Title: TEACHING NOTES: Section 3
Course: US Election 2016-Leuphana Copy > Section: 3. The Campaign Issues

[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.

In this section, students explore the topics and issues that American voters are discussing in 2016. This includes getting an overview of the 2016 campaign issues, researching select issues in more detail, and finding out where the candidates stand on these issues.

Students research the issues by following major U.S. news media and create an issues mind map collaboratively in class. They analyze the candidates' websites and other sources and brief their classmates on central findings. Task support comes from the issues chart handout.

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

- ★ TASK: The Campaign Issues and Where the Candidates Stand
- TASK: Clinton’s and Trump’s Campaign Managers on the Ground
- TASK: Reaction to the Campaign Issues

★ TASK: The Campaign Issues and Where the Candidates Stand

This is the core task of this section. As an introduction, students select one or several U.S. news outlets and scan it for different campaign issues and topics being reported about in order to collect these findings in class (e.g., in the form of a mind map). The then split up into expert groups and select one of the issues for a more detailed analysis and, in a second step, where the two candidates stand on this issue. Task support is provided in the form of a selection of useful resources and the handout 'Issues Chart', which serves to structure and document the research findings. Finally, these findings can be collected in class, for example in the form of a gallery walk.

[fa-gears]   Tech tips

- The first part of this task can be done at home.
- The group and research phase requires web-access at least one device per group.
- Ask students to use headphones for videos.
- Document results 'offline' by creating posters from the issues charts or online in the Project Journal.

TASK: Clinton’s and Trump’s Campaign Managers on the Ground

The TASK: Clinton’s and Trump’s Campaign Managers on the Ground is an oral extension to the preceding task in the form of a role play-like issues debate: Students slip into the roles of spokespeople of the two campaigns in their adopted states and defend their proposed policies. Before you begin, discuss the structure and practicalities of oral debates with your students. They should support each other in developing effective arguments and potential counter arguments. In this fishbowl setting, the debaters change fast, so every student should be prepared to 'jump in' if necessary.

[fa-gears]   Tech tips

- Individual web-access is required to access texts and videos introducing the characters.
- Ask students to bring headphones.
- As with the ★ TASK: Meet the Candidates, have your students video-record the debate for a subsequent analysis.

TASK: Reaction to the Campaign Issues

The TASK: Reaction to the Campaign Issues is a written extension to the first task in this section. Here, students can choose between three options: writing a memo for their candidate's voluntary campaign aides, a press release endorsing the candidate on behalf of an NGO, or a news article '100 days after the Election'. In all three options, students need to apply their findings from the previous task: They need to define the issue first and then lay out the candidate's proposed policies, quote their statements on the issues, and contextualize these arguments according to the targeted audience.

[fa-gears]   Tech tips

- As an extension of the previous task, this task does not require individual web-access.
- Students could be asked to upload their texts into the database Learner Texts, so that they can comment on each other's texts and provide peer feedback.