WEBQUEST

BY LORI A. CALBERT

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

You are a high school student.  You are standing by your locker, just talking to your friends.  The principal sees you in the hallway and approaches you.  He smells smoke where you are standing.  You also act suspiciously.  He tells you to open your bag.  You ask him why and he says that he thinks you have cigarettes.   You tell him you don’t have any, but he wants to look anyway.  He searches your purse and finds marijuana.  He takes it away and then you are suspended.  You want to take the school to court because he said he was looking for cigarettes, not marijuana, so you should not be suspended due to marijuana possession.

 

 

TASK

 

1)      Research the “Search and Seizure” laws. First read the Fourth Amendment at http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentiv . Then read the Fourteenth Amendment at http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html .

 

2)      Discuss and write about how these laws effect your case, positively or negatively.

 

3)      Read about a similar case and compare it to your case at   https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/tlofacts.html and the visual at link https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/tlovis.html

 

4)      Discuss and write about how this case helps or hurts your case.

 

5)      Debate whether you have a case or not.

 

6)      Decide your course of action against the school.  Will you go to court? 

 

 

PROCESS

 

1)      Your teacher will divide you into groups of 3 or 4. 

 

2)      Go to WebQuest “Definition” page link at https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/crit3/calbertdef.html

 

3)      You will go to the WebQuest and click on the link to the description of search and seizure laws.  Click on this link for the Fourth Amendment:: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentiv  and click this link for the Fourteenth Amendment: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html .  The Fourteenth Amendment is an extension of the Fourth Amendment. Read about this history at link https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/crit3/calberthis.html

 

END OF FIRST DAY LESSON.

 

4)      You will discuss and write about how these laws strengthen or weaken your case.  Write down your team’s thoughts.  You should write the pros and cons in two separate columns.  One column on the left should have the pro’s or con’s of the situation and the one column on the right should show what part of the laws support your opinion.  The teacher will review this part of the lesson with you.

 

5)      Next, you will read about a similar case called New Jersey v. T.L.O.  Click on the link: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/tlofacts.html.  Read the facts of the case at link https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/tlo.html .

 

6)      Discuss how this case can be used to help or weaken your case on the same paper that you used to discuss how the law affects your case.  Discuss and write the pro’s and con’s that this case presents for your case in the same way that you discussed how the law strengthens or weakens your case. 

 

END OF SECOND DAY.

 

7)      Research other search and seizure cases at https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/sas.html .   Try to find one or two cases that you can use to win your case.  Discuss how you will use the case or cases to help you.

 

8)      The teacher will tell the groups when to join together again as a class to discuss whether you have a case or not.  The class will discuss the pro’s and con’s of trying to take this case to court.

 

9)      The class will decide if the case will go to court. Why or why not?  Write the explanation of your decision. 

 

END OF THIRD DAY LESSON.

 

 

Resources:

 

http://www.landmarkcases.org/newjersey/home.html

http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/objectID/DED24689-ADA8-4785-887A0B4A19A694DE

http://www.supremecourthistory.org/

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/

 

 

Evaluation

 

Students will be evaluated on their group responses to the following questions in a written format on a provided electronic worksheet at link https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/crit3/calbertws.html.  They will discuss their responses in a whole class session.

  1. What was the problem?
  2. Where was the evidence?
  3. What was the school’s existing policy?
  4. What was the Supreme Court’s decision?
  5. How do you feel about the Supreme Court’s decision?  Why? What would your policy be in such a case?  Explain.

 

 

Conclusion

 

            Students were given the opportunity to analyze a landmark case in our country.  They were able to study a particular case, the evidence, the school’s policy, and the Supreme Court’s policy.   They were also able to evaluate the outcome of the case, in terms of how they felt about the outcome from the Supreme Court decision and the type of outcome/policy that they would have implemented or would have thought was fair.