Mapmaker: The Gerrymandering Game is a simple, thoughtful, and strategic board game. It also happens to be educational, too, but that’s just an added benefit. I saw this game on the shelf at the mall a few weeks ago, and it immediately caught my eye. It got me thinking about what other board games are […]
In Flunking Democracy: Schools, Courts, and Civics Education, Michael Rebell presents a novel approach to fix civics education in America – a lawsuit. Michael Rebell is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is also an experienced litigator who has brought lawsuits on equity in education. The book is the product of a seminar […]
Note: This review is not yet complete. This post will be updated with more information, once I’ve had a chance to play it through a few times and thoroughly review it. The Contender is a great party game to play with your friends. Topically, it’s a civics game patterned after Presidential debates. Conceptually, it’s a […]
One great way to make learning civics more fun is to use game based learning. Here’s a list of eight political board games about civics and government – some of which make great classroom tools – that could help you do that. I’ll run through the list of each of the eight civics board games […]
All the President’s Men is a classic movie about the role of the free press in a democratic society. It follows Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post as they painstakingly investigate the Watergate break-in and the subsequent cover up. This is also a film I remember watching when I was in high […]
Controversial issues can be a great way to get your students engaged, and they also make perfect persuasive essay topics. Whether your goal is to explore the controversial issue itself or to teach the mechanics of persuasive writing, controversial issues and persuasive essays go hand in hand. In order to write a good persuasive essay, […]
iCivics is a collection of civics related games to use with your class. Some are great, while some are not so great. They recently released a new game, and we’ll take a look at it today in this Race to Ratify review. Race to Ratify (click here to see the game on iCivics) is a […]
If you’re a political junky like me, then there’s probably nothing you enjoy more than good movies about government and American politics. It doesn’t matter if it’s based on a true story or fictional. The machinations of government, the thrill of a campaign, and the personalities of politics just make for great movies. Some of […]
If you’re a civics or social studies teacher, then I don’t need to tell you how important it us to teach government and civics. But, unfortunately, kids can sometimes find it dry and boring. And so, as with all things teaching, you might find yourself thinking about how to teach government in a fun way. […]
So you’re thinking of assigning Project Citizen to your students – or maybe your teacher has assigned it to you – but you want some topic ideas to start with? Well here’s a list of five Project Citizen topic ideas to kick off your brainstorming session. Don’t know what Project Citizen is? That’s ok. Check […]