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If it's a college, why doesn't it have a football team? Unfortunately, that's about the level of understanding about the Electoral College among many students. Once student learn that we don't really elect presidents by popular vote, many are also quick to condemn the Electoral College as "stupid" or "unfair." This site might help teachers put the Electoral College and the process we use to determine our president into sharper focus. The interactive map is fairly simple, but can be adapted to show the peculiar way that "all or nothing" Electoral College voting state by state can affect the outcome of an election. We need look no further than the most recent 2004 election to see its impact in real terms. Users can highlight a particular state and get a historical view of electoral votes for the republican or democratic candidate in past presidential elections. Although the site will have usefulness beyond the 2008 election, it is currently featuring the progress of that race through the primaries and beyond with polling data.

Be aware: during election season, this site opens slowly. But it is well worth the wait. There is advertising on the site, but it is fairly unobtrusive. This website requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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Aetna Financial created this site to help students, parents, and teachers understand the financial issues and planning that are important when starting a career. The site offers three separate tracks that lead through interviewing, getting a job, and managing the money you're earning.
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Ever wonder what it would be like to have open access to lectures at Harvard? Stanford? MIT? Academic Earth gives you that access in a limited fashion. This site contains thousands of video lectures by some of the most well regarded professors at several of the top universities in the US. You can sort the lectures by subject, by lecturer, by university, or by "playlist." The playlists sort lectures from various topics and multiple professors into thematic groups. Within individual subjects there are individual lectures and courses--collections of lectures by the same professor on a general subject. Watch a lecture on “The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877,” or “The American Novel since 1945,” or “Linear Algebra.” The topic possibilities go on and on. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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While no college ranking can be fully objective or authoritative, everyone likes to digest them. The listings from US News offer rankings along a number of different criteria. These can be a useful comparator when weighed along with other information. ONly partial information is available without a subscription.
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Students in second-year algebra and beyond can answer this pressing question in a lesson that introduces a mathematical model comparing the cost of education to potential earnings. Students are challenged to determine if the investment is a good one. The reality of real-life debt is encountered as students compute the amount that must be repaid each year for the life of the loan and check out starting salaries of target careers. A discussion component asks students to critique the model and discuss other factors that should be taken into consideration. This is a thought-provoking, authentic application of math skills
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Stanford University’s Bridge Project has examined the disconnect between K-12 and college education systems to learn why many students fail to make the transition from high school to college successfully.
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Is it possible to get kids excited about the Electoral College or campaign finance? Can students truly appreciate political humor? Help your history students understand the intricacies of the election process and gain an appreciation for this distinctly American political season! Browse through more than thirty interactive and creative lesson plans, organized by topic and grade level. Topics include the campaign trail, political polling, primaries and caucuses, political ads, and voting rights. Adobe Acrobat required for some activities. Although this site was created for the 2004 Presidential Election, it could be used during any presidential season. Some of the links require Flash and/or Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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This one is a great resource for researching colleges, trade schools, and career opportunities. This site has helpful information for guiding students along a variety of paths upon graduation. The career planning resources help students assess their likes and dislikes to identify how those preferences can translate into successful careers. The site also has helpful information on what certifications and qualifications different jobs require.
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We have yet to find a definitive career planning web site, but this offering from the US Departments of Labor and Education does a nice job of helping students sort out career options by both industry and education level. There’s also a listing of which industries are growing most rapidly. While the site include many professions requiring a 4-year degree, job titles like engineer, physician, and attorney that require the most training are curiously absent.
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This site is another entry into the college search market. Designed to provide resources to prospective students, their parents, and their teachers or guidance counselors, the site offers the usual links to financial aid information, advice on writing college essays and career guidance. Many of the links lead directly to resources developed by the US Department of Education or the US Department of Labor; reliable sources, but nothing new or innovative here. The fresh content here is a series of 13 short self-discovery quizzes that purport to help students sort out their feelings about college, and determine their relative readiness to attend. In keeping with the "grazing" theme (complete with cow logos and illustrations), these quizzes are called "munchings." It's kind of hokey, but it may be catchy enough to be effective. Once the student has completed all 13 "munchings," the site will generate a personalized report summarizing student responses. What is produced might generate interesting discussion among students or within families.

Using the site requires a log in (be sure to enable "cookies"). Log-in requires some personal information (first name, surname, email address, and description - if you are a student, parent, or teacher). Check with your administrator about allowing the students to register for this site using their own names. You may wish to set up a class registration instead of entering true data into the registration site. Another option is to create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.

There is no charge for using the site, and advertising is very minimal and fairly unobtrusive. Parts of this website require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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