Tech Edge, Mobile Learning In The Classroom - Episode 58, iCivics

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05/08/2017 Added

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Technology Information: iCivics

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[00:00:00.317]Coming up on Mobile Learning in the Classroom,
[00:00:02.537]iCivics.
[00:00:03.775](upbeat music)
[00:00:17.545]Hi, I'm Zoe Falls,
[00:00:19.027]and today, on Mobile Learning in the Classroom,
[00:00:20.630]we're going to look at iCivics.
[00:00:22.478]So, I actually got this website
[00:00:25.034]from one of my students in the course I teach,
[00:00:28.407]and it was their Technology of the Week,
[00:00:30.468]they were interested in being a social studies teacher.
[00:00:34.005]So within this website, there are many, many,
[00:00:37.704]different things you can do.
[00:00:40.009]And one of the coolest parts is,
[00:00:42.149]it's sort of a one stop shop for lesson plans,
[00:00:45.359]web quests, and different ideas to help teachers
[00:00:50.628]engage with their students,
[00:00:51.500]and learning more about how the political system works,
[00:00:55.691]about civics as a broader concept.
[00:00:58.647]And, one of my favorite parts, the game,
[00:01:03.371]and in this game, you become president.
[00:01:07.969]So, we'll go ahead and take a look at that,
[00:01:11.564]after we look at the game,
[00:01:12.601]we will go back and look at a couple different lessons,
[00:01:15.256]that teachers can use.
[00:01:19.783]So, I don't have an account with this,
[00:01:22.114]because I haven't set one up yet,
[00:01:23.106]it does not link to Google right away,
[00:01:24.889]which, makes me sad a little bit,
[00:01:26.969]but, if you do register and save an account,
[00:01:30.410]then you can save your game progress,
[00:01:33.561]you can compete with your friends,
[00:01:35.256]so if you're using this in the classroom,
[00:01:36.998]you could have students work in teams,
[00:01:38.869]and maybe have different political parties set up,
[00:01:41.651]and really have your students immerse themselves
[00:01:43.851]in a political experience,
[00:01:46.548]where they're making the sorts of choices necessary,
[00:01:49.987]to be part of, sort of, civic life.
[00:01:55.014]So for now, I'm going to say, No Thanks,
[00:01:57.761]I'm going to play in full screen,
[00:02:00.368]because, who doesn't like a bigger screen?
[00:02:03.809]Alright, so this is,
[00:02:05.513]the object of this game is to become president.
[00:02:08.081]So this is where you're learning
[00:02:09.619]all the steps necessary to become
[00:02:12.063]President of the United States.
[00:02:16.088]Let's go ahead and say, New Game,
[00:02:18.707]and you will go through,
[00:02:19.743]and you'll make a bunch of different choices.
[00:02:22.561]And here is my favorite feature,
[00:02:24.969]you can use this with multiple grades.
[00:02:27.499]I'm going to go ahead and check out the High School version.
[00:02:31.563]And again, little graphics,
[00:02:34.471]kind of, maybe a little cheesy on the graphics side,
[00:02:36.621]but engaging enough.
[00:02:40.531]So we're going to set up our character,
[00:02:43.388]so this is an interesting opportunity for students,
[00:02:46.749]where you pick your character, and it's randomized.
[00:02:55.496]But they can kind of random through,
[00:02:56.788]until they find one they want.
[00:03:00.035]Selecting a different presidential, sort of, avatar,
[00:03:04.476]and what that allows, and doesn't allow.
[00:03:07.631]And again, based on the grade level that you're teaching,
[00:03:10.002]these conversations can vary
[00:03:11.906]in how the topics are approached,
[00:03:14.226]the depth to which you go into certain details,
[00:03:17.583]but for now, we're just going to pick random,
[00:03:19.529]I'm going to call him Joe.
[00:03:23.049]Okay,
[00:03:23.921]so, once you've selected the name,
[00:03:26.005]and I'm just going to call him Joe Joe.
[00:03:28.993]Then you go ahead and select Continue,
[00:03:31.607]and now you get to choose a state.
[00:03:33.722]Now again, depending on the age level,
[00:03:35.917]you might want to engage your students in conversation,
[00:03:38.199]about if you're coming from
[00:03:39.852]a certain part of the United States,
[00:03:42.295]what does that mean for your candidate,
[00:03:43.793]what does that mean for the base you're building?
[00:03:45.744]Because again, the goal is to win the White House,
[00:03:47.533]so if you're a candidate from Wyoming,
[00:03:49.683]that might mean something different,
[00:03:51.097]if you're a candidate from say, New York.
[00:03:54.243]So, because I'm from Colorado, I'm going to pick Colorado,
[00:03:58.726]go ahead and say Continue,
[00:04:00.423]alright, so this is Joe Joe from Colorado.
[00:04:02.387]So now they get to choose a party,
[00:04:05.501]and again, this could be something where you assign,
[00:04:07.036]especially if you have different groups
[00:04:09.515]in the class working on it.
[00:04:11.664]So we're going to go ahead,
[00:04:12.996]and we need Democrat this time around.
[00:04:16.523]And you can choose and preview the different issues.
[00:04:24.569]Go ahead and say Continue.
[00:04:26.637]Then we're at the debate,
[00:04:31.112]so again, your students select an issue
[00:04:33.845]that they want to talk about.
[00:04:38.408]And again, depending on the age level you're working with,
[00:04:40.650]depending on the students, you might,
[00:04:42.222]kind of pre-plan to tell them to address
[00:04:45.869]certain issues and leave other issues alone.
[00:04:50.090]Let's go ahead and choose Government Transparency,
[00:04:53.239]present issue,
[00:04:58.549]Okay, so it kind of leads you in a little bit,
[00:05:00.698]but then as the candidate, you have to make some choices.
[00:05:03.320]So, why you support government transparency,
[00:05:06.432]you would go through and answer,
[00:05:07.890]now again, we're not going to go through the full game,
[00:05:09.542]but as you can see, it sets up different scenarios
[00:05:13.972]for your students to make an informed choice.
[00:05:17.494]So there are different ways you can do this,
[00:05:19.737]you can have students do this independently,
[00:05:22.466]and see who wins, you could have them do it in groups,
[00:05:25.619]where there sort of as a collective group of five,
[00:05:27.737]they all have to decide, and maybe have mini,
[00:05:29.269]little debates in the classroom,
[00:05:32.756]but it's a really kind of fun way to get them
[00:05:35.986]some kind of first hand experience in
[00:05:40.665]backing up different thoughts,
[00:05:42.566]seeing what presidential candidates do,
[00:05:46.101]in order to sort of, become president.
[00:05:50.249]So also under play,
[00:05:53.760]you can be the president for a day,
[00:05:55.579]so you can sort of do a day in the life,
[00:05:57.068]and see different functions within,
[00:05:59.516]once you're already the president,
[00:06:02.252]what you do within executive command.
[00:06:06.384]And then,
[00:06:10.043]we'll look at this one,
[00:06:12.536]which is slightly different than the other two,
[00:06:14.784]where you're focused on being president.
[00:06:20.453]So in this one, they kind of learn about local government,
[00:06:22.488]so you're a local government official.
[00:06:25.560]And this one,
[00:06:27.674]I think would, depending on the age,
[00:06:29.414]would maybe be one I would recommend doing first,
[00:06:32.399]because local government is usually what students
[00:06:33.602]are going to be more familiar with.
[00:06:36.346]And it might make them more aware
[00:06:38.047]of the choices and the decisions
[00:06:38.880]that go into things around them,
[00:06:39.955]like, where to their parks come from?
[00:06:43.358]For younger, elementary, middle school aged children,
[00:06:45.367]who probably really enjoy going to park after school,
[00:06:47.695]or on the weekends,
[00:06:48.940]well who pays for that?
[00:06:50.679]When their parents complain about road work,
[00:06:53.083]where do those decisions come from?
[00:06:55.082]Businesses coming into a city,
[00:06:57.655]so again, local government, and local things,
[00:07:01.013]and being a way to get them a little bit
[00:07:03.212]more engaged in their local community.
[00:07:06.203]Alright, so we're going to see what the Fast is,
[00:07:08.152]just because it gave me an option.
[00:07:15.533]I'll make a random name,
[00:07:18.678]so we're in Rosebud County,
[00:07:21.327]and I'm just going to go with the default character.
[00:07:24.199]So you can choose a character title,
[00:07:27.143]so again, you can talk to your students about
[00:07:28.932]what a county is, what different county positions mean,
[00:07:33.382]we're going to be the Commissioner.
[00:07:35.864]Ha, Parks and Rec,
[00:07:37.649]I used to work for Parks and Rec department,
[00:07:38.770]so we're going to go there,
[00:07:40.224]just because I can.
[00:07:41.925]Say Continue.
[00:07:45.153]Alright, the County Clerk,
[00:07:47.389]it's going to tell me all about my new job.
[00:07:51.203]Alright, so what's interesting here is,
[00:07:52.533]you can see it gives some options,
[00:07:54.487]so it shows you the population,
[00:07:56.105]talks about residential approval, and the funds.
[00:07:59.039]So residential approval is going to be
[00:08:00.654]a really strong influence on whether or not
[00:08:02.520]you'll get reelected,
[00:08:04.013]and can kind of give your students an idea of,
[00:08:06.055]how their choices are impacting things around them.
[00:08:10.533]Okay, so we're going to work on developing,
[00:08:13.763]and see what that does for my approval rating.
[00:08:20.103]I got more money,
[00:08:22.314]revenue is always good.
[00:08:35.804]It's got all the different departments that you can visit.
[00:08:41.066]Okay, so we're going to look at construction,
[00:08:43.263]so we could do a vegetable garden,
[00:08:45.254]a recycling center, a nursing home,
[00:08:47.415]transitional housing, or an elementary school.
[00:08:50.393]But they all have a cost attached to them,
[00:08:53.084]and it looks like the only thing I can afford right now,
[00:08:57.144]is a vegetable garden.
[00:08:59.091]So I'll go ahead and choose this project,
[00:09:02.902]so again, my approval rating went down.
[00:09:10.045]As did my funds.
[00:09:12.947]Oh, but now I have sales tax,
[00:09:14.559]but my resident approval went down.
[00:09:17.096]Okay, so again, they get to see the give and take
[00:09:18.713]of what happens when you make choices,
[00:09:21.452]because there's this weird tension
[00:09:22.572]between people really like having parks,
[00:09:24.225]but they might not want to pay for them.
[00:09:27.305]Or they really like the idea of bringing
[00:09:29.419]in new revenue,
[00:09:30.413]but they don't like when the city closes
[00:09:32.113]down roads for construction.
[00:09:34.017]So again, different things that they get to see,
[00:09:35.796]and it's fun, because they get to see it live.
[00:09:39.287]Alright, so again,
[00:09:40.407]I encourage you to go and look at the games on your own,
[00:09:43.646]have your students look at them.
[00:09:45.348]But very briefly,
[00:09:46.554]we will look at a couple of the lesson plans,
[00:09:48.878]that sort tie together what they experience in the games,
[00:09:52.573]and maybe what you already have planned for civics.
[00:09:56.360]So it gives teacher's guides, student readings, activities,
[00:10:02.168]it'll give you full units,
[00:10:05.861]and you could also have something where
[00:10:07.068]students sort of, did a build your own adventure for civics,
[00:10:10.472]and show something that they were interested in.
[00:10:12.963]Since we were just looking at local government,
[00:10:16.014]let's go look at local government,
[00:10:18.836]so it gives you an overview and some learning objectives.
[00:10:22.856]And you can search the state's standards,
[00:10:25.213]so within this, you can tailor the lessons
[00:10:28.251]toward the standards for your state.
[00:10:31.443]So go ahead and look at Nebraska,
[00:10:37.824]and we'll say, it's 10th grade.
[00:10:43.383]So it tells you which standards their units align with.
[00:10:46.867]Which takes a lot of the guesswork out,
[00:10:48.895]maybe take some of the pressure off.
[00:10:50.141]I know I really like it,
[00:10:51.095]when I can do something maybe a little bit more
[00:10:53.086]fun and creative, and also point back
[00:10:54.414]to where it hits the standards,
[00:10:56.778]and it hits multiple standards,
[00:10:58.143]so everyone sort of wins in that scenario.
[00:11:02.533]So we'll go back and,
[00:11:07.299]so for this one, you do need to have an account,
[00:11:09.362]so again, go make your account, look at the lessons.
[00:11:13.341]But as we've seen,
[00:11:14.994]the games are engaging,
[00:11:16.150]and you can format how you use them
[00:11:18.932]in your classroom differently.
[00:11:21.004]You can set up different lesson plans,
[00:11:23.372]you can do web quests,
[00:11:26.814]and you can have your students learn more about
[00:11:30.676]different forms of civics.
[00:11:34.041]And I can tell, just by looking at some of this stuff,
[00:11:37.153]it looks way more interesting
[00:11:38.560]than how we were taught the Bill of Rights,
[00:11:40.087]and other forms, when it took civics in junior high.
[00:11:44.976]So, this has been iCivics,
[00:11:47.174]and Mobile Learning in the Classroom.
[00:11:49.036]See ya.
[00:11:50.031](upbeat music)

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Tags:
CEHS
College of Education and Human Sciences
Tech EDGE
UNL
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department of Teaching Learning and Teacher Education
University of Nebraska
Apps
iCivics

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Tech Edge, Mobile Learning In The Classroom - Episode 58, iCivics

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