Mock elections at Kaufmannsschule II

More than 400 pupils have been called to vote in their own mock European elections at school. We took part in a project called Juniorwahl which provided us with polling booths, a ballot box and ballot papers. Before voting pupils looked at our European board where we had put up some information about the six most important parties of the 40 parties on the ballot paper.

After that they went to cast their votes. Pupils working on this project acted as the election board explaining students how to vote.

Now we are waiting for the results of the elections which we are not allowed to publish before Sunday, 26 May, 6 pm when the German election closes. So stay tuned.

@ctivate! Students, social media and democracy.

Welcome to our blog accompanying this year's etwinning adventure! Four teachers from three schools have teamed up again to work on this interesting topic with their classes. Follow us on our journey through social media.

 

@ctivate! is a project to find out more about the question if social media kill democracy. Students will be looking at their own use of social media and compare it with peers on the project and nationwide and national statistics. They will look at regional elections, the pillars of democracy in ancient Greece and do research on elections that have been influenced by social media and social bots. With the European elections in May 2019 approaching students will look at young people voting. 

The aims of this project are to make students aware that it is important to develop an interest in politics in order to actively take part in European democracies. Students will also learn about their own consumption of social media. They will gain knowledge about the pillars of democracy from ancient Greece, a regional election in Poland and how social media and socia bots have influenced previous elections. As the European elections will approach students will learn about young people's voting behaviour and what they think about elections. Carrying out project work students will enhance their competences in working with virtual environments, using the internet as a medium for research and publishing and collaborating with students at the partner schools.

The teachers have developed the project jointly and made a plan for the project. Students will be working on the same subjects but at times they will have complentary topics to work on. However students will be commenting and interacting with each other at all times. The joint blog will also be created by students from all countries. The topic of voting and young people will be worked on in international teams. The project will run from September 2018 to May 2019.