National Civics Summit - Our Courts

Our Courts: 21st Century CivicsJuly 2009

www.ourcourts.org

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Our Courts Origin

2006 Georgetown Law Conference Hosted by Justice

O’Connor and Justice Breyer

Increase in attacks on the judiciary Jail for Judges

Identified need for broader civics education

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The Need

The more people know about the role of the judiciary, the more they approve of it.

According to the 2006 NAEP Civics Assessment, 22% of 8th graders were proficient in civics.

15%can name the Chief Justice of the United States.

66%can name a judge on American Idol.

36%can name the three branches of government.

21states no longer require civics or government classes.

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The Solution

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Educational Games

Games and effective civics education are both about learning processes

Require little preparation from busy teachers

Opportunity to harness 24 / 7 learning

97%of Americans teenagers play video games.

44average number of hours students spend in front a screen each week.

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Ourcourts.org

Website launched in February 2009 and has received over 100,000 unique visitors to date.

Features include:Curriculum Builder Talk to the Justice message board

Civics in Action Educational Videos Premier Lesson Plans

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Classroom Games

Our Courts will release two classroom games in August 2009

Supreme Decision

Do I have a Right?

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Classroom Games

Supreme Decision: will introduce students to the process of judicial reasoning and allow them to make decisions in the Supreme Court.

Supreme DecisionGame Demo

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Classroom Games

Do I Have A Right?: players will run a constitutional law firm and explore the Bill of Rights to give legal advice to their clients.

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Guardian of Law

Guardian of Law is a single player game designed for use outside of the classroom. The player takes on the role of Guardian who argues individual rights cases by litigants in a futuristic world.

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Moving Forward

We’re expanding! Challenge: how to make the project

sustainable for continued development Recently formed iCivics Inc, a 501(c)(3)

entity, as the operational home for Our Courts Charitable donation-based funding approach Pursuing distribution partnerships

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Getting Involved

To learn more about Our CourtsVisit www.ourcourts.org

Email us at jjc232@law.georgetown.edu

Call us at (202) 661-6527

To get involvedAlert school administrators, social studies coordinators, and teachers about the project

Join our mailing list