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Issues Poll


Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago is asking students what they think. Unit V of the VOICE curriculum uses the gun control issue to help teach students about the legislative branch. While this very well may be an important issue to elementary students, CRFC decided to ask students what they thought, in order to understand what issues affect students the most. Eight issues are identified for students and they are asked to choose the two most important. Following is a brief overview of the polling experience provided by CRFC. We encourage you and your class to participate in the experience as well. Send your results to CRFC and they will be a part of the findings. Your students will have a VOICE!

Suggested Procedures:
  1. Explain what an opinion poll is. For example, "opinion" might be explained as what individuals in a group think, or how individuals in a group feel. A "poll" might be explained as keeping track of the results? You might ask how an opinion poll might be useful? (Recording and entertainment industries, fast food restaurants, politicians, are among the many groups that have benefited from the use of polls.
  2. Now that your students know what a Poll is, you can give them an authentic poll. They will report what they think are the most important problems in our country today. An issue is kind of like a problem. What problems are the most important? Students will have a chance to choose two. They will need to circle their choices from a list of eight problem areas, or issues. The students might recognize some of the problems from presidential election speeches or commercials. (Use the Opinion Poll handout .)
  3. Do a type of word association activity. In small groups of four or five, ask the students to talk about what comes to mind when you read the issue, or problem. When the students have talked in their groups for a minute or two, stop them and ask them if they talked about some of the things CRFC listed to explain a problem. For example, "How many groups talked about (Cost of Medicine) when I said (Health Care)." Ask students to raise their hands and feel free to point out the diversity of conversations. After groups have had a chance to respond to all of the aspects listed to explain a problem, ask a couple of students to report about conversations describing a problem differently than any of those mentioned. The eight problem areas, as well as brief descriptions, are listed below.

  4. After the explanation of issues, allow the students time to check the two most important issues. Also, encourage students to write one reason for choosing an issue and/or one possible solution to an issue. (Some students have written a couple of words and other students have written several sentences that filled the back of the paper.) Some students may need to be reminded what the problem areas are as they actually start selecting their issues.
  5. When most students are finished with choosing and writing about their most important issues, show them the question at the bottom of the page that asks them what the most important issues are for them in their school or neighborhood. This is completely open-ended and the results have proved interesting. What are problems or things they would like to see changed in "their world".
  6. When your class is finished with the survey, please send CRFC the results. You may either send the raw data and we will process it, or tabulate the results and send them to us. We are interested in the raw numbers as well as the comments written by the students.

We have results from 24 4 th , 5 th , and 6 th grade classrooms, which represents14 schools in three states (Illinois, Minnesota, and Rhode Island). Eight classrooms are from School District U-46 in Elgin, IL, eleven classrooms are from Chicago, two are from schools in Rhode Island, and three from Minnesota. Below are the total tally numbers per issue (Keep in mind that each students could choose two issues):
        
Issue
Total Tally Per Issue
Health Care
309
Education
250
Crime/Violence
335
Economic Conditions
63
Foreign Affairs
41
Ecology/Environment
65
Budget/Government Spending
53
Ethics/Morality in Government
16
As of November 20, 2000


Class-by-Class Results
V.O.I.C.E. Classrooms
Mrs. Zemel's 5th Grade Class - Glenbrook School in Streamwood, IL
Mrs. Stanley's 5th Grade Class - Barry School in Chicago, IL
Miss Westfahl's 5th Grade Class - Huff School in Elgin, IL
Mrs. Diaz's 5th Grade Class - Huff School in Elgin, IL
Mrs. Wojtcszak's 5th Grade Class - Huff School in Elgin, IL
Miss. Hallock's 5th Grade Class - Huff School in Elgin, IL
Mrs. Winstead's 4th Grade Class - Prairieview School in Bartlett, IL
Mrs. Cullen's 4th Grade Class - Prairieview School in Bartlett, IL
Mrs. Meckstroth's 4th Grade Class - Prairieview School in Bartlett, IL
Mr. Tollerud's 5th Grade Class - North Kenwood School in Chicago, IL
Room 107 (5th Grade) - Sawyer School in Chicago, IL
Room 110 (5th Grade) - Sawyer School in Chicago, IL
Room 111 (5th Grade) - Sawyer School in Chicago, IL
Room 103 (5th Grade) - Addams School in Chicago, IL
Room 105 (5th Grade) - Addams School in Chicago, IL
Room 107 (5th Grade) - Addams School in Chicago, IL
Mrs. Brown's 5th Grade Class - Clinton School in Chicago, IL
Mrs. Harris's 5th Grade Class - Springfield Elem. School, Providence, Rhode Island
Mrs. Cayer's 5th Grade Class - Springfield Elem. School, Providence, Rhode Island
Three 6th Grade Classes in MN (Total for 3 schools)

Project Citizen Classrooms
Ms. Nelson's and Ms. Ruggiero 7th grade class, Fermi School, Chicago, IL
Ms. Ingram's 7th and 8th grade class, Carnagie School, Chicago ,IL

Thanks for everyone's imput.
If your class would like to participate, conduct the
poll and send in your results.


Adapted from: VOICE (Violence-prevention Outcomes in Civic Education)

Lesson may be reproduced for classroom use.


Last updated: January 2, 2002

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