Answers -- Fun, Facts, and Trivia
May 2004 Issue

The Dirksen Center wants to help teachers teach better by giving them the opportunity to use technology to create, customize, and share online learning activities in their classrooms. The Center wants to help students learn more by bringing educational resources together in one place that provide new ways to learn about Congress interactively.

** PUZZLED BY POLITICAL PARTIES?**

*ACTIVITY* Party members select their candidates at a state caucus. Although the party's slate is listed on the ballot, voters can vote for any candidate they want. Here's a fun taste test to help your middle-school students understand how ballot sheets are filled out and to see the importance of gathering information before voting:

Have your students register to vote using a modified registration form. After they are registered to vote, let them know that a candidate needs to be investigated and researched before one can vote. Get three different brands of rootbeer, each decorated attractively with labels removed. Give students each selection to taste. After tasting them, the students vote on a ballot for which they thought was best. After each student votes, create a bar graph and compare the data. Finally, explain how this activity can be related to the candidates on the ballot and how they compare in their race.

1. What is common at most national political conventions?

A) Thousands of delegates
B) Lots of balloons
C) Rousing speeches
D) All of the above

2. Convinced that it was best for the country that he not seek another term, he instructed his secretary to notify unpledged delegates at the convention not to vote for him. Which president made the statement -- "I do not choose to run!"?

A. Calvin Coolidge
B. Herbert Hoover
C. William McKinley
D. William Taft

3. Name the presidential candidate who was NOT nominated by his political party in Chicago?

A. Abraham Lincoln
B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
C. John F. Kennedy
D. Bill Clinton

Answers to the April issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0404ans.htm.

Do you have or know of an online activity you would like The Dirksen Congressional Center to feature on its new Web site for students -- Congress for Kids? The Center is currently seeking online activities that provide new ways to learn about Congress and the workings of the federal government interactively.

If you have questions or suggestions for online activities, contact Cindy Koeppel.