Barack Obama

[niamhandjohn@yahoo.ie]

I am teaching 11 -13 year olds in Ireland who are very interested to learn more about Barack Obama. Would any of you have activprimary presentations done on the President Elect which I could adapt? Or could ye point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
John.

[LisaD]

I haven't seen any yet. But that would be a great one for folks to submit!

Lisa

[markrobinson]

At the time of writing there is some great stuff online...

Google Maps has a "Journey of Barack Obama" that traces him from birth to President Elect

http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://www.mibazaar.com/obamamapplet.xml&src=fc_0


Another cool Google tool is:

http://labs.google.com/inquotes/

This compares what candidates said on different issues. I would use this in class with Expression or Activote and get them to choose who they would go with for each issue or how much they agree with a view - and then see who wins on the issues.

It is not quite perfect - since it uses keywords and does not understand context of quotes - so for example the word "environment" includes quotes about both the changes in the "natural environment" and the political "environment"..

So there is perhaps a lesson in that ... As well as spotting spin and interpreting the "political speak" - you need to check the tools you use give you the right information.... "The first hit on google is NOT always the last word on the matter"