Videos to Explain the Election Process

You can assign and share election lessons and videos from PBS Learning Media's Election Collection directly to Google Classroom. Share some of the following engaging videos to explain the election process with your students from PBS Learning Media:

Election Foundations

Why do we have elections? What's a constitutional democracy? How does the Constitution fit in? These questions are answered in this short video available in Spanish and English.

The Two Party System

Democrats and Republicans: what does it all mean? This video asks whether or not America should have more than two political parties. Share this with your upper elementary and middle school learners to start an interesting debate!

Voting Rights

This election cycle has brought up a lot of conversations about voting rights. Explore the last five decades of voting rights with this video, which includes handouts to support your learners.

CNN10

Part of understanding the election process is being cognizant of current events. Start each day with a 10 minute news brief from CNN10. The target audience is 5-8th graders, and host Carl Azuz is a fan favorite as he keeps students' attention with his newsworthy puns and easy to understand stories.

Extension Activities to Explain the Election Process

Mock Elections

After you teach your students all about the election process, have them cast their own ballots! Set up "election booths" with folders where students can fill out physical forms, or use some devices to have students cast their own anonymous digital ballots via Google Forms. That makes it easy for you to tally the votes and elect a presidential candidate for the class.



If you have multiple classes in the building that participate, consider setting up your own "electoral college" and have representatives cast their votes for each grade level or class.

Digital Escape Rooms

Videos are great tools, but your students need hands-on learning to really understand concepts. Use extension activities from any of the websites above or try something a little bit different with a digital escape room!

What is a Digital Escape Room?

Digital escape rooms require students to solve puzzles and find codes in order to learn facts about a topic, and ultimately solve a big puzzle!

The Electoral College Digital Escape Room

The Electoral College Digital Escape Room will takes students through two 360° VIEW rooms on a mission where they learn all about the election process. This escape room focuses on decoding and reading comprehension skills as students learn facts about the following election process topics:

• The Electoral College
• Article II
• The debate of the Electoral College and the number of electors

Students will participate in four different activities. However, if you have limited time, it's fine to work through one or two! You can also continue the activities in another class period. The activities typically take 30-60 minutes altogether, depending on the reading levels of your students. All activities include a reading, a quiz, and a puzzle. The puzzles will all be different. They will be:

• 1. Cryptogram
• 2. Maze
• 3. Cipher
• 4. Jigsaw

Use digital escape rooms with your students to teach all about American history, especially the election process. What will you do to explain the election process to your students? Try these informative, engaging videos along with your own classroom activities. Hosting a mock election paired with a digital escape room will have your kids excited about exercising their right to vote. Want to host a digital escape party in your classroom? Check out these awesome products to bring escape rooms alive!