Civics Game Argument Wars and the Our Courts Learning Games

Our Courts was a web-based education project built on one idea: middle school students understand civics better when they do it than when they read about it. Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor conceived it because she worried that students lacked the information and tools for civic participation, and that civics teachers needed better materials and support. Three lead partners ran the initiative: Georgetown University Law Center, the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at Arizona State University, and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Three online games came out of it. Do I Have A Right? and Supreme Decision launched in August 2009, and Argument Wars followed in February 2010. Each one puts the player in a legal role and asks for reasoning, not recall.

In Argument Wars the player advances arguments and backs each one with supports. Points with the judge depend on how carefully the arguments and evidence are weighed, and a misstep by the opponent is the chance to pop their bubble. The first release offered five cases: New Jersey v. T.L.O., Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, Texas v. Johnson and Gideon v. Wainwright.

Supreme Decision is built around a fictional case modeled loosely on Tinker v. Des Moines. A student has been suspended for wearing a T-shirt with a favorite band's logo, against school policy. The player watches animated disagreements between pairs of justices and decides whether the shirt deserves the protection given to political speech. Cabengo also designed the identity and website of the whole project.

Do I Have A Right? turns the Bill of Rights into a business game. The firm starts obscure, takes on cases of varying validity and grows toward a distinguished reputation.

The ourcourts.org address now leads to a listing that offers the domain for sale, so the original project site is gone. The game that carried on is Argument Wars. The iCivics educator site has a page titled "Play Argument Wars", describing a Supreme Court simulation where students "Argue real Supreme Court cases, and put your lawyering skills to the test." It lists grade bands 6-8 and 9-12.

The case list has grown from five to nine. The page now names Bond v. United States, Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, In Re Gault, Miranda v. Arizona, New Jersey v. T.L.O., Snyder v. Phelps and Texas v. Johnson. iCivics describes itself as founded in 2009 by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Current pages for Do I Have A Right? and Supreme Decision are not confirmed here.