Title: TEACHING NOTES: Section 4
Course: US Election 2016-Leuphana Copy > Section: 4. The Election In Our State

[fa-info-circle] This is only visible to teachers. Take a look at this introduction when preparing this part of the project for your students.

This is the most important section of the project as it contains the target task for your course. Students are supposed to adopt one U.S. state and make an informed prediction about how that state is most likely going to vote on Election Day.

[fa-list-ul]   This section includes the following tasks:

- ★ TASK: Predict the Election Outcome
- TASK: Participate in the Student Competition

★ TASK: Predict the Election Outcome

In the target task of this project, students are supposed to predict how their state is going to vote on Election Day. By definition, this task draws on insights and learning outcomes from all preceding task cycles. That is, understanding how the electoral system works, who the candidates are, what their platforms include, and how this is perceived in the national and state context are all potential sources for making the final prediction.

As a first step, students update their findings and hypotheses from the initial ★ TASK: Explore Your State. One core question here is whether your state is a swing state or a solid state. In both cases, one goal of this task is to find out precisely why this is the case, e.g. why the state supports one party or why it is divided.

The major resource for the subsequent research phase is the state fact sheet. Here, have your students decide on the procedure and which of their state's aspects they wish to include in the prediction. Have them form expert teams, conduct research on their selected topics, and then bring these insights together to form the prediction.

Your course's prediction must be submitted by October 30, 2016 in the DATABASE: Ballot Box & Competition in the Virtual Town Hall. If your students decide to participate in the student competition (see below), then use this database for both your prediction and your competition entry.

[fa-gears]   Tech tips

- You can make copies of the state fact sheet for each student.
- Reserve your school's computer lab for this phase or ask your students to bring their own devices in order to complete the research task.

TASK: Participate in the Student Competition

This task is a continuation of the preceding task. If you and your students decide to participate in the U.S. Election Project student competition, you can integrate both tasks in this section. Here, students are asked to present their prediction creatively with their own product. Such a product can take a variety of forms, for example, a video, a song, a poster etc. In the task description, you will find a list of all possible types of products and the competition criteria.

Most importantly, only one contribution per course is possible and in order to participate, one representative of the course (or you) must upload the product onto the Virtual Town Hall by October 30, 2016. The product must not violate any copyrights. (See task description for more details and the upload link.)

[fa-gears]   Tech tips

- You can make copies of the State Fact Sheet for each student. It is advisable to reserve your school's computer lab for this phase or ask your students to bring their own devices in order to complete the research task.
- In the Virtual Town Hall, in the section 'More Links, Tools, and Resources', you will find a selection of useful web applications for creating your competition entry, (video or presentation apps, online databases for copyright-free sounds and images, etc.).