Elections and Social Media Lesson Plan

Audience: Civics and Citizenship Grade 10
Length of Time:  Approximately 60 to 90 minutes

Overview:
An introduction to the electoral process in Ontario; the impact of social media during elections and the use of social media by elected members.

Objective:
Students will gain an understanding of the electoral process in Ontario and the importance of voting and active citizenship; they will discover the effects of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, during elections and be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of social media by elected officials and how communication with voters and their constituents has evolved.  

Learning Outcomes:
Through research students will:
• Identify the party leaders in Ontario’s Legislature and their own MPPs
• Understand how an election is called and how the electoral process works
• Understand the benefits of active citizenship
• Determine the use of social media by politicians
• Compare the use and impact of social media during election periods in Ontario.

Curriculum Links: Civics

Political Inquiry and Skill Development
• Formulate different types of questions to guide investigations into issues, events and/or developments of civic importance (A1.1)
• Selected and organize relevant evidence, data, and information on issues, events and/or developments of civic importance from a variety of primary and secondary sources (A1.2)
• Assess the credibility of sources relevant to their investigations (A1.3)
• Communicate their ideas, arguments and conclusions using various formats and styles (A1.7)
• Use appropriate terminology when communicating the results of their investigations (A1.9)

Civic Awareness: Rights and Responsibilities
• Explain why it is important for people to engage in civic action (B1.3)
• Identify the political parties in Canada and their position on the political spectrum (B2.1)

Civic Contributions
• Describe a variety of ways in which they could make a civic contribution (C1.2)
• Explain how various actions can contribute to the common good (C1.3)
• Describe various ways in which people can access information about civic matters (C2.3)

Background Information:
How Parliament Works
Electoral Process
Find your electoral district and who is your MPP

Introductory Discussion (15 minutes):
• How often are elections held in Ontario? (every 4 years; guidelines set out in the Election Act)
• What are Writs of Election? (formal legal documents; an official notice that the election process is under-way)
• What does “First past the Post” mean? (candidate with the most number of votes in an election wins; party with the highest number of seats forms the government)
• Who are Members of Provincial Parliament?  (go to the Elections Ontario website and show students how to find their local MPP)
• How do you learn about what happens in parliament? (television, Twitter, internet, in person)

Social Media in Politics
Part 1 – Group Discussion (15-20 minutes)
• Discuss the use of social media in politics (use the Ontario party leaders as an example of how social media is used to communicate with voters – Doug Ford, Andrea Horwath , John Fraser and Mike Schreiner
• What methods are used to communicate with voters?

Part 2 – Research
• Students will need to research the use of social media in the last provincial elections.
• Students will need to bring in 5 Tweets or Facebook status updates from their MPP and/or party leaders to class. Encourage students with Facebook and Twitter accounts to follow their MPP or party leaders.
• If school policy permits, access Facebook and Twitter in the classroom for research.
• Students will need to bring in current paper clipping, articles, etc. about a party leader or MPP in the media.

Presentations (5 minutes/presentation)
Students will discuss the use of social media in the last provincial election and the difference between how politicians in Ontario use social media for elections now compared to the past.
Presentation points could include:
• What impact do these messages have?
• Is social media an effective way of communicating with voters? Why and why not?
• What do they think social media will look like in politics in five years? 10 years?

Additional Activities:
• “Tweet of the day” where students are invited to submit an interesting tweet by a politician each day and it gets placed on the board.
• Ask students to follow their own MPP on Twitter.