Educational Animation Clears Up Electoral College Confusion

There is no doubt that the Internet has played an important role in keeping the nation informed as it waits for this bizarre presidential election to be resolved. The drama has brought the nuts and bolts of how American democracy works, to the forefront of most American adult minds. And it seems, many could use a refresher course.

An informative and entertaining flash cartoon, ( www.fraboom.com/BoomToons/election2000/), created by Flying Rhinoceros (www.flyingrhino.com), a Portland, Ore.-based curriculum enhancement company, as an education tool for children, has gained attention for its clear explanation of the Electoral College.

Flying Rhinoceros logged 200,000 hits on the Thursday after posting the streaming cartoon that explains the Electoral College. The site was also named "Site of the Day" by Macromedia, for outstanding use of Flash animation software.

The cartoon depicts a classroom election for class pet, based on an electoral system, between a bunny and llama. A class know-it-all presents a map of the United States, and informs the viewer of how electoral votes are assigned to the states. The llama wins the electoral vote, even though the popular vote is tied.

Ray Nelson, president of Flying Rhinoceros said, "We thought we had created a humorous look at the Electoral College process, but reality has ended up being crazier and funnier than our cartoon. At least we've ended up with an approachable and understandable explanation of the Electoral College to give people a quick refresher while we wait for the nail-biter to end."

This cartoon is part of Fraboom, Flying Rhinoceros' new online curriculum system for elementary school teachers, students and parents. Fraboom delivers lesson plans and classroom tools for teachers, activities and exercises for kids, and resources to connect parents to what their kids are doing at school. Content is cross-curricular and thematic, with topics including: On the Farm, Dinosaurs, Insects, Oceans, Outerspace, U.S. Geography and U.S. Presidents.