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Author: Yuki Huang

iCivics and All Vote No Play Engaged Athletes: Learning from Civic Greats and GOATs

Posted on by Yuki Huang

On September 13, iCivics will host a special event with All Vote No Play featuring athletic leaders who will discuss the motivation and choices behind their work and collective impact.

Participants will have the opportunity to listen and learn from great leaders like four time NBA Champion and “Team Democracy” superstar, Stephen Curry; former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice; the most winning NCAA coach of all time, Tara VanDerveer; and, NFL champion for social change, Demario Davis. These individuals will be interviewed by student athletes, giving attendees chance to understand and explore their individual and collective civic dispositions, skills, and leadership postures.

Register for the Event

To make civics experiential, relevant, and meaningful to all learners and students, we invite your classrooms to participate and learn about creating and nourishing civic values, civic cultures, and civic communities. Consider assigning this event as homework to your civics, government, or social studies classes and inviting further reflection, inquiry, and conversation.

Some learning questions you might offer to your students, include:

  • What does civic engagement mean to you? How does it show up in these leaders’ lives and intentional choices? 
  • How do you think about civic power and what’s required to create positive change? What kinds of power did you hear about in the conversations? How did these leaders use their personal platforms and power in community building and value-amplifying ways?
  • As an athlete, and as a citizen, what is your responsibility to serve the communities around you? How do you do that in your life – in big or small ways?
  • What are other instances in your community where athletic or cultural leaders are making a difference?

In addition to your class discussion, we have other readings and resources that explore the intersection between civic power and possibility available on our websites.

We’re excited to hear how this experience goes for you and your class! Be sure to let us know by emailing us at info@allvotenoplay.org, and tag us in any social media posts, @AllVoteNoPlay and @iCivics.

The Proof Is in: iCivics Games Strengthen Civic Knowledge and Dispositions

Posted on by Yuki Huang

This year, we had 37,000 students test two of our best election games: Win the White House and Cast Your Vote. In the first, you are challenged to build a winning campaign for the presidency: strategic messaging, fundraising, and polling included! In the second, you must discover what it takes to become an informed voter – values, key issues, and candidates’ stances – before casting a vote in an imaginary local election. Both games were modified. Slightly. 

Before game-play, students had to answer a short quiz. Questions assessed content knowledge (such as “What is an incumbent?”), but also civic dispositions – meaning a set of tendencies and qualities that lend to democratic character formation – such as “How likely are you to get involved in a political campaign?” or even “I plan on following the news around the next election.” Then, once they played the game, students answered those same questions.

The results exceeded our best expectations.

Students improved on every question. For questions touching on civics content, scores increased 26% on average; for questions touching on civic dispositions and behaviors, we saw an astonishing 38% jump. In other words, 30 pleasant minutes of gaming and a few clicks later: students gained knowledge on the Electoral College and voting, expressed greater personal interest in these topics as well as dispositions to take part in them.

Here is the good news: we have 14 more high-quality games that would benefit.

While simple on its face, such a tool has value for teachers. One Wisconsin civics teacher put it clearly, “pre- and post- assessments are a huge opportunity to determine what students are learning from playing the simulations.” We now have a model that can be replicated in all of our games. Moreover, questions could be personalized for the classroom or game, according to each teacher’s wishes. It would help them inform their classroom instruction on a national scale. To be clear, iCivics firmly believes that the best teaching involves, well, teaching. Games cannot replace educators – but they can empower their teaching. 

iCivics has pioneered game-based philosophy since 2009. Educational games, when done well, are one of the great tools of modern learning. Games involve students in the learning. Through simulation, students step into a new civic world. They become the President, a lawmaker, a community activist, a pamphleteer in 1787 (with the fancy wig, too), a mayor, and so many other roles. With iCivics, they get to do their jobs and explore their world. Most importantly: they see where they fit in it. 

Even at the tender age of 79, having never touched a video-game in her life, our founder Sandra Day O’Connor was convinced of the merits of edu-gaming. Today – nearly 12 years later – 120,500 teachers all across America agree. Beyond gains in knowledge and dispositions, games get young people to wonder, to ask questions, and to be open to learning. We inspire students for civics life. Only then do we teach it.

Written By Gabriel Neher

Gabriel oversees much of iCivics’ institutional fundraising, with a focus on foundation relationships. He serves as principal grant writer, and manages the grants and report calendar. Gabriel graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with a degree in psychology and criminal justice.  

This research was made possible through the generosity of the Stanton Foundation.