Learn More - History of The Civic Mirror

The Civic Mirror was created by Regan Ross, a teacher with 9 years experience who was recently recognized by the Prime Minister of Canada for excellence in teaching, and the founder of Action-Ed.

The origins of The Civic Mirror started years ago when Regan wanted his inner-city high school students to be excited about their social studies course. He naively thought, “Hey, I’ll just turn my classroom into a country and my students into citizens. For two years, Regan and another teacher worked to create and run ˜The Game (as it was called) in their classrooms. It was clunky, the rules didn't work that well, and it resulted in too many late nights at work. But the kids loved it! Attendance was sky high, interested peaked, and their students really started caring about government, economics, and citizenship. Alas, after two years of hard work, they dropped the project.

A year later, Regan and his wife left home to teach abroad at Seoul International School, one of South Koreas most prestigious schools. Regan was hired to teach Gr.12 U.S. Government & Economics and, after struggling with the boredom of teaching without The Game for a year, he decided to give it another go. For six months Regan spent nights and weekends redesigning, remodelling, and overhauling the simulation. It paid off. And by the time classes started in his first year at Seoul International, the first version of The Civic Mirror was ready for action.

Regan ran The Civic Mirror for two years at Seoul International with six U.S. Gov/Econ classes with huge success. Again, student attendance and interest was sky high and some of his students confessed to borderline addictions to their Civic Mirror course. After enough friends, colleagues, and students suggested it, Regan decided to properly develop it so other educators could use the program. Upon his return to Vancouver in 2006, Regan got started web-developing The Civic Mirror in a way that would not only retain the in-class magic, but enhance it.

By 2008, the web-developed BETA version of The Civic Mirror was piloted by 25+ educators in the United States, Canada, and abroad, being used in middle school, high school, and college classrooms. The reported successes and learning dividends have been incredible! They have compelled Regan to keep moving forward with The Civic Mirror, and to bring it to as many classrooms as possible.