Groundbreaking legislation is about to pass. An international incident is on the horizon. And then, a crisis shocks the nation and the world. The clock is ticking and the public wants answers about who's in charge.

 

iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis is a role-playing simulation game hosted on the iThrive Sim platform that invites high school students in civics, history, and social studies classes to find them.

CIVIC LEARNING POWERED BY PLAY

In iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis, students play as members of the president's Crisis Management Team, tasked with responding to complex challenges at home and abroad. To make high-stake decisions, students analyze data and reference primary source documents, exploring the 25th Amendment and the workings of the executive branch of the U.S. government as they collaborate to chart a path forward.

While students play through iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis, they flex and exercise core social and emotional skills as they weigh the pros and cons of decisions, manage competing priorities, and negotiate and compromise with their peers.

BRING ITHRIVE SIM: LEADING THROUGH CRISIS TO YOUR STUDENTS:

Register on the iThrive Sim platform.

Click the button below and complete the registration form on the iThrive Sim website. (Note: Clicking this button will take you to a new website.)

REGISTER FOR ITHRIVE SIM

Wait for a confirmation email.

After completing the registration form on the iThrive Sim website, you will receive an email from a member of the iThrive team confirming your registration.

Follow the steps on the Teacher Checklist.

Click the button below and follow the steps outlined in the Teacher Checklist. If you have any questions at any point, contact us at support@ithrivegames.org.

DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Time NeededLeading Through Crisis entails:

  • 45 minutes of teacher prep
  • 45 min. of optional pre-sim activities
  • 45 min. of optional between-episode activities
  • 60 minutes for the full simulation (split into two 30-min episodes)
  • 45 min. of optional post-sim lessons

Classroom SetupiThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis can be run in online, hybrid, or in-person learning environments.

If you are playing iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis in person, we recommend seating students in their session groups (see Student Roles section), facing each other so they can easily collaborate.

Learning StandardsiThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis was designed for grades 9-12 and written at an 8th grade reading level.

The simulation meets state content standards, national College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) standards, and social and emotional learning competencies. View them here.


There are six student roles in iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis, five of these roles must be filled in order to play the simulation (you can drop the Transportation role if necessary).
If more than six students will be participating, divide students into groups of five or six, and run a session for each group on the iThrive Sim teacher dashboard. 
Tech Specs
The gameplay of iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis happens on a web-based, device-agnostic platform and is available in any space with access to Wi-Fi and a 1:1 device such as a laptop or tablet.
iThrive Sim was designed to function within school firewalls. If your school has advanced firewalls, please contact your IT administrator to request access to the site.

Lesson Plans
To extend and deepen the iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis experience, we recommend these civic and social and emotional learning activities which can be used before and after the scenario:

iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis was developed in partnership with the Situation Room Experience.

iThrive Sim has been made possible in part by National Endowment for the Humanities CARES: Cultural Organizations (Education). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in iThrive Sim: Leading Through Crisis Web resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for Humanities.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.