BrainPOP’s video Voting is an informative and efficient way of providing students with a picture of the voting process. This video would be appropriate for grades third and up. The film is relevant to the upcoming election and could be used in the social studies content area. In the video some questions addressed include who are elected officials, how to elect or reelect representatives, the date for the presidential election, the process of registration, what materials you use when voting, and what voting decisions can help determine. Voting engages students without boring them as the video lasts less than five minutes.
I showed Voting to brother who is currently in fifth grade. He agreed that learning information through the video was better than receiving information through a textbook. He enjoyed watching the video because it was easy to understand and the robot that narrated the video was funny. It seemed as if the content in the video was too easy, as he is well informed for his age. Most of the information he already knew. I asked him a variety of questions to prompt his engagement and learning in the video. Prior knowledge he had before the video was that you vote in private. Something new he learned was the date of Election Day is the second Tuesday in November. A topic he thought needed to be voted on at his school was recycling habits. Something he had voted for previously was for the positions for student government. Overall, the video was clear, descriptive, and easy to comprehend.
Link to video: Voting
I’m glad someone did their One Great Text on BrainPOP! I think BrainPOP is a great resource especially for introducing difficult topics like voting, elections, and aspects of the government. The videos really help break down difficult concepts and they have activities to follow up on lessons, which is great too! The only thing about BrainPOP is that it is used on a regular basis in schools already. I think in order for students to maintain excitement towards these videos, teachers should use it sparingly and in addition to other activities and ways of teaching a topic. For example, students could do a KWL chart, watch the video on voting, and then have a mock election.