Do the Campaign Math Lesson Plan

The lesson plan below is intended to work with elections covered by ProCon, but may be adapted to work with other elections.

Objective:

Students will explore the 2020 election candidates’ finances.

Students will:

• analyze financial statements and data
• navigate the FEC website to find candidate information

Resources/Materials:

• ProCon.org election coverage
• ProCon.org resource “Candidate Finances”
• fec.gov

Preparation:

• Teachers may print “Candidate Finances” from ProCon.org and financial statements from fec.gov to eliminate the need for student internet access

Activity:

1. Using ProCon.org and FEC resources, students should consider how much money candidates have raised and spent in comparison to their polling positions.
2. Students should create charts and graphs to compare how much money candidates have raised and spent in comparison to each other.
3. Students may dive deeper into the FEC data for a candidate’s finances to see where the money came from and how it’s being spent. Also consider spending by others: are the groups PACs, Super PACs, or other organizations, and what is the aim of those groups?
4. Have students read the 2020 candidates’ views on whether they should accept Super PAC money and evaluate each person’s reasoning.
5. Students should write a response to their findings, including what they found, how they interpret their findings, and whether those findings and interpretations mean anything to the candidate’s campaign other than the financial considerations.
   Source: Federal Election Commission, “Candidates for President,” fec.gov/candidates/president (accessed Dec. 5, 2019)
   

Evaluation:

• Quality of writing
• Quality of financial analysis