Task 3 - What Voice Counts?
Encounter the civic dilemma that drives the rest of the lesson - and take your first position before any investigation. Every civic issue involves competing legitimate interests.
What happens in Task 3
Students encounter the civic dilemma that drives the entire rest of the lesson. The newspaper-style headline card loads in full-width immersive mode - a red "Local News" breaking strip at top, the headline in large serif-weight text, and four summary facts below with icon bullets. After reading, a 3-option reaction vote (right / wrong / depends) captures each student's instinct before any investigation. After voting, the class civic question board unlocks - students post one question they want answered before any decision. The class board persists across all subsequent activities.
🗳️ Vote design notes
Typically ~20–30% of the class. Captures civic awareness of fiscal responsibility.
Typically ~45–55% first reaction. The emotional response - correct impulse, needs evidence.
The epistemically correct answer - validates students who want evidence before deciding. Celebrates critical thinking.
Results are hidden from students by default. Teacher activates "Show results to class" in the dashboard when ready. Vote data is stored and compared with the Activity 7 final position vote - the shift is one of the most powerful teaching moments in the lesson.
📌 Class board persistence
The civic question board stays open across all activities from Task 4 onward as a collapsible panel. Teacher can pin any question to the top for class discussion, highlight selected questions for anonymous display on the shared screen, or hide inappropriate posts without deleting. The board does not reset when the activity ends - all questions remain accessible until the lesson closes.
- Audio read-aloud on headline and summary - speaker icon, top right of the card; reads headline then each fact with natural pauses
- Vote buttons rendered in large text with colour-fill icons - WCAG AA accessible size and contrast
- Extended thinking time: per-student setting in teacher dashboard - vote buttons delayed, "Take your time" message shown on student screen
- Class board accepts voice-recorded notes - microphone icon alongside the text input
- No time pressure on any element in this task
- Printed headline card distributed to each student (or displayed on projector)
- Teacher reads headline and all four facts aloud at a slow pace
- Vote by show of hands - teacher records tally on whiteboard as: ✅ Right / ❌ Wrong / 🤔 Depends
- Students write their civic question on paper or post-it note; teacher reads 3–4 aloud to the class
- Teacher uses a physical board (whiteboard / flip chart) as the persistent question wall
- Vote results visible on teacher screen immediately - student screens show confirmation only
- Reveal results to class using the dashboard toggle when discussion is ready
- Vote data stored per student with timestamp - used for comparison with Task 7 final position vote
- If majority votes "C - It depends": celebrate explicitly - this is the most epistemically appropriate response before investigation
- Export vote data as CSV after lesson for analysis of class-level civic reasoning development