INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Poptential™, an award-winning family of free social studies course packages, helps teachers address the history and importance of the upcoming midterm elections using a variety of pop culture media to engage students. Click to tweet.
Midterm elections, held this year on November 8, determine the state representatives of both legislative branches of the U.S. Congress: The House of Representatives and the Senate.
“Since the presidential election doesn’t take place during midterm cycles, it’s common for people to think these elections aren’t that important,” said Julie Smitherman, a former social studies teacher and director of content at Certell, Inc., the nonprofit behind Poptential. “Poptential is full of ways teachers can demonstrate the importance of the upcoming midterms.”
Lessons in the Poptential Government digital curriculum include:
- Why midterm elections are important. Module 10 of the curriculum highlights recent midterm elections to demonstrate how they can impact the current president's agenda.
- How Congressional candidates win. The bicameral legislative model was designed to balance the needs and desires of the entire U.S. population with those of local populations within each state. A video in Module 5.2 shows how candidates win their elections, highlighting Congressional campaigning and the incumbency advantage.
- How the founding fathers created good government. The U.S. Constitution was designed to protect against giving the federal government too much power. Module 3 features a lesson on the history leading up to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and a clip from the Broadway musical "Hamilton," in which Hamilton calls on Aaron Burr to amend the first Constitution.
- The power of constitutional representation. The U.S. bicameral legislation is unique. Module 3.2 includes a humorous video highlighting the Great Comprise at the Constitutional Convention, leading to the formation of the House of Representatives and Senate.
- Is self-government possible? The American experiment of self-government is explored in a video that showcases how important it is to vote and to become active in the process of governance.
Poptential course packages include everything instructors need to teach a subject, including lessons, e-books, bell ringers, quizzes, and tests. The lessons use a variety of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including those taken from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources. The curriculum is standards-based and developed by teachers.
Poptential is available via a digital platform that allows students to access lessons even in poor bandwidth environments. Course packages in American History, World History, U.S. Government/Civics, and Economics are available free at www.poptential.org.
About Certell, Inc.
Certell is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to foster a generation of independent thinkers. More than 30,000 teachers from throughout the United States have signed up to use Certell’s Poptential™ family of free social studies courses, and thousands more students are reached through Certell’s college-level courses in law and economics, and SensibleSchool™ instruction for home-schoolers, employees, and inmates. Certell course packages have won a number of awards, including EdTech Digest Awards for Curriculum and Instruction Solution, Tech&Learning Best Tool for Back to School, Tech Edvocate Awards, Bronze Award of Excellence from the National Association of Economics Educators, and Civvys Awards. More information is available at certell.org or on Twitter @CertellOrg.
For information contact:
Mara Conklin, 847-340-6823
mconklin@teamclarus.com
Kathy Zoeller, (312) 485-2422
kathy@mattsonpr.com
