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Justice O'Connor On Good Morning America

Thu 03 Jun 2010 - 02:09PM by Erin Mehlos

If you didn't catch Good Morning America today, you missed Sandra Day O'Connor's talk with George Stephanopoulos. The retired Supreme Court Justice talked about immigration, Elena Kagan, and most importantly (we think so, anyway!) improving civics education via new media. Underscoring her points about the state of civics education and the opportunities for games to improve it, the clip features footage of the newly-unveiled iCivics website.

As if this weren't endorsement enough, anchor George Stephanopoulos remarked at one point: "I love that game, 'Do I Have a Right?'"

You can watch the interview here, or read a transcript here.

Evaluation Ruling: Our Courts Works

Thu 20 May 2010 - 08:38AM by Erin Mehlos

In October of last year, educational evaluation service the Persephone Group conducted an independent assessment of some of the Our Courts games, including Do I Have a Right?. Researchers looked at over 500 students in 22 classrooms spanning 13 states. What they found via pre- and post-testing, as well as feedback from students and teachers, was a marked improvement in kids' civics knowledge.

The student statistics are irrefutably awesome:

  • Students playing DIHAR? improved 13.7% between pre- and post-test scores
  • Scores of students who played the game at least twice improved 18.3% from pre- to post-test
  • Students with little computer experience actually showed greater improvement upon playing the games than students who customarily used a computer for more than an hour every day
  • 84% of students answered that the games were engaging and fun
  • 86% of students said they'd rather learn from a game than a textboox, with 85% specifically noting they'd like to play further Our Courts games in school
  • 75% of the students who played DIHAR? said they'd recommend the game to a friend 
  • 57% of the students surveyed went on to play DIHAR? again at home after playing the game in class

Teachers were enthused about the Our Courts content, too: all of the surveyed educators said they would use the games and lesson plans as part of their instruction, 96% said the Our Courts lesson plans were aligned with their respective state and/or district standards, and 81% said they'd be recommending Our Courts games to colleagues and peers.

Said one 8th grade Social Studies teacher: "Do I Have a Right? reinforced students' knowledge of the amendments and put a real world spin on them. To a student, they absolutely loved playing, and from my perspective, seeing them jump out of their seats as they matched a problem with a lawyer and scream out the amendment by name...wow!"

Justice O'Connor on WPR

Mon 10 May 2010 - 07:45AM by Erin Mehlos

While in Wisconsin for a number of speaking engagements (including this one), retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sat down with WPR's Kathleen Dunn to talk about Our Courts and how to reinvigorate civics learning for young people. Justice Ann Walsh Bradley of Wisconsin's Supreme Court and the State Chair of Our Courts joined her on the program, along with Ted McConnell, Executive Director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools.

If you missed the show, you can check it out here at the WPR achives.

Justice O'Connor Talks Our Courts at WI Supreme Court

Thu 06 May 2010 - 12:24PM by Erin Mehlos

"Why did you start a website? I mean, it was a really good idea, but why?"

This was a question put forward by a young person who attended Thursday's Wisconsin Supreme Court event spotlighting the Our Courts initiative. Retired Supreme Court Justice and Our Courts visionary Sandra Day O'Connor answered this question and more when she swung by to talk to local students and teachers about Our Courts, games, and civics education. Also in attendance were the state's First Lady and Superintendant of Schools, as well as our own Dan White.

Several Our Courts games (including Do I Have a Right?) were available for play at the event, which was organized by Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, and coordinator Marsha Varvil-Weld.