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Judicial Appointments and Price Ceilings in “The 6”

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Civic Mirror

Engagement in the Social Studies at Lord Tweedsmuir

Here are two stories coming out of a simulated country called “The 6″… Run by 11th Grade social studies students from Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary in Surrey, BC.

National Judge Appointment in The 6:

Tweeds1Brennan Z appointed to National Court Judge in The 6. Balance man, balance… Sorry to hear Betty is stepping down as she was crucial to maintaining order in the nation. Thank you for your service.  

~

Controversial legislation in The 6:

Tweeds2In yesterday’s 2001 legislation session, The 6’s government under the leadership of PM Kalev made a hard left turn to socialism by setting price limits on security ($300 Max), and a limit on food unit consumption. Could this be an insight into hidden agendas? Only time will tell…

~

Submitted by Mr. Derek Fournier, Social Studies Department Head @ Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary

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General Brock Elementary Elect New CM Prime Minister

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Brock_ElemThe Grade 6/7 students of Brittany Reid’s class at Brock Elementary in Vancouver, B.C. elected a new Prime Minister of their country, Mordoria.

The new Prime Minister of Mordoria goes by the name of Jordan Anderson, of the Mordorian Equality Party. The support for this new Prime Minister is widespread. Mordoria is doing great currently, and hopefully it will continue to improve under the rule of Jordan Anderson and the M.E. Party.

– Written by Charlie Vogt

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Intense Auction in Vancouver, BC

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Yes, Civic Mirror Does Make Social Studies This Awesome

Here’s a quick clip of Craig Brummwell, an award-winning history teacher from Kitsilano Secondary in Vancouver, BC, running his student’s property auction, as Tweeted by @_chriswong:

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The Making of Almston

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Student Recounts How Her Social Studies Classroom Became a Nation

Hannah Blackmore, an 11th Grade Student at Panorama Ridge Secondary, tells the story… 

Almston_CountryWe have established our government. There is five seats in the House of Commons. There was three parties who ran. Kirat, Catherine and Nicole were one party. Harpreet and Faraaz were one party. Pavanpal was an independent party.

We had a Questioning Period where the citizens could ask their questions to each party to get an idea of who they are going to vote for. Then, we had to get a Chief Elections Officer. Five people volunteered to be Chief Elections OfficerThe Chief Election Officer is Husberry. After the Questioning Period, the candidates had one last chance to make their statement on why the citizens should vote them in.

Then, the citizens got to vote on who they wanted for government.It was a very close. Harpreet is the Prime Minister and Faraaz in his party. Kirat joined their party and got out of the opposition party Catherine is the opposition party. Pavanpal is the speaker and is in the Government. There was 6 bills passed in our country’s House of Commons.

~ Hanna Blackmore, Gr.11 student @ Panorama Ridge Secondary.

Posted in From the CM Trenches, Student Reflections | 1 Comment

Winterset Jr. High’s Civic Mirror Story Published on Edutopia

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Civic Mirror

“Teens Create Their Own Nation“

Winterset2

A year ago, Mr. Jim Heithoff and his middle school students from a small town in Iowa made the Civic Mirror blog as “newbies,” and now, one year later, their story was published on one of the education-world’s most-read websites, Edutopia… and it ran!

Winterset1If you are at all interested in student-led learning or how Civic Mirror transforms classrooms by turning them into countries and students into citizens, you must read their published story, Teens Create Their Own Nations. It showcases just how much students learn about the real world by participating in our social studies simulation, how much intrigue and engagement it provides, and how much life-experience students gain in the process.

We’ll end with this student quote from the article:

“Everyone has different beliefs, but treating citizens like children that can’t make a simple decision is not the way to work towards a compromise. Citizens should be able to earn their money and distribute their goods without restraint from the government.” – Lori T

 

 

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Prime Minister or Puppet?

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Terrabithia’s PM Under Harsh Scrutiny in CM Videocast

harkeeratThis student-created videocast does not hold back any punches in its opinion of Prime Minister Harkeerat of Terrabithia, the simulated country created by 11th Grade students from Panorama Ridge Secondary, in Surrey BC.

The producer of the video, Sukhmanjit Ghatorha, who also happens to be the National Judge of the country, said in his video submission, “Our PM is just chilling in the House of Commons.”  The videocast offers its opinions as to why this is wrong, and suggests PM Harkeerat is nothing more than a puppet leader.  Is he?

We’ll let viewers decide whether or not this acceptable conduct for a leader to display in the CM Government Event. Should citizens expect more from their leaders? Or are leaders allowed to be laid-back if they want to be?

Produced and submitted by Sukhmanjit Ghatorha, Gr.11 Student @ Panorama Ridge Secondary School.

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Truth & Reconciliation ~ A Post-Crisis Revolution

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Civic Mirror

CM News from Shawnigan Lake School

Shawnigan LakeAfter a terrible revolution destroyed the education hex and cost the lives of 3 civilians, factions in MPRGainz have agreed to a peaceful transition to democratic society, also known as democratization.

Elections will be held shortly to elect a new government. Hope was maintained thanks to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission that called for forgiveness and understanding. Unfortunately, those that have lost loved ones found that justice needed to be served.

*     *     *

Thanks to Mr. Paul Klassen, Social Studies Educator @  Shawnigan Lake School for the story.

Posted in From the CM Trenches | 1 Comment

Jacque Singham Named Supreme Court Justice

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Breaking News from Boston College High School

Boston College HS

Jacque Singham was made the Supreme Court Justice of the Republic of Vendette today, a simulated country from Boston College High School, led by Mr. Eric Gartside.

JacqueThe announcement happened just after President Ryan’s State of the Nationa address. Justice Singham says he plans to take the side of the government, demand that evidence presented in court is more solid than mere witness reports, and ensure that everyone is given an equal trial.

Only time will tell what this new development will bring.

Reporting,

Martin Brunswick.

Posted in From the CM Trenches | 2 Comments

Broadcast News and Other New Features in CM 2.5.1

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Civic Mirror

Logo 3 JPEGThe Fourth Estate a Reality: Students Able to Broadcast Stories to the World

The plot-lines, debates, and discussions that we observe within civicmirror.com are absolutely incredible. In-class walk-outs, impeachments of student Presidents & Prime Ministers, business deals gone bad, fascists coup d’etat, and pleas to save family members are just some example. Students, unfortunately, have had no way of sharing these stories with friends, family, and anyone else interested in learning about their simulated experience. Now they do.

Placed into the CM web interface, users will now see a “Broadcast Your Story” banner on every page.

Logo 1 CM News Sept 5 (1)

When they click this, they will be taken to an article submission page where they will be able to either write an article about something happening in their country, OR submit a YouTube URL if they have produced a Videocast of some nature.

Once they compose and submit their piece, the Civic Mirror publishing team will review it for appropriateness, and then publish it on this blog — like right here — for the whole world to see. The stories will also feed into a “newsreel” that we added into the web-interface for everyone within the CM Community to see.  Students now have the ability to become journalists who can break a story, editorialize in order to put pressure on their political leaders, or just simply share and showcase.

Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 7.10.43 AM

Admin Security Features

The stakes in Civic Mirror are fun as well as intense. So much so that every once in a while we receive reports of students sneaking into another user’s account to discover important in-game information, to steal $$ or economic units, and other such things. To help our users protect from these instances, we added a safety feature that requires users to re-enter their password for things like money and points, Hidden Agendas, as well as a variety of teacher-admin features. While there are thieves in the real world, and while

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Showcasing Blackrock: the Top Country in 2014/15

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Civic Mirror

10th Grade Students Earn Highest Ranking of 7.5

Blackrock_FlagWhen we released CM Country Rankings last winter, a whole new dynamic was added to Civic Mirror: students could see how good or bad the results of their collective efforts were. Just like the U.N. Human Development Index does for countries in the real world, a social studies class playing Civic Mirror can see how well their country is doing compared to other classes across the world. And while classes of students can always create their own mini-competitions with CM Tournaments, the CM Team likes to keep tabs on what countries are doing the best (and worst) overall.

We are happy to announce that Blackrock, a 10th Grade Civics class from Oakville Trafalgar High School in Oakville, Ontario earned the highest ranking in CM World in 2014/15 with a 7.5/10!!!

Criteria for Consideration

In order for countries to be considered eligible for the Country of the Year Competition, they must have met the following two criteria:

  • Completed at least 1 simulated year
  • Their instructor cannot have modified the simulated scenario enough to lower its “Authenticity Score” below an 8/10 (see inside civicmirror.com for details).

Michael_FraserHow Did Blackrock Do It?

Led by their stellar teacher, Mr. Michael Fraser, Blackrock’s score of 7.5 country was hard earned. In a 10-week course, he was able to navigate his students through 3 simulated years, giving them enough time to develop their economy to the point that they did well on several metrics… Notably the Mortality Rate in which they scored 10/10 for there not being a single CM Family death in their final year.

Let’s take a look at their breakdown:

Blackrock_Score

Blackrock’s population was 178, which means that the class size was relatively small at around 22-24 students. This helps scores on some metrics (e.g. equality), and makes scoring well on others more difficult (e.g. GDP).

As mentioned, you can see their mortality score is 10/10 which hugely helped their overall score.

Their Literacy rate was 7.1% and their Health Care Access rate was 5.8. These are indicative of a developing country on the verge of becoming developed.

Their equality score is quite good at 8.7/10, which measures the standard deviations of housing standards, material wealth, and overall well-being.

Their Well-Being and GDP scores were 6/10, also indicative of a developing economy on its way up, but its Security score (which measures citizen access to police and protection services) was only 5/10.

Lastly, it’s Environment score was 8.5/10, which indicates that they did develop some of their Wilderness hexes in order to develop the economy, but not at a reckless rate. The blue checkmark shows that their simulated scenario was left “Authentic” and 10/10 (some teachers like to change the scenario for a variety of purposes, but this can give their countries unfair playing advantages).

Highlights from Blackrock

This is Blackrock’s national animal, a Liger. Maybe its magic skills helped the country out!?

Liger

This was one of their more interesting discussion forum posts:

Eviction_lawyer

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