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Video sharing, social networking, and online games may be the everyday toys of the Internet generation, but Gamal Sherif is putting them to work in more serious pursuits.

Just as the candidates have learned to use novel technology tools to reach young people during this year鈥檚 presidential campaign, teachers like Mr. Sherif are turning to electronic resources to capture students鈥� interest in the election.

At the same time, they want to help students decipher the barrage of related images and information and to engage them in lessons about the democratic process today and throughout American history.

鈥淭he technology is fun and helpful, but it鈥檚 also a tool you can use to get a better understanding of what the political and historical issues are,鈥� said Mr. Sherif, who teaches history and science at the Science Leadership Academy, a public high school in Philadelphia.

To do so, he is tapping online video archives, values surveys, and discussion groups that help students in his U.S. history class examine the stances of the candidates on various issues, and to articulate the pros and cons of each.

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For more information and analysis on education and the 2008 presidential campaign, read the blog.

鈥淲e are looking at the presidential elections not as passionate individuals, but as historians,鈥� Mr. Sherif said. 鈥淭he aim is to get a better understanding of the political process they are witnessing ... and to employ scholarly strategies to present information in a clear and organized manner.鈥�

Both major parties鈥� historic tickets鈥攁 black man for president, a woman for vice president鈥攁s well as compelling economic and foreign-policy issues are converging with the campaigns鈥� use of text-messaging, online networking, and nontraditional media venues to draw young people into the contest.

Teachers have also seized on the opportunity to use the favored devices of today鈥檚 students in teaching traditional civics lessons along with the 21st-century skills experts say people will need to thrive in the information age.

鈥淭he idea is to teach kids as young as possible to be able to navigate this increasingly complicated media world by giving them some basic tools for analysis, ... whether they are using Facebook, Wikipedia, or a textbook,鈥� said Cyndy Scheibe, an associate professor of psychology at Ithaca College in New York state and the executive director of , which provides resources on presidential campaigns over the past 200 years.

New technologies, she added, help students synthesize information from a variety of sources, analyze issues, and compare current events with the historical record.

Taking It Outside Class

During the first few weeks of the school year, 9th graders in Mr. Sherif鈥檚 class in Philadelphia have been doing just that. Armed with laptop computers, the students monitor and analyze video footage of the candidates on the campaign trail and in debates. Using text-mapping tools, they can scrutinize the rhetoric in candidates鈥� speeches and interviews, and document their positions on various issues.

When discussions about the election have gotten heated, or taken too much class time, students have continued to debate the issues or share information in an online discussion group the teacher set up or in their own blogs.

As the Nov. 4 election approaches, Mr. Sherif鈥檚 students will continue blogging about the issues, and start creating their own campaign ads that promote the candidates鈥� platforms.

Those kinds of activities have gone a long way toward getting students鈥� attention for election-related lessons, said Joshua Block, a humanities teacher at the same school, the Science Leadership Academy. He set up an online discussion group about election issues after his students spent most of one period in a heated debate about the economy and the candidates鈥� plans to address the nation鈥檚 financial ills.

鈥淚 want to make sure they can discuss [the issues] in a sustained manner without getting annoyed, without attacking each other,鈥� Mr. Block said.

鈥淥ften on these forums you hear from students who don鈥檛 necessarily speak up in verbal discussions,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut they will when they have a chance to think and compose their ideas online.鈥�

They can also continue the discussion far beyond the confines of the classroom, he added. One recent debate, Mr. Block said, continued over the weekend and ended with dozens of online posts from students, some of whom suggested readings and other resources for their classmates.

His students are also studying how candidates frame and package information on their Web sites, and learning to question and verify claims made in ads, using and other Web sites that gauge the accuracy of campaign materials and news reports.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a real advantage to be able not just to be a passive consumer of media,鈥� Mr. Block said, 鈥渂ut to take some of the skills and theory from class and apply them to what you鈥檙e watching.鈥�

21st-Century Skills

That kind of critical thinking, some experts say, reflects the skills that students will need to compete in a global economy. According to a report released last month by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, there is a growing need for workers who have 鈥渢he ability to respond flexibly to complex problems, communicate effectively, manage information, work in teams, and produce new knowledge.鈥� (鈥淣ew Skills Seen Essential For Global Competition,鈥� Sept. 17, 2008.)

Many of the Web resources with classroom applications for election-related lessons have the potential for developing many of those skills, experts say.

Using the Web tools provided by the initiative, for example, students 鈥渃an view individual ads, but it also gives you a chance to work across elections and to see thematically how some of the same issues emerge election after election,鈥� said Shelley Pasnik, the director of the Center for Children and Technology in New York City. 鈥淩ather than teachers鈥� describing what has happened throughout history, seeing the actual ads that ran in different elections can bring that period to life.鈥�

Interactive tools also can help explain the technicalities of the electoral process, said Eric Langhorst, a teacher at South Valley Junior High School in Liberty, Mo. He regularly uses podcasts, online games, and Web sites to provide civics lessons.

Interactive maps, for example, with states coded in red or blue according to which party鈥檚 candidate they voted for in previous elections, show in graphic terms how the Electoral College picks the president. Using poll results that are updated regularly leading up to the election, Mr. Langhorst鈥檚 8th grade class can make predictions about the current contest.

His students also play a multimedia game produced by Cable in the Classroom, called eLECTIONS, that allows them to take on a candidate鈥檚 persona. Using their 鈥減layer鈥檚鈥� platform, campaign strategy, and available funds, they must tackle issues that pop up on a virtual game board on a path to the White House.

No matter how relevant or intriguing certain online content might be, teachers and students can find their efforts to use it in the classroom blocked by security features such as filtering devices.

YouTube, a database of millions of video and audio clips from individual users and traditional media sources, didn鈥檛 exist during the last presidential campaign. Now, millions of viewers younger than 25 watch videos on the site each day, according to the San Bruno, Calif.-based company. But YouTube is often inaccessible in schools, since clips are largely uncensored and can include content deemed inappropriate for minors.

Surmounting Hurdles

鈥淪ometimes getting through the district firewall to access resources is difficult,鈥� said Kristin Hokanson, a technology-integration coach at Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pa. Ms. Hokanson also helps train teachers through Pennsylvania鈥檚 Classrooms for the Future Initiative and the Media Education Lab at Temple University.

To get over those hurdles, she said, teachers and media specialists have created their own Web pages where they have collections of resources and provide links to videos and information that would otherwise be locked.

Teachers are finding other challenges as well, including the limited time in the school day and a curriculum packed with requisite lessons. Many teachers are reluctant to introduce technology tools they are not fully comfortable using themselves, Ms. Pasnik of the Center for Children and Technology said.

And unlike at Philadelphia鈥檚 Science Leadership Academy, where every student is given a laptop, the essential tools sometimes are simply not available.

鈥淢any teachers are still vying for the In Focus projector [which projects images on a screen], so I don鈥檛 want to give short shrift to the challenges teachers face in using new technologies,鈥� said Ms. Pasnik. 鈥淏ut now, with the more portable technology, like if the teacher has an iPhone, you can pull up [Web] resources in class.鈥�

Blocking access to information on the Internet can undermine teachers鈥� ability to use potentially valuable instructional materials, said Frank Baker, a Columbia, S.C., educator who runs the , an online resource for teaching about media.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter what new technologies are out there unless we have taught children how to be critical thinkers and to question whatever messages they see,鈥� he said. 鈥淐reative and innovative teachers are going to use new media and will justify it as the best way to reach the 鈥榙igital native.鈥�?鈥�

Doing so can help ensure that students have the skills to use information effectively and responsibly, said Mr. Sherif, the history teacher. 鈥淪tudents are very adept at finding and recycling media images, whether audio or video,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey can [access] this stuff at home, so why not have adults, who are expert learners, help them learn how to navigate the Web and not waste time?鈥�