vote compass bc

BC Provincial Election coming up... just in time for your unit on politics and government.

Hey students... try this out and let me now what you think about the personal results.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bcvotes2013/votecompass

Surprised by what it said?  Do you have questions remaining about the survey or method?  Leave a comment, please.

Canada pulls out of Kyoto Protocol

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/12/pol-kent-kyoto-pullout.html

What does this mean? Why did Canada do this? What's the Kyoto Protocol? What other agreements have come since?  What will Canada do to reduce greenhouse emissions and address climate change?  What has BC's response been? Look into some of these questions, or ones of your own on the topic, and leave a comment with the results of your inquiry.

You may also want to think about Justin Trudeau's response to Peter Kent's arrogance in parliament -- the govt's environment minister would not allow opposition MPs to attend Durban, and then mocks an opposition MP for not attending! Check out Justin's explanation of his choice of words. And see what others thought of the parliamentary exchange.

ELECTION ON! Try Vote Compass

Many Social Studies students will remember trying politicalcompass.org to find out where they were on the "political spectrum" -- but were often left with questions about what it meant and how it related to Canadian politics. As you may know, Canadian voters are heading to an election on May 2. CBC News has made their own spectrum quiz -- http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/votecompass/. Try it and leave a comment if you like -- I'm interested to know if you are surprised by the results or not (e.g. did you end up matched up with a party you probably wouldn't vote for?). Also, why do you think people might vote for a party that doesn't match up with their beliefs?

Unrest in Middle East and North Africa

Source: The Big Picture, an amazing series of photo essays on world culture, politics, and environment (like, Social Studies!)

Also, check out the interactive map on the unrest in the region from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Political Spectrum

There are lots of places on the internet to learn about the political spectrum, political philosophies, political parties, and news items related to politics and elections. Put some of these words (political, spectrum, etc.) into a web search and see what turns up. What great sites did you find or would you use? Leave a comment.

Although some of the questions are hard to answer, the quiz at www.politicalcompass.org/ will help you determine where you might be placed on the political spectrum. I think the results tend to skew a bit towards the left.

Here's a political spectrum chart that you can use to locate political parties, ideas, debates, and historic events. You can compare it with one that has been filled out, probably by an American college student taking political science.

Politics, Again !!!

As a follow-up to our class construction of "nations, " here are two online activities to get you thinking about your own political views:
Political Compass quiz
Nation States simulation
...what do you think?

Also, try adding the facebook application Nations to see how your ideas translate to nationhood

While your at it, try an interesting site on the Single Transfer Vote process

You can leave your comments here...

POLITICS

Two activities to get you thinking about political views which guide nations:
Political Compass quiz
Nation States simulation
...what do you think?