Milken Decides 2008

Project Overview

We're in the midst of perhaps the most important, exciting, and without a doubt historical presidential election. There is a lot of energy and discussion around this particular election, and it is our goal to keep this excitement going as we cover the elections in the classroom. For this project, we will be working with Wikis. Wikis are a powerful new tool that will help us to learn and share information together. In addition, Wikis serve as an excellent tool for checking and displaying the sources we use.

In this year's presidential election, both Democratic and Republican candidates are putting forward proposals for how they would address important issues that affect everyone in this country. Some of the candidates views are very different; others are quite similar. Since the president generally has more power than any other individual in the country over what policies the U.S. adopts, who we pick as president will greatly affect our future. But just because a candidate says he or she is for a particular policy doesn't mean they can necessarily bring it about. The president has to work with Congress to get laws passed, and also garner support from the public. Sometimes to get a law passed, a president has to be willing and able to stand up to powerful companies, organizations, or individuals. So voters often try to figure out if they think a candidate has the ability to do all these things.

As we work on this project, we will explore these issues in greater depth. When the Wiki is fully created, we will be able to use it as our classroom resource for discussion and assessment on the election. Rememer- you, the students, make the Wiki! Therefore, the more effort you put into it, the better the final product will appear.

What is a Wiki?

A Wiki is "a collaborative Web site set up to allow user editing and adding of content."