RPG: Role-Playing Government

While researching for a paper topic this past week, I came across an article that detailed a story of children learning about the government at an elementary school. The teacher in this class of young children was inspired by the election of Jimmy Carter, current President at the time, and decided to pose a mock election in her classroom. The teacher taught her students through a tedious process, explaining the process of nominating someone that would be a good candidate, teaching her students how to vote (without telling anyone who you voted for), and even explaining what a vote was.

With the election, the person with the most votes became president, the second most became vice president, and so on. This process seemed to work so well that the teacher continued it with a monthly election so that multiple students would have the chance at the presidency. Ultimately, these children were able to learn more about the who's, what's, and how's of the government. Parents of these children were stunned by how much their kids had learned about this complex ordeal. It also paid off for the classroom; as students took office, they took their title seriously and would step into the role as the leader of the classroom for the month. When the presidential position was given to a rambunctious child, the boy seemed to calm down and take his role seriously. This government role-play seemed to be very beneficial both to learn about something and also to maintain good role models for the classroom.