preclectic.com

If you’re helping pupils navigate the confusing realm of politics, civics, law, and other issues related to government, consider asking your learners the following question: Is there a connection between campaign donations and legislative votes? Although the answer may seem laughably obvious, the implications of the response are anything but amusing. What might inform a neutral observer’s answer to the question? What evidence could a citizen use to seek clarification? Is there a beacon to guide a truly curious individual on such a quest?

Enter MAPLight.org.

MAPLight, uses a public database to shine a light on the links that exist between campaign donations made to political figures and legislative voting records. Not surprisingly, there are more than a few politicians who do not appreciate the glare of such attention on their behavior and decisions.

UPDATE: After writing this post, I came across a news item that seemed particularly relevant to the point I was trying to make. Robert Pear of the New York Times reports,

“In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident. Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.”

I’ve included a citation for any teacher or student who may be wish to refer to the article.

Pear, R. (2009, November 14). In House, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists’. New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1&hp

Related resources:

• If you’re teaching students how to gain a better understanding of the government of the United States, you’ll want to get acquainted with the Sunlight Foundation because it also provides a great deal of clarity.
• Visitors who access Capitol Words are able to track and visualize the most used words in the Congressional Record. The words being tracked and visualized are displayed in more than one manner. They appear in a word cloud as well as in list view.
• Kim Rees of Periscopic (an impressive interactive design firm specializing in information visualization), points out that curious educators, pupils, and citizens should also explore Congress Speaks as it’s a great way to review the words spoken by the 110th Congress.

government, rights ethics, government, govt, integrity, money, political, politics

WallStats.com has an impressive visual guide to how Federal tax dollars are spent. The image was constructed by Jess Bachman, a freelance graphic designer who lives in Burlington, Vermont.

Note: It’s possible that tons of people are going to be hitting WallStats.com so visitors may have to try looking at the image over at HistoryShots.

numbers, visualization data, finance, money, politics

If you teach Economics and your students are thirsty for information about how our nation got itself into such a monetary mess, you’re in luck. FlowingData will inundate the most arid minds with a veritable flood of visualizations designed to explain the financial crisis.

Uncategorized finance, money

A couple of weeks ago I ran into a high school Social Studies teacher who was lamenting how difficult it was to help her pupils understand economic concepts. I talked to her about Thinkfinity’s impressive content partner, EconEdlink. I also suggested that she take a look at Swivel, a site with a mission to “make data useful so people share insights, make great decisions and improve lives.” Since the practical and considerate application of economics is also concerned with helping individuals make better choices, I figured that the teacher could Swivel to help her pupils employ what they are learning in terms of real life issues. I also promised that I would contact her if I came across any other useful resources.

Well, I’ll definitely be sharing a site called Visualizing Economics. The site is mainly concerned with US income distribution. It provides a number of rich visual depictions of monetary issues that ought to be welcome addition to classroom activities.

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Uncategorized econimics, finance, money, politics