Virtual Ideology: Using Online Quizzes to Help Students Develop Personal Political Values

Virtual Ideology: Using Online Quizzes to Help Students Develop Personal Political Values

By William Russell

This articles discusses the issue regarding the fact that many children are not familiar with politics and political issues.  Children often times do not learn or do not want to learn about politics.  When they are asked what their political views are a common response is that they have the same political views as their parents, which maybe be entirely wrong.

A few good political party quizzes were found online that were suitable to fix this issue of children not knowing important information regarding political parties and which one to identify with.  Specific questions are asked on these web pages that when answered will help define the individuals political views.

The teacher who was having his students take these quizzes first had the children write down which political party they thought they would be affiliated with.  Out of the 50 children who took these quizzes, 30 of the students were defined as supporting a different political party than they thought they believed in.  This lesson allowed for the children to be more open-minded and willing to learn more about the different political parties and their beliefs.

I personally think this lesson was a great and beneficial thing to do.  I remember in grade school, I had no idea about political views.  When I was asked which party I was affiliated with I always just said that name of the party my parents were a part of.

Q1. Will this idea of having students take these quizzes be beneficial to them?

A1. I believe students take these political party quizzes they will become more open-minded and learn so much more about politics so that they can give their own personal opinion about which party they are affiliated with and not someone else's opinion.

Q2. If I was a social studies teacher would I use this lesson in my classroom?

A2.  Of course I would use this lesson in my classroom if I was a social studies teacher.  I would want my students to be as aware as possible about politics and the different political parties.  If they know information about political issues they will hopefully be able to support their beliefs when asked about politics.