Date of Award
6-1-1985
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Center for Advancement of Education
Advisor
Dr. Joan Horn
Keywords
brainstorming, citizenship education, constitutional law, high school seniors, individual reports, introducing law, in-class reading assignments, justice, knowledge of law, law, law education unit, law enforcement, legal concepts, legal issues, legal process, legal responsibility, legal system, library assignments, metropolitan high school, mock trials, nature of law, small group discussions, sources of law, supreme court decisions, teacher lecture, understanding individual rights and obligations
Abstract
The author developed and implemented a Law Education Unit in a metropolitan high school setting to promote the knowledge of law and the legal system of 130 high school seniors. The unit’s sims were to enable the student to identify sources of law, to describe how our legal system work and how individual rights and obligations are interrelated, to describe the consequences to the individual and society of disobeying the law and the personal and social values of obeying it, to define legal concepts, and to identify important Supreme Court decisions.
The unit contained four basic components: introducing law, exploring the nature of law, examining legal issues, and understanding the legal process. Teaching methods utilized were teacher lecture, library assignments, small group discussions, mock trials, individual reports from students, in class reading assignments, brainstorming and films. The students surveyed at the conclusion of the unit commented favorably on the course, the unit will be implemented at the author’s school during the school year 1985-86.