Yesterday, here in NH the state held the Presidential Primary Election. We saw incredible crowds at the polls and broke all kinds of records for voter turnout. All of this is was very exciting. As a way to get the students at my school excited about the election process a social studies teacher and I decided to hold a mock election for the students (grades 9-12). Meanwhile, I was registered to attend a workshop on how to use InspireData (data collection and graphing software by the makers of Kidpiration and Inspiration), during the workshop we were thinking of ideas of how to use this software with our existing curriculum and BINGO a solution to the counting of paper ballots occured to me (well the instructor really gave me the idea).
One of the great features of InspireData is that you can hold an online survey and then import the data directly into a document. Once you have imported all of the data you can then analyze the data by creating several types of graphs. The cool thing about the graphs is that all you have to do change the X and Y criteria for the graph, and the data will change right before your eyes. You actually see all of the data moving from one spot on the graph to another according to the criteria you choose. It is great!
So, overall it was a huge success. We were able to hold a mock election quite easily, analyze the data in several different ways and report our findings quickly and without too much fuss. We did have a few surveys that were not filled out correctly, but I think I can figure out how to fix that problem...so we can do it again in November!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
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2 comments:
Pam -
Am following you on twitter and saw your blog name - too funny, mine is Kate 2.0! Anyway, I'd love for you to follow me as well, it looks like we have a lot in common education-wise and it would be neat to be able to discuss. I look forward to your links you provide. I'm at http://twitter.com/kolson29
I was so glad to read about the success of your mock election using InspireData. I was a social studies and technology teacher for many used who tried to incorporate visual learning as much as possible, and now I work for Inspiration as the Education Development Manager for Social Studies. I recently created the new social studies databases in InspireData 1.5 and helped in the products' development, and I'm very interested in other ways social studies teachers are incorporating it into the classroom. I'd love to hear more about the election the next time you try it, and let me know it there's anything I can do to help!
Rick Reynolds
Email: rreynolds[AT]inspiration.com
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