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We Owe Our Deepest Appreciation to Our Nation’s Civics and History Teachers

Posted on by icivics

As we approach the end of the 2020-2021 school year, we owe our nation’s civics and history teachers our deepest gratitude. This has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging school years in recent memory for all teachers, but amid cascading social and political crises, it has been particularly challenging for those who teach about our history and system of government. Civics and history teachers deserve special recognition and appreciation for a job well done through such uncertain times. 

Together, iCivics, Facing History and Ourselves, the Bill of Rights Institute, National Constitution Center, the Center for Civic Education, the Ashbrook Center, Generation Citizen, and Mikva Challenge want to send this message of gratitude to civics and history teachers across the nation.

Thank you for your perseverance this year. Thank you for prioritizing the well-being and growth of your students, for navigating complex and challenging, but meaningful conversations on current events, while still guiding your students through the core curriculum. Thank you for continuing to cultivate informed, engaged civic participants, especially when our civic and political climate was so tense. And thank you for continuing to build equitable and inclusive learning experiences for all students, especially when classroom learning was disrupted or moved fully online.

Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. We’ve been listening to you and watching with awe as you work—and we’ve been taking notes. Here is what we have learned from you this year:

  • We need to be steadfast in the support of our nation’s students and teachers, inside and outside of the classroom.
  • We need to be dedicated to lifting up and connecting with our colleagues both  within and outside of our fields.
  • We need to work to ensure that you are supported in your mission to teach about our history and our form of government, even when it’s thorny and controversial.
  • We need to continue to provide you with the resources that make your job easier and meet the needs of your evolving classrooms.  
  • We need to be relentless in our work of building a sustainable future of our constitutional democracy through the prioritization of civics and history in our nation’s classrooms. 
  • We need to continue to work with teachers and students who want to build equitable and inclusive classrooms for all students.
  • We need to continue to listen to you.

We promise you this: It did not go unnoticed that you rose above the challenges faced during an unprecedented school year. As always, your students learned so much from you, and so did we. Thank you for you for your service and dedication to your profession and to our constitutional democracy.

Signed with profound gratitude,

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.