Making Civic Literacy Fun Again: iCivics
January 19, 2020 2:48 PM Subscribe
Are the kids in your life asking difficult questions about representative democracy in the U.S.? Asking you to talk about how impeachment and conviction work? Supplement your explanations with iCivics, a free online resource whose goal is to help students become more familiar with citizenship through play. Run a county! Oversee the federal budget! Be a juror!
"Justice Sandra Day O'Connor founded iCivics in 2009 to reimagine civic education. Her vision was clear and ambitious: To cultivate a new generation of students for thoughtful and active citizenship. Civic knowledge is a prerequisite for civic participation. Yet for decades, civic education had largely disappeared from school curricula and the repercussions are undeniable....Our games transform abstract concepts into real-life problems. Young people learn how government works by experiencing it. They step into the role of a judge, a member of Congress, a community activist, even the President of the United States - and do the job they do."
The site also includes curricula devoted to the branches of government, news literacy, state and local government, and more. (Free registration required.) One unit, the Landmark Library, includes lessons on major cases like Marbury v. Madison, Korematsu v. United States, and Miranda v. Arizona.
Bonus election year game: Win the White House!
"Justice Sandra Day O'Connor founded iCivics in 2009 to reimagine civic education. Her vision was clear and ambitious: To cultivate a new generation of students for thoughtful and active citizenship. Civic knowledge is a prerequisite for civic participation. Yet for decades, civic education had largely disappeared from school curricula and the repercussions are undeniable....Our games transform abstract concepts into real-life problems. Young people learn how government works by experiencing it. They step into the role of a judge, a member of Congress, a community activist, even the President of the United States - and do the job they do."
The site also includes curricula devoted to the branches of government, news literacy, state and local government, and more. (Free registration required.) One unit, the Landmark Library, includes lessons on major cases like Marbury v. Madison, Korematsu v. United States, and Miranda v. Arizona.
Bonus election year game: Win the White House!
As a ux designer I just got an intense desire to work in this without even looking at it I know I want to be able to say I work on something as important as this.
posted by bleep at 6:01 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 6:01 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
where's the "file an ethics investigation request"? or "file a request for the judge to recuse themselves"? those are going to be popular soon
posted by eustatic at 6:05 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by eustatic at 6:05 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
Nice! I recently learned about this through reading US Supreme Court justice John Roberts’ 2019 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.
posted by klausman at 10:21 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by klausman at 10:21 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Oh neato! I have some teacher friends who will appreciate this--and will likely also do some playing around at some point myself because I got plenty to learn as well. Thanks!
posted by youarenothere at 10:45 AM on January 20, 2020
posted by youarenothere at 10:45 AM on January 20, 2020
My kid just registered to vote, for Temperance and Good Citizenship Day, so this is just what they need. Thanks!
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:26 PM on January 20, 2020
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:26 PM on January 20, 2020
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posted by freethefeet at 3:53 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]