Reimagining Democracy:
How Can We Improve Participation and Representation in U.S.
By:  Kyle Stumpf

Project at a Glance :

This project is for an 11/12th grade AP Government class.  The unit focuses on four linkage institutions (elections, political parties, interest groups and the media).  Linkage institutions connect citizens to the government. This project will take approximately 2-3 weeks.
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Driving Question:

How can we reform the election process to encourage greater voter participation at the federal/state/local level?

Standards:

• Students will master key AP GOV standards relating to political participation. 
• They will gain an understanding of campaign strategies, electoral systems, voting behavior, and the changing role of political institutions shaping our democracy.
• ​They will develop skills like data analysis, collaboration, and reasoning.
• Employability skills for this project include: collaboration, team work, digital and information literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, leadership, organization, and public speaking

Team / Culture Building:

• Groups were created using the website Flippity.net. This randomly assigned groups. (simulates the real world as friends don't always get to work together) 
  
• Two truths and a lie and other PBL protocols like value cards were also used to develop team culture and get the groups comfortable with each other.​

Entry Event:

• The Entry Event showcased older generations of voters saying "Don't Vote" and "Give me more power" in a few edited clips from advertisements and testimonies used over the years. Students got to see what happens when voter turn-out is low.
• I am hopeful for a guest speaker like a political consultant, or government official to talk about elections.

Stakeholders:

• Voters and Interest groups
• Government officials and agencies
• Bureaucrats, political parties, mass media
• Communities and future voters 

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholders Map
• Empathy Map ​

• It became apparent that everybody in some capacity is affected by our lawmakers at the national, state, and local level.
• Students completed a Pains and Gains chart

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• I had the students re-write the driving question to better understand the need to knows
• Causes and consequences of low voter turnout were looked into by the students

Researching and generating ideas

Gaining Insights:

• Collaborative practices were utilized by the groups so research could be done effectively and efficiently.
  
• Information from a wide variety of sources were used for research including Google and AI tools. 

Incubation:

• 100 Idea Quota​
• Brain Firing Protocol for generating ideas
• After idea generating, students narrowed down to a collective top 10  for each individual
• Then they did a group Top 10​

 Checking in:

• Daily check-ins throughout the period were incorporated to make sure groups are on track

• Critical Friends
• SWOT
• Success/Failures
• To Do List 

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Solution Building:

• The 3/12/3 protocol is useful in developing solutions
• Students narrowed down ideas with the $100 Test and NUF Test protocols

Critique and Revision: 

• After NUF Tests are completed individually, a group discussion is very beneficial
• Critical Friends helped with revisions as well

Authentic Audience:

• Elected officials​
• Bureaucrats affiliated with the election process
• Community members affected by elected officials

Solution Examples:

• Many ideas focused on early voting or voting by mail​

• More ideas were based on same day or automatic voter registration​

• Some ideas focused on having an election day holiday 
• Other ideas included focusing on incorporating community events to place emphasis on civic duty and virtue

Click here for teacher's full plan.
Reflection and Feedback:

• Students made their final pitches to the teacher and also administrative staff. 
• Students were required to dress up for the final pitches and practiced enough to not use notecards. 
• Used a feedback form developed by Jenison Social Studies department for PBL's.
• Students will also be able to do a group reflection with the authentic audience at the end of the session.

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:

​Kyle Stumpf teaches AP Government and AP European History at Jenison High School in Jenison, MI.

"PBL fosters problem solving and communication skills while allowing students to apply critical thinking skills to real world challenges.  As future leaders, our students benefit greatly from experiences like PBL that help them grow into more capable, empathetic and thoughtful leaders.  I’m grateful for programs like this that play a role in shaping the next generation and, ultimately, our country’s future."