Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Consequences

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students identify and describe what consequences are and how they affect others. Then they play the "Kids' Court" game as a class as outlined in the activity. Students also identify how consequences and their actions are linked using...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hodgson v. Minnesota

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the role of and develop opinions of the court in weighing competing interests in making decisions. They examine the power of the courts and legislature to regulate constitutional rights.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Role Playing Free Speech

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students conduct research into looking at a free-speech issue. They role play the events surrounding a court case. The lesson includes guiding questions to help create context and determine areas of further study. The presentation...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design for Social Justice

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a solution to a social justice problem within their community. In this urban planning lesson, students read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. Students then complete a research...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mediation/Conciliation

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders discuss the court system in Japan, and assume roles of family members and friends of air crash victims. They discuss whether they would file suit against airlines, compare methods of achieving justice in United States and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Juvenile Justice-Disposition

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore the dispositional hearing as a part of the juvenile justice system. After a brief discussion of the parts of the disposition hearing, students work in groups to review case studies involving juveniles in Utah's justice...
Lesson Plan
State Bar of Texas

Hernandez v. Texas

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What if the jury is not made up of people from your ethnicity or background—are they still considered your peers? Scholars analyze the impact the Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas had on jury selection across the nation. Paired...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Court System Scavenger Hunt

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers are assign a particular Federal or State Court. They are asked to make a poster of the court they have been assigned. Students are told that the poster should include a list of the types of cases that particular court...
Lesson Plan
Utah State Courts

Judges in the Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Class members explore the process of a disposition hearing for juveniles, particularly looking at how the judge decides what sentence the juvenile offender should receive. Task your pupils with evaluating different sample cases provided...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Youth Criminal Justice Act

For Teachers 3rd - 10th
Young scholars review the Youth Criminal Justice Act and examine the consequences for young people who commit crimes. They investigate the rehabilitation and reintegration processes associated with the act.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Death Penalty

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine how people are punished in the American justice system. In groups, they identify the four different theories of punishment and how it is used in the justice system. They use the internet to read arguments for and against...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Public Trust and Confidence

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Learners analyze the judiciary system.  In this government lesson, students participate in a class discussion on methods to prevent unfairness in the Judicial courts.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building a Model Courtroom

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students construct a model of the Supreme Court's courtroom. They design the courtroom in such a way so that the architecture and furnishings in the courtroom represent the neutrality and power of the court.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mock Trial

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars rewrite a traditional fairy tale to represent the viewpoint of the villain. They participate in a mock trial of that villain in which all regular court participants (judge, jury, defendant, witnesses, plaintiff, etc) play...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deadlock on Verdict

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read a text about a murder trial. They review related vocabulary, complete a matching exercise and take a quiz. Afterward, they play a game called 'alibi' where the group with the weakest alibi is found guilty.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Equal Rights for Men?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Study the issue of gender bias in court cases with a resource that ponders the extent of gender equality. Learners examine cultural images of men and women and examine court cases dealing issues such as women in the military.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Accountability for Their Crimes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students participate in a round-table discussion about the juvenile justice system and investigate the 'age of accountability' debate. They write a persuasive essay supporting or refuting the punishment received by the children discussed...
Lesson Plan
Deliberating in a Democracy

Crime and Punishment

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Should the United States ban the death penalty? Scholars use real-life examples of criminal activity to come to their own conclusions on the death penalty. Primary source documents, as well as video clips, open the issue of capital...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a series of drawings to show the process of how the Supreme Court does its work. The drawings may be in strip cartoon form or a series of separate illustrations.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Michigan Judicial System Conclusion

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students identify the courts that make up Michigan's judicial system. They state the responsibilities of each court and diagram a flow chart of how a case moves to the Michigan Supreme Court. They participate in a quiz about the current...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Cultural Defense to Crime?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students define a "defense to a crime" and identify various defenses to crimes in Utah. They examine "cultural defense" and apply it to case studies.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Claim Your Jurisdiction Game: Getting Ready For Moot Court

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students explore the levels of the judicial system and the differences between the federal and state systems.
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Curated OER

Seeing the Courtroom and Legal System Through the Eyes of a Child

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students understand that law is a tool that provides for the protection of our individual rights and at the same time makes it possible for groups to live together.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Jury System

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students analyze Article III and the Seventh Amendment. In this US Justice lesson, students research the US jury system and complete a Student Jury questionnaire. Students will discuss the impact the implementation of the Jury System had...