I’ve been teaching for more than 20 years, but this year is my first teaching 7th grade civics. So over the summer, I went on a hunt for resources that would engage those students. I love using immersive activities like mock trials, escape rooms, and simulations to help them connect theory with experience. When I discovered the game Race to Ratify, I knew I’d found something good. We played it recently, as part of the Civic Star Challenge.

The game takes place in 1787-1789, right after the Constitution is written, during the debate over whether the states should ratify it. Players travel across the 13 states, interviewing different people to gather arguments to create pamphlets that support either the Federalists or Anti-Federalists. They might encounter a farmer who’s worried about taxation and federal power, or an enslaved person who raises questions about whose rights the Constitution protects. As they gather these myriad perspectives, the game really drives home how difficult it was to rally support. 

After each conversation, the player gets an “argument token” they can use for their pamphlet. Then they must carefully evaluate which arguments will allow them to build their case and lead to a favorable vote. On more than one occasion, a student admitted “Mr. Knox, I’m starting to run out of evidence to support my side!” That led to some good conversations around strategy: Have you talked to the right people? How might you best use the evidence you have left to make your argument?

I was surprised to see several students enthusiastically lobbying against the Constitution—but maybe I shouldn’t have been! Seventh grade is often when students begin testing ideas more independently. They are asking: What do I think? What do I believe? What would I change if I could? These questions lead naturally to: How can things be different? As they tried out a counter-factual narrative of history, I knew they were starting to see how their own actions will impact the next chapter of our nation’s story. 

I find that so exciting. So much of what we focus on in the study of history is the timeline of events: here’s what happened, here’s what happened, here’s what happened. Race to Ratify reminds us that each of those things happened because a person or a group made a choice. Each decision we make has a domino effect, which is why it’s so important for us to carefully consider the impact of our choices.

Civics lessons are often about laws passed on the state and federal levels, and elections my students won’t vote in for years. Here in middle school, we don’t have laws, per se, but we do have policies that students can shape right now. In my class, we’re learning how to build a strategy. Students chart the steps: here’s the change I’d like to make; here’s the information I need to learn and evidence I need to gather; here are the change agents I need to engage; and here’s how I would convince them to join my initiative. These become the building blocks for 12 and 13-year-olds to truly engage in civics.