Analysis Choose a congressional district and examine the census information as if you were running for that district's seat in Congress. Determine what information is important to your campaign and decide what issues might be important to your constituents. Compare maps of your congressional district for the past 3-4 decades and compare the number of Representatives that your state has had over the same time period. Determine how and why your district has changed and how the changes might have affected congressional elections. Using information found on the U.S. Census web site, students create a profile of the congressional district that they hope to represent.
Students also write a press release outlining their three major campaign issues.
Display maps and statistics in front of the class. Students compare maps and discuss the changes and the possible causes and effects of the changes. Students develop a census, asking questions that would help to collect information that is useful to their school. Students create an ad campaign to urge students to complete their census by demonstrating the importance of the census to different groups of people. Evaluation Evaluate Democratic and Republican proposals for the 2000 U.S. census.