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 were to: 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 become part of established classroom-related curriculum nationally and will be used in homes to fill the 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!
To date, there have been over 10M+ youtube views on Nickelodeon channels, and over 123K engaged educators and 70K educator visits to iCivics.org/wellversed. In addtion, the launch event of the Well Versed video series with FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden and former first lady Laura Bush, was covered and mentioned in more than 480 media outlets that have a combined audience reach of more than 700 million readers and viewers.
