Community reviews for iCivics

I really like the different games that are available for students to play. It makes learning that much more fun for them. The use of technology in the classroom also helps the students learn and understand the information at a deeper level.

The lesson plans can be a little difficult to follow because of the amount of information but that also could help or lead to more group work or homework. I feel the website is just a great go to especially living in a gaming world, it speaks the children's language without leaving behind the instruction.

This tool allows students to learn about the features of government in fun, easy to learn games. This is more engaging than a traditional lecture model and students will definitely learn more from this method of instruction.

Overall I like using iCivics with my classes regardless with they are special needs, ELL, or general education classes. I truly enjoyed the different projects presented for the educator to use, the easy platform in which the website was designed, and ease of use of the lessons with on the computer platform or a printed version. Another plus is the lesson plans follow the Maryland State Curriculum quite a bit making it easy to incorporate into the classroom. The students can use these lessons as pre-assessment lessons, introductory lessons, and reinforcement lesson for in class or as homework. Although iCivics can be a very productive tool for educators and students alike there are some drawbacks that can be corrected. The students can find the answers to the activities online if they are tech savvy enough. Also the curriculum learning standards for Government are out of date for my state. They may be out of date but the are still relevant. The only difference is my state has restructured the curriculum which makes the order of the state curriculum a little off on iCivics.

I was impressed with all of the materials supplied by iCivics to make it easy for teachers to use the game as a teaching tool. iCivics provided a very detailed and informative “a game guide for teachers”, a function to search for state standards to align with your curriculum, a teacher-made PowerPoint presentation to walk you through the process, an extension packet, and a fully developed lesson plan to provide students with background knowledge if needed. My students would have really enjoyed being able to compete against one another without having to sign-up via e-mail. As previously stated, our county’s e-mail system for students does not allow them the ability to receive e-mails outside of our network. This prevented students from being able to play against one another and seeing each other’s scores. If there was a way to manage that function through the website I would have had to pry the Chromebooks out of the student’s hands.

iCivics is an excellent program that utilizes proficient teaching materials to boost students’ civics knowledge and skills with their government classes. Through lessons, media and especially games, students can get a taste of the murky water that is the reality of American politics. The games are the main focus, as they help enforce lessons in the classroom in a fun way, often with a refreshing honesty.

As a teaching tool, iCivics is extremely useful. It can help teachers in so many ways, from providing whole class lessons to individual enrichment opportunities. The range of topics, issues and activities is comprehensive so there is really something for everyone on the site. I would say that for ESL students and for younger students, the teacher should go through everything carefully at least once on her/his own to ensure to help scaffold the learning. In addition, as an extension activity, I think that students and teachers can use the frameworks from the sign to create their own game outlines, DB quests and units for their own (non-US) countries. This site has tremendous potential as a teaching and learning tool.

It is a great tool for teachers. I like its overall content and multimedia features. It outlines basic concepts and procedures and helps scaffold learning.

Overall this was engaging and should require critical thinking on the part of the student. They will have to weigh issues from the constituents point of view as well as the representing legislator when pushing a bill through for vote. The simulation was fun, but the default screen does not show all the activity going on in this learning component, so moving around and finding things became cumbersome. Since a student would lose all the progress they had gained if they changed to a full screen mode mid game, a note to change to full screen before beginning the game would be helpful.

I think the lessons have potential. Meet most of our State Standards. Some will be used as stand-alone lessons; while others will be used in conjunction with the textbook.