¡Hola, historiadores! Private i History Detectives, our supplemental mystery-themed curriculum, is now available in Spanish for select mysteries. These lessons teach strategies such as notice, wonder, inference, and comparison.
Private i History Detectives can be used in a wide variety of classroom settings, including multilingual and bilingual classrooms. Two mysteries at each grade level, including the Introduction to Inquiry mysteries, are available in Spanish, allowing Spanish-speaking students to practice exploring primary sources, analyzing information, and asking questions.
Each mystery lesson includes English and Spanish student and class materials such as transcripts, handouts, Google Slide decks with audible Spanish narrations, and lesson plans. These resources will help students build social studies content knowledge, foster critical thinking skills, and develop disciplinary language.
Explore these Private i History Detective Spanish Lessons:
Historians are observant. In this introduction to inquiry lesson, students will learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will use their historian skills to uncover a mystery object as they notice, wonder, infer, and compare.
Historians can learn a lot from a hat! In this lesson, students will look at images of historical and modern hats to learn how hats can give us clues about what people do for work and why their hats may need special features.
Historians draw conclusions. In this lesson, students are introduced to the concepts of citizenship and leadership. They are asked to consider the different groups they belong to and how members of each group help one another.
Historians make inferences. In this lesson, students explore primary source images and learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past.
Historians observe. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will look at an image of a classroom from the past and try to figure out what the class is learning about.
Historians make inferences. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. They will analyze information and provide reasoning.
Historians study the past. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will gather evidence from primary sources, such as a law created in Virginia in 1617 that required everyone to grow corn.
Last Friday, I was fortunate to participate in one of my first iCivics events—a Civics Showcase celebrating the incredible work of Colorado students and educators piloting iCivics’ U.S. History curriculum.
This inquiry-based curriculum was built in collaboration with expert educators, historians, and practitioners from across the nation. It is aligned with state standards, and districts and teachers can customize it to the needs of any state, community, and classroom.
Through the curriculum, students engage with curated primary and secondary sources such as historical documents, speeches, letters, journal entries, photographs, maps, and videos to dig deep and explore this country’s early history. Students are asked to engage in classroom projects that allow them to investigate and answer important questions about our country in the years preceding its founding through Reconstruction.
Colorado has been a trailblazer in this endeavor. Jeffco Public Schools in Jefferson County, Colorado, was one of the first districts to pilot the U.S. History curriculum last year (along with Santa Fe, NM, and Oklahoma City, OK). Building on the success in Jefferson County, another Colorado school district, Cherry Creek Public Schools, implemented the curriculum this year.
The impact of this project-embedded approach to U.S. History was on full display at the recent showcase. Nearly 100 students, family members, educators, schools leaders, and community members came to the History Colorado Center in Denver to view 22 unique student projects. Against the background of the artifacts, stories, and art that illustrate the history of Colorado and the American West, students presented a range of inspiring projects exploring key moments and questions from early U.S. History, and how they shaped institutions and civic life in the United States today. Their thoughtful, researched reflections touched on everything from the impact of early European settlers to Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny, from slavery and the Civil War to the Industrial Revolution and evolving rights, responsibilities, and expectations of Americans.
And it wasn’t just students who felt the impact of this modern approach to teaching history and civics. Participating teachers—even 20-year veteran teachers—shared how this curriculum shifted their practice to become more student-centered. I was particularly moved by the exuberance of so many parents who were amazed how different this was from their own history and civic education. Many wondered aloud if they would have loved history if they had learned it this way, and were grateful their children were able to benefit from such a meaningful educational experience.
This incredible event was part of a series of proactive family and community engagements to ensure transparency and promote connection beyond the classroom. This was made possible with additional support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation. These learnings and examples will also feature in an implementation toolkit to emphasize the importance of family engagement for widespread district adoption.
I can’t tell you what it meant to me and my colleagues who worked to make this vision possible to see the real and lasting impact this in-depth learning has on students, educators, and entire communities. We want to reiterate our thanks to all the funders who have made this work possible. Perhaps most importantly, we welcome other districts to adopt this highly engaging and effective curriculum as well. Please feel free to email me for more information.
Written by Mya Baker
Mya joined iCivics in 2024 as the Chief Learning Services Officer. Prior to iCivics, she led TNTP’s consulting work across 14 states, with a focus on helping educators, schools, and school systems expand access to opportunity. Mya also served as the Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Uplift Education in Dallas-Fort Worth. She is a graduate of the University of Texas-Austin (BS in Communications/BA in Government) and earned her Masters in Teaching & Learning from American University.
April is the Month of the Military Child. To honor our service members and their children, the iCivics: Civics, Service, and Leadership Program hosted an educator immersion day on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL in partnership with Blue Star Families and Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS).
MacDill Air Force Base is home to over 6,000 people, with an additional 20,000 coming to work on the base each day. The base is a world unto its own, but most military children attend school in the community through HCPS. Next week, MacDill will deploy about 200 service members, one of the largest deployments in recent years. This means a number of students will show up for school coping with that reality. The immersion day was an opportunity for iCSL educators to learn about the unique strengths and challenges our military-connected students and families face, so they might better support them in school.
Teachers started the day with a panel discussion between military parents and school district staff. One parent shared that by the time her son was ready to graduate high school, they had moved 9 times. These transitions are one of the biggest challenges military-connected students face. Moving schools means integrating into a new school culture. It means that different state standards and requirements may delay academic progress. It means, as one parent shared, that key pieces to a child’s education–like learning the branches of government–can fall through the cracks. A parent’s deployment is equally challenging. Another panelist shared, “Deployment affects the whole family.” “Our children are deploying as well.”
After the panel, our educators met Colonel Bingham, the base commander. They met Champa Boom, the base mascot. They toured the base. They talked with a young pilot and her crew. They walked the flight line and climbed into the cockpit of a KC-137. They learned that our military community, and the base itself, is a place full of opportunities for service members, civilians, and students. They gathered new resources and ideas for how to support military students when they return back to their school communities. We all learned that our military families, including the little ones, know and embody civic values and civic responsibility.
The goal of the day was to foster awareness across our military and school communities. Everyone left empowered and excited to keep building connections and opportunities on behalf of our students and civics education. It was a mission well accomplished!
Written by Frank Anderson
Frank Anderson is the director of special projects at iCivics and the program director for the Civics, Service, and Leadership program. Frank works with educators from across the country to connect them to civics education resources and to help students build a service mindset and leadership skills within the classroom. Before iCivics, Frank taught in alternative education in Baltimore and managed education programming for students involved with the juvenile justice system.
The Civics, Service, and Leadership (iCSL) program aims to prepare students exploring careers in military and public service with high-quality civic learning experiences that build critical thinking, media literacy, civility, civic knowledge and participation, and service. iCSL is sponsored by DoDSTEM, the National Defense Education Program.
“I love iCivics! My kids love to play Win the White House!”
“Awesome! Have you ever used any of the other resources from iCivics? They go great with the games!”
“No, tell me more!”
I had this conversation multiple times with educators I met last fall at the annual National Council for the Social Studies Conference while I was helping out in the Exhibit Hall at the iCivics booth. I teach at Maranacook Community High School in Readfield, Maine, a rural community next to Maranacook Lake just outside the Maine State Capitol. I use iCivics in a variety of ways in AP U.S. History and non-level U.S. History. This Spring, I have a student intern working with me from the University of Maine at Farmington named Tom Tubman. In an effort to promote iCivics beyond the games, I thought it would be interesting to document our use of an iCivics DBQuest in our classes titled “Woman Suffrage and World War I.”
As I said earlier, it seems many educators are familiar with the amazing learning games on the iCivics website, with Win the White House often being the one everyone knows. What seems to be lesser known are the lesson plans and activities iCivics also offers. These resources include connections to state standards and how they can fit into scope and sequence. They also show how they connect to the games iCivics hosts on their site.
I selected this DBQuest because it fits well within the curriculum for content in US History and includes other important aspects such as multiple viewpoints, primary source analysis, argument analysis, sourcing, and inquiry. Most of my students currently in my U.S. history classes have played the iCivics game Cast Your Vote, and so this DBQuest connects well to this game in getting students reflecting on a time when some of them would not have been able to cast their ballots.
My student teacher, Tom, and I took a team-teaching approach to this, each leading a different part of the lesson. Tom led the discussion using the timeline and I facilitated the document analysis. We closed the lesson with an extension video that added context and gave them a sense of how suffrage came to pass.
Our first class was at the end of the day on a Friday! We started with a question to engage students and get their brains working, “What is suffrage?” A brief discussion revealed that most students had heard of this term in conjunction with voting and had a sense of its meaning. As this is a U.S. History course, students had learned previously about the early days of the women’s rights movement, including the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others at Seneca Falls in drafting the “Declaration of Sentiments” and Susan B. Anthony. This historical context is important in getting the most out of this DBQuest to help students draw conclusions about the timeline and the accompanying Primary Source documents. Upon reflection, Tom concluded that historical context was important to this activity. Information about the early days of the push for women’s rights and women’s suffrage going back to Seneca Falls would greatly help students understand that women were fighting for a voice long before the First World War. Ensuring students have this context is important in having a deeper understanding of the agency of women in bringing about Suffrage.
Students received the student handout on paper and went to work highlighting in different colors, events that helped women’s suffrage make progress, and events that worked against Women’s Suffrage. The ensuing discussion elicited several insights from students, such as events may in fact be well-intended and essentially good even if, from the perspective of the Women’s Suffrage movement, the event worked against their progress.
Students worked individually to complete the “Math Moment” and “Reflection,” placing the events from the First World War, and we then had a class discussion around their thoughts about why it took so long for women’s suffrage to pass. This activity revealed many interesting insights including the quotes below.
“The major shifts of WWI, including women proving themselves capable of fully taking charge of duties left behind by men… “
“… because misogyny had been a part of western culture for a long time…”
“… (post-Civil War/Reconstruction) Civil Rights proved more of a pressing issue and women were seemingly unimportant to the government…”
“Because the society of most nations and cultures of the time were built around strict gender roles…”
“The fight for Black suffrage was also occurring at the time and that may have caused more focus on that rather than woman’s suffrage.”
“I think a lot of people in power, men, didn’t see it as an issue and didn’t care…”
The next part of the lesson required students to examine three different types of primary source documents from the era. In the first class, we had students in small groups of 3-4 analyze all 3 documents and draw conclusions. We made a modification in the second class that turned this into more of a jigsaw activity where we had students in 3 groups to start and together they analyzed one document. Then we mixed them into groups so at least 1 student from each of those 3 groups was in the new groupings. Then they took turns sharing out their document and their analysis. We found this produced more discussion between the students and likely gave them more confidence in completing the final section of the handout titled “Argument On!” In this section, students document their analysis and conclusions about the documents. They locate key arguments quoted from the documents and identify where they came from and whether the argument was intended to “inform,” “persuade,” or “inflame”. At the end of this, they discussed the 2 questions at the end: Which wartime argument to promote suffrage appeals to you more? Why? And: Does the way in which the message is communicated affect your decision? (Ex: picket vs. political cartoon vs. leaflet). This was followed by a class discussion on these questions. Students have some interesting responses, some examples are included below.
“The leaflet argument for war… this played on democratic/freedom built pride for America”
“Cartoons are eye-catching and quick to look at, but they can also be thought provoking to the reader.”
“Leaflet… it also has the best view on how women are important to society…”
“…the Article was just informing while the Leaflet was trying to start something…”
“The most convincing argument for me was the rational approaches of the statements that if women can serve the country they should be able to vote in the country’s politics.”
We finally turned to the video we selected to close out the lesson. The video, produced by the History Channel is titled “The 19th Amendment.” We gave students the following questions for discussion that went with the short video.
What were the two approaches taken to get Women’s Suffrage passed?
What happened at the Women’s Suffrage Parade before Wilson’s inauguration in 1913?
What happened to Alice Paul?
What was Wilson’s argument for Women’s Suffrage?
We didn’t have a lot of time for discussion after the video, but we did briefly talk about the different strategies, how Alice Paul and other women suffered, and how the 19th Amendment came down to needing Tennessee’s vote to pass—and how it seemed doomed to failure by one vote until Harry T. Byrne changed his vote at the last minute thanks to a letter from his Mother! Many students expressed amazement and these “Hollywood-like” details!
In the end, we found this DBQuest to be engaging and thought-provoking! It promoted historical thinking skills such as primary source analysis, cause and effect, and change and continuity over time. Additionally, it connected well to civics by getting students to reflect on the importance of voting and the lengths people will go to in order to secure their rights, as well as the various modes available to persuade, inform, or inflame others about one’s cause. Students came away with an understanding of civil rights, discrimination, and changing attitudes around these issues. We thoroughly enjoy the iCivics games and the lessons they support, but it’s awesome that they also have supplemental lessons like this DBQuest! Give it a try!
Shane Gower is passionate about ideas! He considers himself fortunate to have a career as a teacher that allows him to explore his passion as he has done for the past 25 years. He was the 2016 Gilder-Lehrman Maine State History Teacher of the Year and currently teaches AP US History, AP Psychology, Ethics, and History through Film. These courses are all dual enrollment through the nearby Thomas College. In addition to the classroom, he is also Past-President of the Maine Council for the Social Studies and a Retro Report Teacher Ambassador.
Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.
iCivics has received a major vote of confidence from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). In a review by state educators of over 100 history and social studies curriculum materials that was just released as the Massachusetts K-12 History/Social Science Curricular Materials Review Guide, the state found that iCivics ranked among the top resources currently available–at all grade levels, K-12.
At the K-5/elementary grades, the review highlighted iCivics Private i curriculum as a strong supplemental resource. At grade 8, the review noted iCivics’Grade 8 curriculum/scope and sequence as a quality core resource as well as featuring the iCivics Civics Projects Workbook as strong supplemental material. At the high school grades, the review highlighted the new US History I curriculum (that will be publicly available later this year) as a quality core resource.
The guide synthesizes the findings of several review projects and involved state educators directly in the review. It supports Massachusetts educators who are selecting history/social science curricular materials by identifying promising materials worthy of further investigation by schools and districts. It contains information about history/social science curricular materials that meet baseline expectations for quality including alignment to Massachusetts standards, cultural responsiveness, and teacher usability.
We are proud of this acknowledgement of the impact of iCivics resources.
iCivics, the country’s largest provider of civic education curriculum today announced that it has added 98 new members to its Educator Network. The iCivics Educator Network is made up of more than 320 civics, history, government, and social studies teachers from almost every state in the nation who serve as champions and ambassadors for high-quality, equitable civic education.
The Educator Network enables teachers to share best practices in civics and social studies, playing a key role in helping to empower students to engage as citizens in this country’s constitutional democracy, now and in the future. It provides opportunities for teachers to network with their peers, take part in focus groups, beta test new games and products, engage in special professional development opportunities, and build their voices as advocates for high-quality history and civic education.
“The iCivics Educator Network is more than a professional development and affinity group. An integral part of iCivics’ work, it’s a community that has developed over the past 11 years through which our best social studies and civics teachers are building a movement to reinstate the civic mission of schools in every corner of this country,” said Natacha Scott, iCivics Director of Educator Engagement. “Together these educators have worked through some of the most challenging times teachers have ever faced.”
Since it was founded in 2011, many iCivics Educator Network members have become some of the most prominent voices from the field advocating for civic education through the opportunities that the network provides. They are permanent fixtures as speakers at prestigious education conferences, routinely appear in both national and local media, and are recognized as excelling in the classroom.
The iCivics Educator Network includes educators with a variety of talents, interests, and teaching histories representing a diversity of grade levels K–12, geographic areas, and personal demographics. And the teachers who join the network stay a part of the network, as more than 226 members of this year’s cohort are returning, bringing our total to more than 320 educators.
“Being a member of the Educator Network gives me added insight into best practices and helps me to troubleshoot as my students are engaging with the resources,” said Jennifer Connolly, principal and EdNet member since 2018. “It also introduced me to so many amazing teachers and gave us time to meet and talk about what we are doing, and why we do it. They inspire me to try new things!”
Learn about the iCivics Educator Network, and find out how you can apply to be a part of the next cohort, on our website.
One hundred percent of my students responded that the new iCivics’ Supreme Decision simulation strengthened their understanding of how the U.S. Supreme Court works. In full transparency, there were thirty students who responded to the survey. (At the time of this writing, five students did not respond due to absence at the time the survey was given.) And, if I’m being honest, it’s challenging to have one hundred percent of my Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics (AP GOV) students agree on anything. They often mirror the American electorate—divided on a variety of issues. But not on this. Not today.
iCivics rolled out Supreme Decision in early January. When I saw their promotion of the simulation on social media sites, I decided to dig in a little to see what value add this might bring to my current curriculum. I watched the seven-minute preview video and decided that I wanted to lean in further.
Admittedly, I am a self-labeled Supreme Court nerd. I follow scholars and experts on social media, wake up early in June on opinion days, and have had the good fortune of being in the Court a few times. I have been incorporating moot courts and a March Madness-style case showdown into my AP Gov course for many years. Students have offered feedback that some of these activities created core memories as they’ve reflected on their high school experience. It was only natural that I would want to look into this simulation to see whether I could implement it into my current practice.
I should also share: sometimes I get nervous trying new things. It’s not that I won’t try new strategies, materials, activities, games, etc… but I’m a bit of a type A control freak, and I like to feel like I have some sense of management over what’s happening in my classroom. As an educator, I can’t control much, so I try to grasp on to what I can. So hear me when I say, if this is you, this simulation works well. As the teacher, you control the advancement of the slides on the student screens, the videos (and if you want to replay them), and the addition of enrichment/ supplemental activities.
iCivics is known for its professional development around resources, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that they offered a webinar on how to use the simulation. And talk about timing. I was able to attend the training the day before I launched the simulation. The team from iCivics walked attendees through the simulation experience, offering suggestions, support, and reflective prompts so we could think through the application in our settings. I printed out the simulation directives and took some additional notes so I would be ready for the next day.
And then I launched it.
Supreme Decision is a purely digital simulation. The teacher sets it up and creates a classroom. The simulation kicks back a login PIN, very similar to some of the quiz-like gaming sites that many classroom teachers use. When students log in, they create a username (good news: if it’s inappropriate, a teacher can boot the student until an appropriate name change occurs) and are assigned a profile: respondent, petitioner, or justice. Students are given the background of a fictional case, inspired by an actual Supreme Court case. Students also learn what their roles are, and justices are given one of three lenses: “looking back,” “looking closely,” or “looking ahead.” Once students read through their role and better understand the case, they work through the background of the case (how the case arrived at the court) and the facts of the case. Students work in role-alike teams to examine precedent and constitutional application. Students are also given time and a digital resource to take notes on their screens. Justices are given space on their screens to write questions. The simulation allows for the students representing the petitioners to only see the notes of the petitioner. The same applies to the respondents and the justices. After note-taking and discussion, students craft and present oral arguments. Justices ask questions of the petitioner and respondent and then deliberate. Finally, justices cast a vote to determine which argument they see as having more merit. As justices rule, students can see the voting process. Teachers can freeze screens if they don’t want students to see live voting.
After our justices ruled, the students engaged in a content-rich discussion around the topic and it became clear to me that my students truly understood not only the process but the content application, as well. One student shared, “I enjoyed actually feeling like I was taking part in a Supreme Court decision. For me, learning has to be done firsthand, and with this simulation, I really got a grasp and got my needed firsthand experience to fully understand how the court works.” Another shared, “I learned how the Supreme Court works through a case, how petitioners and respondents present their arguments, and how the judges work through the arguments and ask questions to make their decision.” One student expressed how this gave them a better sense of what the Court looks like. “It is more of a conversation than anything. You are just talking to each other trying to understand every side.” Another student shared that they always thought that the Supreme Court Justices debated one another. They did not realize that this was a discussion.
Overall, our class invested a total of two class periods (about 80 minutes) working through the simulation. The timing worked well, and I am glad I decided to launch this new learning experience. In our post-case survey, I asked my students how many of them liked learning from simulations. A resounding 96% of students expressed that they either favored this approach or considered it on par with traditional delivery methods, like reading or lecture. My initial apprehensions about introducing something new were met with enthusiastic engagement and high levels of student satisfaction. I am now confident incorporating more iCivics simulations given the evident enjoyment and educational value my students gain from these experiences.
Written by Shari Conditt
Shari Conditt is in her 24th year of teaching secondary social studies. She currently teaches AP US History, AP American Government and Politics, and serves as the building instructional coach at Woodland High School in Woodland, Washington. Shari is also an adjunct professor at two local colleges- teaching survey level social studies courses and Methods for Teaching Social Studies. Shari is passionate about student leadership and serves as the school’s ASB Director where she actively supports student voice in school policy decision making. In 2015, Shari was selected as a finalist for State Teacher of the Year and in 2016 she was selected as Washington’s Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year.
Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.
A couple of weeks ago, I left Atlanta in the morning where I had attended a meeting with a conservative libertarian group. Given iCivics’ commitment to nonpartisanship and engaging with viewpoints across the political spectrum, I had been invited to the annual event to test out the appetite for coming together on common sense solutions around issues facing our constitutional democracy.
I then flew to New York City, where I attended a meeting of what might be deemed a more liberal group.
The juxtaposition was startling. I traveled between a corporate-looking hotel space to a large industrial space. From a large group of 1,400 folks mostly in suits and ties to an eclectic, colorfully dressed, and diverse group, most of whom likely lived on the eastern corridor and attended the same set of institutions of higher education. I went from an exploration of whether Americans are as divided as they seem to exploring human connections, building relationships across humility, and offering listening as an act of love. From conversations spanning cowboy boots and a universal dislike for elites to discussions about the “bravery” of social justice work.
These were very different spaces. Very few people get the opportunity to travel so far across the political spectrum. When you do the work I do, you learn the codes from each camp, the throwaway lines that mark you as part of the tribe. I expected the contrasts and stereotypical icons, but this day was memorable not for the contrasts, but for the similarities. I was startled because I heard the same EXACT words in both spaces:
Policy is impossible without trust
Polarization is overcome by engagement
Trust needs to be built amongst difference
Fear of the other side must be overcome
It’s beneficial to get out of our bubbles
Social media’s role in supporting, encouraging, and even causing the divisions
Most of all, there was a clear recognition that actors are profiting either financially and/or politically by dividing and “outraging” Americans. While divisions were acknowledged, it was noted that the vast majority of Americans continue to hold moderate positions.
The experience was not easy. I heard comments that I found very difficult, but the richness of the experience I would not trade. I am grateful to both groups for allowing me into their bubbles, to see the points of commonality and hopes for our country and life together. While the work I do may give me insight into the demarcations of different groups, it also reminds me of the power of our life together—e pluribus unum—and the important role that civic education has to play in building civic friendships across differences.
At iCivics, we advocate for more and better civic education. This experience says something about the “better” part. The civic education we need for all students must reflect the diversity of our nation, community by community. It should foster debate across a plurality of ideas, and encourage reflection about whether we have more in common than what divides us.
