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The Challenges Of Gaming For Democratic Education: The Case Of Icivics, Jeremy Stoddard, Angela M. Banks, Christine Nemacheck, Elizabeth Wenska

Democracy and Education

Video games are the most recent technological advancement to be viewed as an educational panacea and a force for democracy. However, this medium has particular affordances and constraints as a tool for democratic education in educational environments. This paper presents results from a study of the design and content of four iCivics games and their potential to meet the goals of democratic education. Specifically, we focus on the games as designed experiences, the nature and accuracy of the content, and the nature of intellectual engagement in the games. We find that the games, while easily accessible and aligned with standardized …