Student Vote

 

Student Vote is an authentic learning program that provides students with the opportunity to experience the voting process firsthand and practice the habits of active and informed citizenship.” (www.studentvote.ca)

Throughout this unit, we learned about all levels of the Canadian government, and were able to ask questions from a special guest speaker, a Kingston counsellor. We also learned about the different types of governments around the world, and what it means to live in a democracy. 

A fantastic section of the curriculum this year was dedicated to learning about bias and how to determine the truth behind media stories. Students learned about questioning online information, and discussed fact vs. opinion. 

As the teacher, my favourite part of Student Vote happens in the last two weeks. At that time, the students are divided into groups that research a specific political party. Their task is to become non-biased journalists reporting on the platforms of their given party. Then, the students present the information to other grades in the school. After learning about each party, each grade has an opportunity to vote. 

Student Vote invites the students to become active members of society; while they cannot vote yet, they learn about becoming informed voters. Students also gain an inside knowledge about the voting process while facilitating the vote.

Overall, this is a wonderful experience that I hope will turn our KCS students into informed, active members of society!