Lesson Plan: All About Voting

by Apathy is Boring — March 31, 2010

Voting is an essential element of democracy. In Canada's parliamentary system, voting occurs at many different levels: in general elections, inside political parties, inside Parliament, and even in the Supreme Court. This lesson will help students learn about the voting process and how it fits into Canada's democratic process.

Learning Goals

After this lesson:

• Students will understand majorities, pluralities, and governing parties in the House of Commons
• Students will reflect on the expansion of voting rights
• Students will be able to give reasons why they should vote

The goals of a lesson will obviously vary based on your classroom and curriculum, so feel free to adapt these suggestions to your students. You'll also find curriculum links at the bottom of this page, which can help you identify other learning goals for this lesson.

Pre-assessment and Resources

Take a moment to evaluate your students' current level of knowledge and the connections they already have with the voting process. Does your school have student council elections? Will any of your students be eligible to vote in an upcoming election? Have they ever seen lawn signs or rallies in their neighbourhood during an election campaign?

Citizen Factory has information on all elected Members of Parliament, along with articles explaining Canada's democratic process. There is also a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this lesson plan, which can help you present the material in a classroom setting. Feel free to alter it to suit your needs.

Introduction

Try to use a hook to introduce the lesson - see what knowledge or experiences your students already have with voting and elections.

Activity: First Past the Post

The goal of this activity is to help your students understand how the Canadian electoral system works and how it determines the composition of the House of Commons.

To prepare for the activity, draw up a list of three or more questions, each with about four possible answers. Your students will be voting on these questions, so choose anything that will elicit several different opinions. For example, "What is your favourite ice cream flavour?" would be a good question.

First, ask all of your students to vote on one or two of the questions, and declare the most popular answer as the winner. Next, ask your students to vote again on the two most popular answers for each question.

Ask your students to explain the difference between the two votes. How did the results change? What differences would they expect to see between a two-party and multi-party system? What advantages or disadvantages are there to choosing a winner based on a plurality instead of a majority?

Next, randomly divide your students into three or five equal groups (you can base this on where they're sitting in the room, or another characteristic such as their birth month). Ask your students to vote again - only  this time each group gets a single vote, based on the most popular answer within that group. This is essentially a first-past-the-post system.

Ask your students to compare this system with the previous votes. How did the results change? Does this system represent their opinions well?

Have your students read Decoding Federal Elections and Decoding the House of Commons. As your students to compare these systems with their experiences from this activity. Which voting system is used in federal elections. What about in the House of Commons? What are the advantages of these systems?

Activity: Who Gets to Vote?

The goal of this activity is to help your students understand the expansion of voting rights, and link it to active citizenship on their part.

Ask your students to brainstorm around the following question: who should be allowed to vote in Canada? Write their answers on a chalkboard or flip-chart, and ask for specific details. If only adults should be allowed to vote, what defines adulthood? Is it age, or some other characteristic?

Have your students read Historical Facts About Elections and Women in Parliamentary History. Ask them to describe the expansion of voting over time. Why have more Canadians gained the right to vote over time?

Have your students visit Citizen Factory and look up their MPs by postal code. Next, ask your students to look at their MP’s recent voting record and news sources.

Ask your students if their MP is doing a good job. Would they vote for their MP? Why or why not?

Have your students read 10 Tips on Getting Politicians to Listen to You. Ask your students what they can do to affect the democratic process. If they aren't eligible to vote, what else can your students do?

Conclusion

Encourage your students to take action based on the second activity, be it by voting or making their voices hard. You can also use Decoding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to link this lesson about voting to a discussion of legal rights and discrimination in Canada.

Assessment

Evaluate whether or not the lesson achieved its goals, as well as your specific goals:

• Do students understand majorities, pluralities, and governing parties in the House of Commons?
• Can students describe the expansion of voting rights?
• Were students able to give reasons why they should vote?

Curriculum Links

The following links are drawn from the British Columbia Ministry of Education’s Civic Studies 11 curriculum, which aims “to enhance students’ abilities and willingness to participate actively and responsibly in civic life.” They provide examples of civics learning goals that can be integrated with this lesson plan, and Citizen Factory in general.

It is expected that students will:

• Apply critical thinking skills – including questioning, comparing, summarizing drawing conclusions, and defending – to a range of issues, situations, and topics
• Demonstrate effective research skills, including
  • Accessing information
  • Assessing information
• Demonstrate a knowledge of historical and contemporary factors that help define Canadian civic identity, including
  • Roles of individuals in society
  • Governance
  • Rights and responsibilities
• Identify historical roots of the Canadian political and legal systems, including
  • British parliamentary system
  • Political philosophies and parties
• Describe the division of powers in Canada among federal, provincial, territorial, First Nations, and municipal governments
• Describe Canada’s electoral systems and processes
• Describe the Canadian legal system, including
  • Legal processes
  • The enforcement and administration of laws
• Assess the application of fundamental principles of democracy (including equality, freedom, selection of decision makers, rule of law, and balancing the common good with the rights of individuals) with respect to selected to 20^th and 21^st century cases in Canada
• Evaluate the relative abilities of individuals, governments, and non-governmental organizations to effect civic change in Canada and the world, with reference to considerations such as
  • Power and influence
  • Circumstances
  • Methods of decision making and action
  • Public opinion
• Assess the role of beliefs and values in civic decision making
• Evaluate the citizen’s role in civic processes locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally
• Apply skills of civic discourse and dispute resolution, including consensus building, negotiation, compromise, and majority rule
• Evaluate the ethics of selected civic decisions
• Implement a plan for action on selected local, provincial, national, or international civic issue”

Source: British Columbia Ministry of Education. Civics Studies 11: Integrated Resource Package 2005. Victoria: Ministry of Education, 2005.