Using Conceptual Tensions and Supreme Court Cases to Increase Critical Thinking in Government and Civics Classrooms

Autor/inn/en	Magwood, Ayo; Ferraro, Krista Fantin
Titel	Using Conceptual Tensions and Supreme Court Cases to Increase Critical Thinking in Government and Civics Classrooms
Quelle	In: Social Education, 77 (2013) 4, S.206-210 (5 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0037-7724
Schlagwörter	Court Litigation; Critical Thinking; Thinking Skills; Social Studies; Teaching Methods; Case Studies; Web Sites; Privacy; Males; Student Attitudes; Sexual Abuse; Civil Rights; Civics; High School Students; Lesson Plans + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rechtsstreit; Kritisches Denken; Denkfähigkeit; Gemeinschaftskunde; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Web-Design; Privatsphäre; Male; Männliches Geschlecht; Schülerverhalten; Sexueller Missbrauch; Bürgerrechte; Grundrechte; Zivilrecht; Staatsbürgerkunde; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Lesson planning; Unterrichtsplanung
Abstract	Each week, U.S. government classes at the authors' school eagerly organize and participate in moot courts. When they began a search for a Supreme Court case study on substantive due process, they found that the only appropriate brief on the StreetLaw website--a treasure trove of student-accessible court case summaries--"Lawrence v. Texas" (2003), was a case on anti-sodomy laws. Ayo Magwood cautiously explained the situation to her class of mostly teenage boys, expecting an uproar and potentially insensitive complaints. Instead, there was a moment of silence. Brian, a quiet teenage father who rarely says a word in class, suddenly piped up from the corner of the room, "That's okay, it's not about gay sex. It's about privacy." And indeed it was. In the following moot court, a roomful of teenagers passionately and maturely wrestled with the tension between protecting individual privacy rights, on the one hand, and protecting a perceived "common good of family values" on the other. The authors have found that activities like the moot courts encourage students to investigate government concepts in a rigorous way. These activities revitalize the classroom and foster a love for political thinking among the students. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10