WEBQUEST
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.
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?
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
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.
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/
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.
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.