic education by serving on the iCivics Educator Network, the Teacher Advisory Board for the National Constitution Center, and the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies.

Learn about innovative multimedia resources from PBS KIDS and Sesame Workshop that lay the foundation of civic engagement. Teach elementary students the importance of Voice and Choice in their classrooms, schools and communities. Educators in this session will explore strategies and materials for: sharing the power of collective voice, the voting process, discerning fact from fiction and informed decision making.

Jami Hoekstra Collins is an Early Learning Engagement Specialist with PBS Wisconsin Education. Jami is committed to promoting developmentally appropriate play-based learning where every child and family experience wonder and joy while learning together. Prior to her role with PBS Wisconsin Education, Jami taught Kindergarten for twenty-seven years in Head Start/ Reach Dane as well as public schools in Marshall and Madison, Wisconsin.

Civility is a core skill and norm to support civic engagement and democratic decision making within schools, communities, and institutions of all types.  In order to engage students in the discussion of current, controversial issues they need to develop skills and dispositions for civility.  Drawing on the principles and best practices of the National Institute for Civil Dialogue and other resources, we will develop a deeper understanding of what civility means, and how teachers in all subject areas and grade levels can model and teach civility.  We’ll practice using the framework of a public meeting as a way to immerse students in a context where civility is a foundational expectation and core element of discussion and decision making.

Kate Ullman is the Executive Director of the Legislative Semester, an organization formed to support engaging and empowering civic learning that draws on relevance and authenticity.  She is also the founder and co-chair of the Wisconsin Civic Learning Coalition.  Kate taught social studies at Middleton High School, and later taught in the teacher education program at Northland College.

Schools are often touted as ideal places for civic education since they are the first places children encounter others outside of their families and immediate communities. How can we best support our youngest citizens in developing civic communities in which their democratic imaginations can flourish?  In this session we will explore children’s civicness in three ways: 1) children’s civicness in their everyday interactions; 2) how children negotiate ideas of being and belonging within a civic community; and, 3) how children can engage with the broader political landscape, particularly during contentious times.  We will examine examples from PreK to 5th grade and reflect on the possibilities within our teaching contexts.

Katherina A. Payne is an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Social Studies Education at The University of Texas at Austin.  Her research considers the intersections of civic education, elementary/early childhood schooling, and teacher education, and examines the role of relationships, community, and justice to transform classrooms into child-centered, democratic, and more equitable spaces.  Prior to her academic research career, Dr. Payne taught in first and second grade general education and inclusion classrooms in New York City Public Schools; she credits her time learning alongside her colleagues and curious, brilliant children in developing her own practices as a democratic elementary school teacher and her commitment to urban education.

This session will focus on teaching students to be critical consumers of political advertisements by exploring media markets, election finance, and population data. We will introduce a framework for analyzing common strategies used in political messaging and in targeting regions and individuals differently, and methods for conducting inquiry into the groups behind political ads students might be seeing. Attendees will leave the session with resources for teaching about campaign finance and media strategies, researching interest groups, and accessing government and independent databases.

Nathan Smith is a doctoral student focusing on youth civic participation and social studies education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Before coming to Madison he taught high school social studies in Maine.

Evaluating the information they encounter online is an increasingly crucial skill for students. In this session, we will give examples of lessons educators can use to foster critical thinking skills and teach students how to be savvy consumers of news information. Participants will learn skills like lateral reading, identifying and counteracting bias, fact-checking, identifying misinformation, and how to find reliable news sources. Participants will come away with concrete strategies for facilitating the analysis of online news media for middle and high school students and a list of resources to implement in their classrooms.

Nick Ostrem is a 3rd – 12th grade Education Engagement Specialist with PBS Wisconsin Education. With a background in public history, he strives to empower learners to see themselves in the past, present, and future. In his role he supports educators and students by facilitating youth media creation and media literacy initiatives. Prior to his work with PBS Wisconsin Education, Nick worked as the Museum Educator and National History Day Coordinator for the Wisconsin Historical Society.

It is easy to become overwhelmed and exhausted by news about politics and elections, particularly in a divisive environment. Some younger people are turning away from traditional news and getting more of their political information from social media and influencers. Do social media influencers misinform audiences? Or do they promote political engagement? In this breakout session, we’ll talk about research on why young people might trust social media influencers for political information and how influencers talking about politics might affect political attitudes and behaviors. Breakout sessions will include time for discussion about how to engage with social media, influencers, and the election in the classroom.

Sedona Chinn, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She researches how individuals make sense of competing claims about science, health, and the environment, as well as how social influence via new media affect perceptions of credibility and expertise. Her work, published in top journals and featured in outlets like USA Today, spans the politicization of science in news, the impact of social media influencers on health and politics, and calls to “do your own research.

The U.S. Constitution gives some authority to parents to make education-related decisions for their children.  These rights are not absolute, however.  At the same time, states have begun to extend more rights to parents.  Where parent’s authority stops and where school officials’ authority begins is not always clear.  This session explores legal precedents on the matter and discusses how school personnel might navigate these challenges.

Suzanne Eckes is the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy, and Practice at the University of Wisconsin School of Education. Much of her research focuses on how civil rights laws impact education policies in K-12 public schools. She is a co-author or co-editor of several articles and books, including Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers and Students (8th ed., Pearson). Prior to joining the faculty, she was a a lawyer and a public high school teacher.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing group of eligible voters in the United States, increasing their share of the electorate from 2.1% in 2000 to 6% in 2024. Despite their growth in numbers, Asian Americans’ political and civic actions are often overlooked in mainstream media and US history curricula. For example, during the Civil Rights era, Asian Americans worked together and in solidarity with other ethnic groups, paving the way for stronger labor rights and education reforms. This omission has helped promote (mis)perceptions of Asian Americans as model minorities, diligent workers who maintain the status quo.  In this session, teachers will examine historical roots of Asian American immigration and examples of Asian American activism. Through discussions, the session aims for teachers to recognize the issues that Asian Americans sought to address, their actions and advocacy, and continued efforts in the broader fight for civic equality.

Theresa Alviar-Martin is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Kennesaw State University and a founding member of Asian American Voices for Education (AAVEd), a grassroots organization advocating for Asian American studies in Georgia’s K-12 curriculum. Her scholarship examines civic education from decolonial, global, and comparative perspectives. Prior to joining academia, Tracey worked for 13 years as an elementary teacher in international schools in Bangkok and Hong Kong, and as an ESOL teacher in a refugee camp in the Philippines. She is an editorial board member of Theory and Research in Social Education and recipient of the National Council for the Social Studies exemplary dissertation award. She has published two books and several peer reviewed articles and book chapters. Her latest book, Grassroots Organizing for K-12 Asian American Studies: Stories from the Field, co-edited with Dr. Sohyun An, captures the story of AAVEd and is available through Palgrave Macmillan/Springer publications.