Via: iCivics
Following my prior posts Serious Games To Foster National Dialogue About Judiciary System and Learning By Doing Civics Through Serious Games, the campaign to improve
high-school civics education led by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor received a boost last week when the Arizona Department of
Education endorsed her web-based educational tool iCivics, which includes lesson
plans and web quests, but the big draw being an impressive collection of Serious Games.
Earlier this month, Harvard
Law School and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools presented a
daylong symposium titled “Civics Education: Why It Matters to Democracy,
Society, and You”, to recognize the extraordinary work led by Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor in iCivics and explore paths
to advance the way young people are prepared to participate in democracy.
iCivics is an online learning
platform devoted to the topic. Grounded in O’Connor’s campaign to reverse the
declining civic knowledge of Americans, the iCivics website provides 17 educational Serious Games and free
civics resources for teachers. It has received 1.6 million visitors since it
was created in 2009, shortly after she retired from the Supreme Court.
These Serious Games are grouped under seven topics such as citizenship and participation, the judicial branch of the United States government, budgeting, and more. If you follow the Teachers, this way! icon on the front page, you will be taken to the iCivics curriculum collection. You can browse the curriculum units or search for units aligned with state standards.
These Serious Games are grouped under seven topics such as citizenship and participation, the judicial branch of the United States government, budgeting, and more. If you follow the Teachers, this way! icon on the front page, you will be taken to the iCivics curriculum collection. You can browse the curriculum units or search for units aligned with state standards.
1. Citizenship
and Participation (6 games)
Screenshot
of Immigration Nation – guide
newcomers along their path to citizenship
2. The
Constitution and Bill of Rights (3 games)
Screenshot of Do I Have a Right? – run your own firm
of lawyers specialized in constitutional law
3. Budgeting
(1 game)
Screenshot of People’s Pie – you control the budget
of the federal government
4. Separation of Powers (1
game)
Screenshot of Branches of Power – you control the three
branches of government
5. The
Executive Branch (2 games)
Screenshot of Executive Command – you can be the
president for four years
6. The Legislative Branch (2 games)
Screenshot of LawCraft – you play a member of
congress from the state of your choice
7. The
Judicial Branch (2 games + 3 shared with other topics)
Screenshot of We The Jury – you learn about what
jurors discuss in the deliberation room
About the
Campaign
The Campaign for the Civic Mission
Schools was created to expand and improve civic learning in American
schools, K-12 and in Higher Education. The Campaign works with its 60+
coalition partners, the Campaign's Steering Committee, to bring about changes
in state, local, and national policy that promote civic learning.
The Campaign was founded in 2004 to serve as
the civic learning community’s public and policymaker advocacy arm. It operates
on two advocacy tracks: national and state.