Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics in 2009 with a mission to reimagine civic education by combining key concepts and lessons with cutting-edge game-based learning pedagogy. In the years since, our studio has collaborated with the organization to create a suite of free online civics learning games – and today, 20+ games, dozens of awards and efficacy studies, and more than 100 million total plays later, there’s no doubt that iCivics has made a tremendous impact on the civics education landscape!
But that’s not all – in an effort to both encourage students and their families to remain engaged in civic learning over the summer and help empower young learners to make a difference in the world around them, iCivics has just introduced an all-new program which rewards players for playing games by contributing to real-world non-profit organizations.
Say hello to iCivics’ Impact Points Challenge! 🎉
(Image source: Giphy)
Here’s how it works – first, participants must create a free iCivics account. While much of iCivics’ content is available without logging in, creating an account lets users begin earning impact points as they play games – the key mechanism for participating in the challenge.
Next, it’s time to play some iCivics games! Users can select any of the 21 available titles, and begin earning impact points as they play. Of course, all the iCivics games come highly recommended – we developed most of them, after all! But for folks seeking suggestions, we’d recommend first checking out Argument Wars, Branches of Power, and Court Quest – three iCivics classics which we recently remastered with all-new visuals, gameplay mechanics, content, and accessibility features! But again, all games count towards earning points – so be sure to check out their full lineup of games, and select whichever ones are most appealing to you!
As you play through each game, you’ll begin accumulating impact points – the currency needed to fuel donations towards a rotating lineup of non-profit organizations. From June 10-26, folks can choose to donate their points to either Direct Relief, Partners in Health, or the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics – and based on the number of points assigned to each non-profit, iCivics will make prorated donations towards these organizations. New organizations across different sectors will be added every two weeks, with each user’s remaining impact points resetting during these periods as well – ensuring that users can keep playing iCivics games and contributing to new causes all summer long!
Made possible thanks to a sponsorship from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, iCivics’ long-time pro bono partner and collaborator on the challenge, the Impact Points Challenge is designed to help keep kids engaged in at-home civics learning all summer long. To learn more about the challenge and start making an impact, check out civics.org/impact.
Learn more about our longtime partner iCivics and their mission to reimagine civic education:
A Supreme Court Pioneer, Now Making Her Mark on Video Games (The New York Times)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s great idea for teaching civics to English-language learners (NBC News)
iCivics teaches kids about politics, not partisanship (VentureBeat)