Engaging Junior High Students in Local Challenges: Practical Voter Education through Cross-Regional Mock Elections

Abstract

This report explores an innovative approach to voter education that utilizes mock elections to prompt junior high school students to confront regional challenges as “their own issues.” By implementing a standardized instructional plan across schools with starkly different regional characteristics—specifically a small town facing depopulation and a metropolitan area—this practice intended to prompt students to recognize local challenges more intensely and foster a robust awareness of their roles as future sovereigns.

The instructional design consisted of three phases: policy analysis, mock voting, and an online exchange. During the role-play-based family council in Phase II, a significant “internalized insight” occurred; as students engaged in heated debates from their assigned perspectives, they shifted from being passive observers to active stakeholders. One student noted that while they previously viewed the town from a distance, the practice made them feel that regional issues were directly “connected to their own lives”.

A key element was the introduction of “outsider” perspectives through interactive communication with a school in a different regional context. In the online exchange, students were surprised by the differing voting results—where urban students prioritized medical facilities, local students focused on regional revitalization through a theme park. This contrast triggered a metacognitive opportunity, allowing students to re-examine their own local situations from a fresh vantage point and notice resources or crises, such as infrastructure decline, they had previously overlooked.

The results show that students successfully internalized their local challenges by overlaying fictional election issues onto their actual hometown realities. This heightened awareness led to proactive involvement, with students voluntarily participating in local cleaning and supporting welfare facilities. Ultimately, this practice demonstrated that bridging regional inquiry with mock elections empowers students to acquire the ability to devise solutions and implement concrete actions. Such experiences from early adolescence serve as a vital foundation for sustainable regional development and future leadership.