civics – iLearn Technology

Bad News- The Game

March 18, 2025Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment33839 views

What it is: This is part research project, part game where students take on the role of a fake news monger who drops all ethics to build a media empire. This game is intended to help students better identify the tricks used to manipulate thinking. In the game, players earn badges corresponding to the tactics used in the production of fake news, like polarization, conspiracy theories, discrediting, trolling, and invoking strong emotion. Through taking on the persona of someone building a fake news empire, students learn how to spot the manipulation tactics. The game is built around the psychological concept of inoculation theory, where exposure to weakened doses of fake news tactics helps create resistance or psychological immunity against fake news.

How to use Bad News in the classroom: Bad News is an interesting approach to helping students understand fake news, influence, and manipulation. By actually taking on the persona of someone spreading misinformation and using these tactics, students become more keenly aware of how these subtle moves are used to manipulate people’s perceptions. This would be a great provocation for junior high and high school students to engage in before a deep-dive conversation on fake news, spotting manipulative media tactics and the ethics associated. It’s also a great discussion starter about social media followers, likes, and engagement. When students can identify how tactics are used to grow an audience or gain credibility, suddenly, some of those “stars” with gobs of followers stop being so impressive. Bad News is an interesting way to let students see “the man behind the curtain” and understand the mechanics of what is really at play in the spread of fake news. Media literacy is one of those areas that needs to be prioritized in schools with the flood of content that students engage in every day, it’s essential that we cultivate citizens who can critically think about what they are consuming.

Students can play Bad News solo, with partners, or in small groups. It is heavy on reading and responding to prompts, so keep that in mind as you decide how to pair students. The game itself takes about 20 minutes to complete. After playing, bring students together for a Socratic discussion about the experience. How was it easiest to deceive? What were the moments where you felt a moral or ethical dilemma? Where do you notice these tactics being used? If you were going to design a technology or system to combat fake news, where would you start? How do you see disinformation influencing public opinion? Which badge was the easiest to earn and why?

Tips: This game was designed in partnership with DROG and the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab at Cambridge University. They have done a great job of sharing the science behind the game on the About Page. More information for using the game in the classroom can be found here.

Citizen University

March 17, 2025March 17, 2025Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment32794 views

What it is: Citizen University is an experiential approach to cultivating civic identity. What I love about Citizen University is they immediately address the challenges and barriers faced when addressing civic education in the classroom; there can be cultural and codified barriers, making it feel charged, insufficient, or impossible to do. Building citizenship is about more than where we come from or knowing the tenants of our country; it’s about our everyday choices, mindsets, and how we see ourselves as contributing members of society implicated in caring about the problems around us. Our communities are depending on us to engage and live like a citizen. Citizen University uses the Power + Character = Citizenship approach to help students understand themselves as citizens.

How to integrate Citizen University in the classroom: The Citizen University curriculum is meant for students ages 14-24. The curriculum provides modular, adaptable, and experiential content designed to increase students’ literacy in power flows in civic life and how it can be used to improve communities, deepen their sense of moral discernment and critical thinking, and foster the belief that practicing citizenship matters. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all type of curriculum. This is meant to be tailored to your place and the people in your community. It’s a way for each student to share why their community matters to them and what they commit to as a responsible citizen. This isn’t your typical download-and-implement curriculum. The folks at Citizen University are deeply committed to walking alongside the educators doing this important work. You convene a network, and they have a team of facilitators that will help your community adopt and adapt the curriculum.

It can feel overwhelming to consider the complexity of meeting this present moment in the United States…so many of us are wondering how to best use our voice and effort to make change. I’m a big believer that education is transformative. When we teach students how to be in a community with each other well and when we develop responsive citizens, real change is possible. We need more active participants in our communities to make them places where everyone has a voice and experiences belonging.

Tips: If you are interested in bringing Citizen University to your community, contact their program director (contact information is under the “Convene your network” section.)

Scholastic’s Listen and Read: Free non-fiction ebooks for primary students

July 17, 2012Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5498 views

What it is: Scholastic is constantly sneaking new great resources for the classroom onto their site. The other day I learned about one that I haven’t seen before from @rmbyrne on his great blog Free Tech for Teachers. Listen and Read has fantastic online reading activities for early learners. There are 54 nonfiction read-along books that include words, images and sound. You can sort books by subject including: Community, American History, Animals, Civics and Government, Environmental Studies, Plants and Flowers, Science and Social Studies. You can also sort books by level (A or B).

How to integrate Listen and Read into your curriculum: Non-fiction can be hard to read in the early years. It often includes unfamiliar words and vocabulary and concepts that students don’t have a lot of prior knowledge of. Scholastic’s Listen and Read is fantastic because it helps students navigate their way through non-fiction with the support of a read-aloud, sounds and images. These interactive books help students better comprehend content because they aren’t focused on the words they are stumbling through. At the end of the book students can click on the unfamiliar new vocabulary to hear the word said again. This follow-up exposure reinforces word recognition, vocabulary and ideas.

Scholastic Listen and Read can be set up on classroom computers as a reading center. Students can read and listen independently with headphones. After reading through the story, students can discuss with a partner (or as a whole class) what they remember about each of the “sound it out” words from the story.

If you don’t have the ability for students to read these non-fiction books independently, use a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard to read as a whole class.

Tips: Some of the titles are offered in both A and B level. This is great for a little differentiation within the classroom (while gaining the same concepts).

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Scholastic’s Listen and Read in your classroom!

iCivics- teaching students civics through games

June 11, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3906 views

What it is: iCivics is a great way for students to learn about civics in the United States. The site features 16 educational video games that help students understand our government. In addition to the great games, iCivics has great standards-aligned civics curriculum available for free to teachers! Games include topics like: Citizenship and Participation, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Budgeting, Foreign Policy and National Defense, Separation of Powers, the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch. The games are fantastic, and put students right in the middle of the action and story.

Activate- Students campaign for an issue of their choice.
Cast Your Vote- Students choose the questions in a debate, rate the candidates responses, and cast a vote.
Immigration Nation- Students help newcomers along their path to citizenship.
Responsibility Launcher- Students help others with civic common sense.
Argument Wars- Students argue a real Supreme Court case using persuasive abilities.
Do I Have a Right- Student run their own law firm that specializes in constitutional law.
Counties Work- Students make decisions about community programs and services.
People’s Pie- Student control the budget of the federal government.
Crisis of Nations- Student work to solve international problems.
Branches of Power- Students control all three branches of government.
Executive Command- Student get to be president.
Win the White House- Students get to manage their own presidential campaign including raising funds and polling voters.
Supreme Decision- Students help cast the deciding vote.
Court Quest- Student help others navigate the US court system.

Students can join iCivics for free. When they do, they can take part in the Impact Competition where they play games, earn points, spend points on a iCivics real life project of their choice.

As a teacher, you can sign up for an iCivics account where you can add classes and students.

How to integrate iCivics into the classroom: iCivics is a great way to help students better understand the US government. The games are engaging, relatively quick to play (one class period), and teach everything that students need to know to play the game. Students with little or no understanding of the topic will be introduced to everything they need to know within the game.

The games are a great way to learn about civics because they put students right in the middle of the action, the games remind me a little of the SIMS games that I played as a kid. Students will enjoy being the decision maker in the game-this isn’t a power point presentation disguised as a game (you know you have seen those!).

iCivics is best played on individual computers in a one-to-one or lab setting. If you don’t have access to a lab where your students can play, students could play as a whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Make sure that every students gets a chance to participate and weigh in on decisions that are made.

Tips: The lesson plans in the teacher section are truly well done. These are worth using in your classroom! Games are now available in the app store as well!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using iCivics in your classroom!

Today’s Document: History through cartoons

October 1, 2010Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3779 views

What it is: Today’s Document is an awesome daily history site that I learned about from the Instructify blog written by Bill Ferris. Today’s Document is based on the RSS feed from the National Archives. Jon White takes these daily documents from history and turns them into cartoons that illustrate the history. Cartoons and drawings offer such an incredible and striking visual to accompany history. They help flesh out what was happening and give students a way to connect to and characterize history.

How to integrate Today’s Document into your curriculum: This is, simply stated, an AWESOME site. I have mentioned before that history was not my strength in school. I struggled with finding the story in history. For me it was a lot of facts, dates, names, and places that I couldn’t seem to get a handle on. A site like Today’s Document would have done wonders for my understanding of history. The visuals clearly connect the facts with a larger story. Even better, White publishes the story behind each cartoon along side it. Today’s Document makes an incredible e-textbook complete with daily updates, links to videos, articles, primary sources, and additional opportunities to learn more about each topic. Today’s Document would make a fantastic discussion starter in any classroom. It’s natural fit would be in the history or civics class but could really be used in many disciplines including literature, writing, and even science. Because Today’s Document uses cartoons to tell history, the site can be used with a wide range of age groups. Even young students can look at the cartoons and follow the story each day. Each drawing is linked to the original primary source document on National Archives with an invitation to dig deeper. Within the preamble describing the cartoon, White often includes links to outside videos and articles that reinforce the daily document.

Tips: I encourage you to take a look at White’s previous cartoons, you can do so by using the “previous” button or searching the archives by date. He started this project in January 2010.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Today’s Document in your classroom!