Social Sciences

• VRA Gingles Handout

  Doug Spencer

  31 October 2019

  handouts higher-ed vra vrdi

  This handout provides background material on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1982 Amendments, the 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles case, and the Gingles threshold test.

• GIS/Census Handouts

  Ruth Buck and Chris Fowler

  31 October 2019

  handouts higher-ed gis vrdi

  How can maps and mapping help us understand demographic patterns and access to voting? This module contains a series of two-hour lesson plans for making and using maps of Census Data to study demographics, voting districts, and access to polling places. No previous background with mapping is required.

• The History of Voting in the USA

  Nikki Kennedy

  31 October 2019

  course-resources lesson-plans syllabus

  Course resources for Nikki Kennedy’s History of Voting in the USA course. These resources contain a syllabus, slides, and example student work. as well as a list of ideas of secondary mathematics topics with redistricting applications.

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  School Segregation

  Jane Hood and Cleveland Waddell

  03 October 2019

  lesson-plans handouts middle-school high-school

  This 1 hour lesson introduces students to gerrymandering through the lenses of public school districts. Students will compare and contrast the de facto/de jure segregation in Boston and Little Rock. Then, they compare historical school segregation with the case of the 2017 Little Rock school district plan.

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  Mapping with Districtr

  Chris Gernon and Muniba Khan

  27 September 2019

  handouts middle-school high-school

  This 30-60 minute lesson provides a hands-on introduction to gerrymandering through Districtr. Students get to draw their own plans of Congressional Districts in Massachusetts and study their properties in terms of population balance and minority populations. The lesson also includes several questions about rules for districting that can be answered with independent or group research.