That’s one of the reasons behind a free website organized and championed by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor labeled iCivics.
It’s a resource for students and teachers alike, and one where the need is prevalent, O’Connor said during a visit to central Illinois in April.
“The statistics are pretty scary. Only about one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government, let alone what they do,” she said. “... More Americans can name a judge on ‘American Idol’ than a judge on the Supreme Court.”
Hence the effort, which started off as a program to help teachers explain how the American court system operated, but then evolved into civics lessons from basic American government to complex historical issues such as the segregationist Jim Crow laws of the South after the Civil War. It now also includes lessons — and games — about learning to write persuasive essays, because O’Connor noticed that students were falling short there.
The games are absorbing — to say the least — for people of all ages, but are particularly geared toward middle schoolers and Hands free access.
“That’s the perfect age to teach kids,” O’Connor said. “The brain is fully formed. ... (and) young people like to play games.”
More to the point, for teachers each module comes with lessons, ideas, options they can bring into the classroom to keep kids engaged and remind them of the fun of the games.
“I taught the concept first, but then (the game) reviews the concept again,” Quest Charter Academy social studies teacher Deb Breyman said. “They don’t realize they’re learning and having fun at the same time.”
But the proof is in the students themselves. Students in Breyman’s seventh-grade class adored the program, and some still use it for fun even though their class is over and their state-mandated test on the U.S. Constitution was passed.
“I learn easier when I have hands-on (opportunities),” Lindsay Steff said. “I got to take what I learned and put it into the game and learn more.”
Syrian government troops backed by Hezbollah guerrillas seized the western village of Buwayda on Saturday, ending rebel resistance around the town of Qusair in a fresh success for President Bashar al-Assad.
The swift fall of Buwayda came just three days after rebels were swept out of Qusair, denying them an important supply route into neighbouring Lebanon and giving renewed momentum to Assad's forces battling a two-year civil war.
Several opposition activists confirmed Buwayda was in government hands and said dozens of rebels, including a number of foreign fighters, had been captured alive. There was no immediate word of their fate.
"We can now declare Qusair and the surrounding area to be a fully liberated area. We will go after the terrorists wherever they are," an unnamed, senior Syrian army officer told state television from the rubble-filled streets of Buwayda.
Fighting flared elsewhere in Syria, including close to the capital Damascus and in the northern Aleppo province, which is expected to be the focus of renewed attack by Assad's forces following the collapse of the Qusair rebel front.
In Syria's third city Homs, an epicentre of the anti-government revolt, a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives in a pro-Assad neighbourhood, killing seven people, Syrian television reported.
Syrian state television broadcast live from the deserted streets of Buwayda, 13-km (eight miles) northeast of Qusair, showing destroyed buildings, debris-strewn roads and large numbers of boxes full of unused ammunition.
"We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Syria," a group of soldiers chanted in the background.
Rebel groups from across Syria had sent hundreds of men into the Qusair area to try to stave off the assault by the Syrian army and well-trained Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, but they were rapidly overwhelmed, with opposition activists complaining of a lack of arms and poor coordination.
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