Sep 9, 2011

Constitution Day – 9/17

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

With Constitution Day approaching next week, and being celebrated on Friday 9/16,  I’d like to give a shout-out to all of our professors and friends who teach American Government and are required to do something “Constitution-like.” And thanks to one of our editors, Nancy Woods, for sending me this fun and informative link.

Check out Constituting America! This organization’s mission is to “utilize new and innovative means to reach, educate and inform America’s citizens and youth about the importance of the U.S. Constitution and the foundation it sets forth regarding our freedoms and rights.”

On this website, you and your students have access to “fun facts” regarding the Constitution, access to free downloads of the Federalist Papers, a means to organize a public reading of the Constitution, as well as more links and videos that belong to the nation’s Constitution Center.

Also be sure to review last year’s post for additional resources.

Aug 23, 2011

Spotlight: Mary McHugh, Merrimack College

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Conferences, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

Mary McHugh

APSA Attendees: Be sure to stop by Mary’s poster session, “Why Do We Do Civic Engagement? A Study of How and Why College Professors Use Experiential Learning in Their Classrooms,” on Friday, September 2, 2011, from 10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Mary Jane Lindrum and I recently chatted it up with Mary McHugh, professor at Merrimack College for the last 17 years, about her upcoming poster session at the American Political Science Association’s annual meeting. Here’s a bit of that conversation.

Jul 28, 2011

Data, Data, Everywhere

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Infographics, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

This week we’d like to share a new site, graciously provided by our VP of Customer Satisfaction, Tom Meeks. Data.gov is chock full of—you guessed it—data! You can find all sorts of pre-assembled, ready-to-go data sets on things like U.S. radiation levels from Japan’s nuclear emergency, housing problems for low-income families, national migration trends, and foreign assistance budgets, just to name a few.

With a purpose to “enable the public to participate in government by providing downloadable federal data sets to build applications, conduct analyses, and perform research,” data.gov even provides ideas for how teachers can incorporate this into the classroom. Click here to learn how professors are using the information.

Apr 25, 2011

Want to Talk to Students About Federal Taxes?

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Infographics, Simulations, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

Ever wondered where exactly your federal taxes go? Well thanks to the White House’s website, now you can receive a receipt! Just type in your social security security tax, medicare tax, and income tax and then click “calculate receipt.” Below will be an itemized listing of how much of your money went to social security, national defense, health care, jobs, veterans benefits, space programs, etc.  And in case you or your students don’t happen to have that info handy, you can choose an estimated income level.

Once you receive your receipt, be sure to click on “expand all sub-categories” next to “income tax.” It’s a great way to get an even more detailed report on things like how much went to funding supplies for national defense, unemployment insurance, or even NASA.

Apr 11, 2011

Interactive Graphics for Midterm Elections (2008 and 2010)

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Infographics, Simulations, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

Today we have a cool link, courtesy of Dr. Jocelyn Evans at the University of West Florida, detailing the electorate’s voting behavior in 2008 and 2010. In its article titled “Unaligned Voters Tilt Rightward En Masse,” The Wall Street Journal describes how, in the 2010 midterms, independents tended to vote for Republicans over Democrats. Common knowledge, perhaps, but the really neat thing about this article can be found by going to the interactive graphics tab at the top.

By presenting variables such as party, issues, income, gender, etc., this could be a great way to show students how party differences on key issues play out at the polls. For example, we can see that Republicans were more concerned with the issue of Afghanistan than Democrats were. On the other hand, Democrats were more interested in the economy and illegal immigration. The interactive provides a number of different variables, so have fun with it!

Feb 15, 2011

Check Out President Obama’s 2012 Budget Proposal

Posted by Maureen Yann
in American Government, Civic Engagement, Simulations, Teaching and Technology | 0 comments

President Obama released the proposed budget for 2012 yesterday (February 14th). The New York Times states that the “budget projects an annual deficit of more than $1 trillion before government shortfalls decline to sustainable levels for the rest of the decade, and says that that is merely ‘a down payment’ on what needs to be done for the nation’s long-term fiscal health.”

On closer inspection, you’ll notice the proposed budget strongly considers the nation’s growing aging population, and strives to cover some of the issues that President Obama discussed during his State of the Union speech a few weeks ago. Special thanks to Tom Meeks who sent this link to an interactive feature that lets you “explore every nook and cranny” of the budget proposal.

It’s worth mentioning that President Obama wants to “slash spending in some domestic programs, both to reduce deficits and to make room for increased spending on education” and other areas, such as “infrastructure, clean energy, innovation and research to promote long-term economic growth and global competitiveness.”