Compare Political Parties – A Worksheet and Lesson Plan

Understanding and comparing the platforms

 

Check out the lyrics and more for our Political Parties video.Just in time for the first debate of the 2012 presidential campaign, our Political Party video and lesson plan are a great way to introduce political platforms to your class. Complete with a graphic organizer to compare the Democratic and Republican parties, this lesson can also be used to review topics discussed in the debates.

Political Parties Lesson Plan

Objective: Students will compare the Republican and Democratic parties and identify the differences between the presidential candidates’ platforms.

1. Have students watch Flocabulary’s Political Parties video and click on the info boxes to learn more.

2. Ask students to define the term political party.

3. Hand out Flocabulary’s Political Party worksheet. Using the song lyrics and news coverage of the presidential campaign, students should fill out the chart. To stay up to date on the election, you can use The Week in Rap.

4. To close, have students answer the following question in writing: Now that you’ve examined the different platforms of the Republican and Democratic party, which candidate do you think would be the best fit for the presidency? Explain your answer. You can also have students discuss their answers.

Extension: The song mentions four different parties: Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Green. Students have already compared the two main political parties, but you can extend the lesson by having them research the Libertarian and Green parties and filling in the worksheet with those parties stances on each issue. Students could also choose a different party.

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