When history teacher Brandon Lorentz first told his students at Thirman Milner School they would be voting in a mock version of the presidential election, he wasn’t sure how they’d respond.
“I didn’t realize how far they were gonna run with it,” Lorentz said. “I didn’t realize that it was something I was going to want to redo, and redo as often as possible. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t done any projects that I really noticed them weeks later still talking about, [and] still interested in. It was great. It just makes my mind wonder: what else can I do; what else can we do?”
In addition to opening kids’ eyes to the political process, one of the larger goals was to get students to think critically about the news and information around them.
Classrooms participated in a nationwide student-vote platform created by NewsELA, an education technology company. Schools in 19 states across the country voted on the same day, which included 212 schools in Connecticut. More than 4,000 students voted in the Nutmeg State, representing all age groups.
When the results came in for Connecticut, Bernie Sanders was the statewide winner. Hilary Clinton came in second. See the results below:
Students Vote 2016: Connecticut Results from newsela
Sanders was also the winner in Lorentz’s class. But before they voted, Lorentz said it was important for his students to separate fact from fiction, and to understand the candidates’ positions on key issues. They did this by looking at news articles and figuring out if the sources were reputable.
When asked how they can verify the veracity of what they're reading, eighth-grader Alexiah Smith said there are a few ways to figure it out.
“If it’s over-exaggerated, then I know it’s not true,” Smith said. “Oh my God, there’s an experiment in the lab, and they made a monkey dog. That wouldn’t make sense to me. I mean, like, no.”
What if she found out they actually made a monkey dog?
“Then I’d be scared,” Smith said. “I’d be like, let me see it, so I can know what to ask about it.”
It's about having the proof, she said -- and proof requires evidence. Lorentz said the voting project was about civic responsibility, but on a deeper level, it was about challenging his students to question what they think to be true, and why.
