Learning through online games tends to work because it uses “the students’ language, challenging their critical thinking in the milieu of what they’re used to,” said Lynne Goldfarb, a USC assistant education professor. Board of Education in 1954, which outlawed segregation but failed to accomplish full integration.Įven students who lack Internet access at home have proved adept at picking up technology and games.
In one, a player can take on the role of president, addressing Congress, choosing policy priorities, managing federal departments and selecting legislation to sign or veto.Īnother game allows students to step into the role of advocate on famous Supreme Court cases, many of which resonate still, such as Brown vs. The iCivics effort avoids ideological battles, but its games delve deeply into government process. Critics on the right perceived a bias toward liberal activism. Skeptics on the left feared a narrow indoctrination into mores that deserved to be questioned. “It’s become a dire situation, really, especially at schools that are struggling to get their scores up in English language arts and math and have just cut out other subjects.”Ĭalifornia students have suffered from that national trend, experts said, although they still are required to take three years of social studies in high school.Ĭivics education, which used to be commonplace, has been undermined by other forces, including erosion of broad support, according to a recent report prepared by Annenberg and the Civic Mission of Schools campaign, a coalition of 40 organizations.
“Schools that were including basic social studies education started to reduce the time spent on that subject,” said Deborah Genzer, former co-director of the California Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. One problem may be a consequence of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasized reading and math instruction with required testing. “There is a base level of knowledge that is out there,” enough to keep the country functioning, said Jamieson, “but it’s a lot baser than some would like.”
Poor understanding of civics has persisted for decades despite increased college attendance, Jamieson said. Limited knowledge about the three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial - emerges starkly in Annenberg surveys, which also found that 15% of adults correctly named John Roberts as United States chief justice, but almost twice as many (27%) could identify Randy Jackson as a judge on the television show “American Idol.”
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