Civics education, like math and reading, needs to start early, with content that is age appropriate and
relevant. Inspired by past generation’s use of the iconic series Schoolhouse Rock, a unique team of
creators and curriculum experts developed a national initiative. Well Versed is a fun, educational new
way to introduce fundamental concepts about American democracy to kids and youth ages 3-11. The
goals are: 1) Create highly appealing short-form media to teach children about how the government
works, and the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen. 2) Combine mass media distribution from
Nickelodeon and ATTN with the expertise of the leading civics education organization in the US. so
The videos will become part of established classroom-related curriculum nationally and be used in
homes to help address the enormous gaps in civic literacy today.
Well Versed, is an animated musical short-form series that teaches kids about democracy and the
U.S. Bill of Rights through original pop songs. With a curriculum guided by iCivics, the nation’s
premiere non-profit civic education provider for students, parents and teachers, the series of 12
music videos are being distributed across Nickelodeon platforms, Paramount+ and Noggin, Kids can
understand what the government does, why it exists, and jam out along the way.
Told from a kid point of view, Well Versed centers on an animated group of diverse friends who
introduce and musically explain a range of civics topics and concepts. With topics spanning the U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights, to government functions and laws, the 12 music videos feature eight
sing-along videos designed for kids 6-11 and four specially created for preschoolers 3-5.
Traditionally, civics education has not been an exciting subject for children and youth. That said, a solid
foundation formed at this young age is key to good citizenship later in life. Schoolhouse Rock! taught
generations to remember catchy lines about how a bill becomes a law, but without the understanding
of why that’s important, researchers found that kids were not applying knowledge learned in civic
participation. Meeting kids in a language and scenarios they understand, and writing music that they’d
want to put on themselves is imperative to reaching them and building a foundation for strong
citizenship. And connecting lessons that would be both embedded in established school curriculum,
that is also very engaging music for home and peer-to-peer use is imperative to promote enduring
results.
To achieve meaningful outcomes that will be studied over time, we partnered with the leading
non-profit organization in the field, iCivics to create lessons to bring to life via songs written by best in
class songwriters and delivered by youth themselves, mentored by the creative team from
Nickelodeon. Together we launched a series that’s not only highly engaging, but highly educational!
While the stats and news coverage outlined below is the hard data that we’ve seen on the success of the
series in three months, feedback from kids has been overwhelmingly positive. At the launch event which was
headlined by FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden, and Laura Bush, we saw kids dancing and singing along to the lessons.
In focus groups with kids in the key demos, we discussed the show animation style and music, but most indicative of the project’s success was that when quizzed about the lessons the kids watched, they showed a
deeper understanding of the material featured in each song.
The launch event of the Well Versed video series was covered and mentioned in more than 480
media outlets that have a combined audience reach of more than 700 million readers and viewers.
Media secured by iCivics and Nickelodeon teams included:
NPR:A big, new effort to teach children civics is about to be unveiled in Philadelphia
The Hill: Jill Biden helps launch animated sing-along civics series for Nickelodeon
Variety: Jill Biden Announces ‘Well-Versed,’ Nickelodeon and ATTN Animated Musical Series On
Civics Education
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Jill Biden will visit Philly on Friday to announce a new Nickelodeon show
The Boston Globe: Jill Biden, Laura Bush help unveil Nickelodeon short series to teach kids civics
NBC10: Jill Biden teams up with Nickelodeon to bring civics lessons to TV, Philly
Yahoo! Entertainment: Jill Biden Announces ‘Well-Versed,’ Nickelodeon and ATTN Animated Musical
Series On Civics Education
Reception stats of educational materials of February 7, 2024:
● 53,000 visits to the iCivics.org/wellversed educational materials, viewing guides to teach
around the videos
● 90,000+ educators have engaged with the educational materials
● 4M+ paid social media campaign impressions, 20K link clicks
● 3M+ views on Nickelodeon YouTube videos
