A homemade video graphically displayed a rural Wisconsin school district's cramped and deteriorating condition. Voters approved a 5.5 million dollar plan to expand and modernize the existing 3-story building that links the elementary school and high school. School officials believe the grassroots video helped convince voters in favor of the…

Discusses the inspiration for a school program on voter education called "Kids Voting USA." Describes Kids Voting, launched in the general election of 1988 when children in Phoenix, Arizona, cast their own ballots. Includes ideas for activities and features a lesson called "Debate Bingo." (CMK)

Discusses the issues of the initiative and referenda process focusing on the arguments for and against referendum and voter initiatives. Includes research pointers on ballot initiatives, a brief quiz, and activity ideas, such as "Match States with Initiatives." (CMK)

Examines the effect that the presence of national elections has on government respect for a category of human rights known as physical integrity rights. Analyzes 74 countries at three points in time (1981, 1984, and 1987). Finds that the presence of national elections has no effect on government respect for physical integrity rights. (CMK)

This paper reports the introduction of electronic handsets, like those used on the television show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? into the teaching of philosophical logic. Logic lectures can provide quite a formidable challenge for many students, occasionally to the point of making them ill. Our rationale for introducing handsets was threefold:…

This paper explores the position of a group of immigrant youths from the European republics of the former USSR on participation in public life in Israel, as expressed in their attitudes toward voting in the 1996 national elections, the first in which the youths were eligible to take part. The study group consisted of 30 18-year-old high school…

The educators who have the most visible position in the school community are principals. Superintendents and school board members stand out in the crowd, but the public tends to see principals as the credible source of how budgets will filter to the classroom level and ultimately benefit children for life. In other words, the public believes that…

The nation faces a youth citizenry that is disengaged and lacks the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions to participate in and carry out their civic duties. This ECS Policy Brief summarizes the state-level goals and accomplishments of the Youth Legislative Engagement project and is intended for state policymakers, education leaders and…

Levy-election results frequently mean the difference between the curtailment or expansion of educational services. This paper presents results of a study that explored the feasibility of using exit polling as an alternative way to assess voter attitudes in an urban school-district levy election. Background information is provided on two levy…

This user guide is part of a multimedia unit using an interdisciplinary approach with hands-on learning to motivate children to participate actively in their schools and local communities, and to experience the democratic process. This unit focuses on the concept of laws helping people to live together and how people help make the laws. Unit parts…

This user guide is part of a multimedia unit using an interdisciplinary approach with hands-on learning to motivate children to participate actively in their schools and local communities, and to experience the democratic process. This unit focuses on the meaning of the words in the Pledge of Allegiance. Unit parts include: (1) video preview; (2)…

This biography for younger readers recounts the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, one of the first black organizers of voter registration in Mississippi. The book presents an overview of the civil rights movement while describing Hamer's life in Mississippi, her involvement in voter rights in 1962 at the age of 45, and her efforts as a civil rights…

In 1917, the Leslie Bureau of Suffrage Education was created in New York. The Bureau was to be the news purveyor, publicity expert, and propaganda carrier, disseminating suffrage material through every available avenue of publicity. One of its departments, the Department of Editorial Correspondence, was chaired by Ida Husted Harper. Of her 66…

Areas of behavioral and social science research that have achieved significant breakthroughs in knowledge or application or that show future promise of achieving such breakthroughs are discussed in 12 papers. For example, the paper on formal demography shows how mathematical or statistical techniques can be used to explain and predict change in…

Research indicates that the media play a role in shaping the information that voters have about election options. Knowledge of those options has been related to actual vote, but has not been shown to be strongly related to uncertainty. Uncertainty, however, does seem to motivate voters to engage in communication activities, some of which may…