AUSTIN - For students at Fulmore Middle School in South Austin, it is a 21st century take on a 200-year-old document. It is called iCivics, a computer program designed to break educational barriers, created by the woman who broke a few of her own.
“Hello everybody,” said former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as she walked into the Fulmore Library. Students welcomed the former justice who came to talk about her interactive tool to help students learn civics.
O’Connor conceived the idea after learning nationwide, two out of three students tested poorly on civics tests.
O’Connor conceived the idea after learning nationwide, two out of three students tested poorly on civics tests.
“I've been working for some years now to put together the iCivics website,” said O’Connor to the crowd.
“It fills a void in that it brings a lot more motivation to it,” said teacher Johnny Galan. The sixth-grade teacher instructs the students how to use the program, then lets them learn at their own pace.
“It fills a void in that it brings a lot more motivation to it,” said teacher Johnny Galan. The sixth-grade teacher instructs the students how to use the program, then lets them learn at their own pace.
“This actually gives you the correct angle,” said eighth-grader Ross Murdoch. “Instead of just looking at them, you're looking at the people they're going to affect them.”
Playing games and solving problems, students answer their own constitutional questions and had time to ask Justice O’Connor a few as well.
O’Connor hopes this new teaching tool will inspire a new generation to become more involved in the democratic process and maybe break a few barriers of their own.
