The History Co:Lab - Revitalizing Civic Education Through The Power Of Creative Play
Now more than ever, civic education feels like serious business. When it comes to helping youth grapple with the complexities of a vibrant and resilient democracy, gameplay might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
But last November, The History Co:Lab and iThrive Games partnered with Educating for American Democracy's civic learning community of museum curators and education experts, A. Mayper Studios, and (most importantly) a group of incredible high school students to prove that gameplay is exactly what we need to lift civics out of dusty textbooks and into full color.
In a single afternoon, students investigated what a vital democracy should look like, identified solutions to challenges in current models of education, and developed a working prototype for a game that could turn complex concepts into relevant realities for high schoolers nationwide.
Here’s how design thinking and graphic facilitation made it all happen.
Drawing A Framework For Interactive Education
Tucked into a cozy room at the New York Historical Society, the afternoon kicked into gear with some framing exercises.
What values would an ideal democracy reflect? What principles should a civics lesson address?
From expansive ideas like inclusion and accessibility, to concrete systems like rank-choice voting, the students first unpacked what an ideal democracy looked like from their point of view.
What do students say, think, feel, and do in a current civics lesson? What should they?
An empathy-mapping exercise shaped a powerful insight: Successful education is about much more than imparting information. It’s about creating a safe space to test new perspectives in potentially charged conversations.
Scribed in real-time at the front of the room, visual notes from these opening exercises focused and stoked conversation. Just as importantly, they became the conceptual framework that would guide the rest of the afternoon.
Ideating A New Approach
What would connect students with civic concepts typically reserved for dry text books? How could democratic principles be brought to life in a classroom setting?
The students dived into these questions as they developed and pitched prototypes for two gamified civic lessons.
The first prototype was a simple deck of cards that would prompt players to think about abstract civic principles in personal ways. The second was framed as a scavenger hunt, using objects from a museum as tools to connect with history.
Only four hours earlier, the canvases lining the room were blank. Now, they were bursting at the seams with visual notes that attested to the power of creative play as a tool for engaging education.
Bringing The Game —And Civic Education —To Life
In the weeks following the workshop, iThrive Games and The History Co:Lab partnered with A. Mayper Studios to turn the students’ card game concept to life in a printed prototype. Epoch Explorers made its debut at the 2023 National Council for the Social Studies conference.
But the students walked away from the workshop with much more than the next big idea in civics education.
A roomful of education experts, museum curators, and civic leaders had engaged with them not as kids, but as peers. The adults asked for their insights in a critical education initiative, and they listened. A gallery of visual notes proved it.
These high schoolers left knowing that their civic voices mattered, and that they had better share them with the world.
Learn the full story behind this incredible design thinking workshop on the iThrive Games blog.
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