How Can We Better Understand the U.S. Constitution

–       The First Amendment and Religion

–       Jack J. Israel – Walton H.S.

Synopsis

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution bans the establishment of religion yet at the same times guarantees the free exercise of religion.  How is the U.S. constitution actually applied in real life? By completing this webquest students will have a better idea.  Students will be broken up into groups. They will read the first amendment, define the important terms using dictionary.com and discuss their meanings, complete various worksheets from http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/conlaw.html and then study  of "Engel v. Vitale (1962),” once again utilizing http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/conlaw.html. They will then present their work with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation that they as a group will produce. 

 

INTRODUCTION

“The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.” Remarked Supreme Court Judge Hugo Black in 1947. He continued “" That wall must be kept high and impregnable."  Through the years, the Supreme Court has had to address conflicts involving the interpretation of the First Amendment and where if any place does religion play in areas such as public education. One example would be senior year graduation, your class officers may want to offer a prayer of thanks to a Christian God is this a violation of the first amendment? Another would be the inclusion of a daily prayer in a public school.

 In 1951 in New York State, the Board of regents which supervises the educational system, composed a short prayer: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country." This prayer was composed in order to prepare students to develop the moral and spiritual stamina to defend the American way of life. The school system of New Hyde Park in New York (Vitale) made the prayer a daily requirement. The parents (Engel) of some of the students complained that the prayer was contrary to their religious beliefs and that the government should not be allowed to force the prayer on students. (http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/conlaw.html)  Each group will present a PowerPoint presentation based on their understanding of the constitutional implications of this case.

Task

 

After you go through the steps below (see Process), you will give a create a PowerPoint presentation that informs and persuades your peers about your view of the first amendment. In your presentation, you will, minimally, need to do the following: 1) Briefly explain the two clauses of the first amendment that deal with separation of church and state 2)  Indicate your initial opinions about statements concerning the religion clauses of the First Amendment by completing the worksheets provided by http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/conlaw.html  3) Discuss the possible interpretations of the amendment  4) Take a position for or against  a interpretation of the first amendment made in the Supreme Court case: "Engel v. Vitale (1962),”

 

PROCESS 

Students in each group will:

1. Read the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and briefly discuss it. They will then type it out and make the first page of their PP presentation. They will include at least two related graphics.

 

2.  The handout 1A, "Religion & the Constitution: What’s Your Opinion, " will be distributed to each group.  Teacher will explain that this is intended simply to find out and document their initial attitudes and understandings in regard to religion and the constitution. http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/Lessons/Rel/rel1ha.doc. Students will summarize their findings and use them to produce page two of their PP presentation. Once again they will be encouraged to use google.com to include appropriate graphics.

 

3. The handout 1B: RELIGION & THE CONSTITUTION will be distributed. Each group will use dictionary.com to define the following terms: a) establishment  b) law  c) prohibiting  d) free exercise e) impregnable. These definitions will be presented on side 3 of their PowerPoint presentation.

 

4. Each group will read the following from handout 1B: The First Amendment contains two clauses concerning religion: (1) the establishment clause and (2) the free exercise clause. Prior to the Constitution (1787) and the First Amendment (1791), some colonies, such as the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had no religious tolerance. The Massachusetts Colony had laws that would have violated the First Amendment. Which clause-- (1) establishment or (2) free exercise--would have been violated if the First Amendment had existed in the 1600’s in Massachusetts

 

5.  Each group will complete handout 1B. Each member of your group should be able to support their answers in way demonstrating understanding of the two First Amendment clauses concerning religion. The group will prepare their 4th and 5th PowerPoint slide providing answers to the questions posed in handout 1B with brief supporting statements.

6.  Now that your group has a basic understanding of the two clauses of the First Amendment concerning religion have them engage in the following activity to discuss the constitutional implications of Prayer in Public Schools using http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/Lessons/Rel/rel2.html which features exercises focusing on , "Engel v. Vitale (1962),".

The objectives of part 6 are as follows:

The students in your group will be able to:

  1. Determine the main arguments for and against school prayer that are contained in hypothetical letters to the editor.
  2. Discuss their opinions and reactions about the Court’s ruling in the school prayer case and put them into a paragraph to be included on a PowerPoint slide...
  3. Compare the school prayer and silent meditation decisions, discussing their opinions and summarizing them in a paragraph or two to be included in their PowerPoint presentation.
  4. The students will write their own letter in support or opposition of the Court’s ruling and present it using a PowerPoint slide.

7. Each group of students will write a speech on whether prayer should be allowed in public schools.  The speech will be presented at the conclusion of their PowerPoint presentation.

 

8. The students will use http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/instruct1.html to go through the case Engel v. Vitale. They will complete start with facts of the case and go through the entire site.

 

9. The students will discuss the follow-up questions and complete a PowerPoint slide based on their discussions.

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/engelfol.html

1. What if the Board of Regents allowed a "moment of silence" in which students could pray if they wanted to?

2. What if the prayer was initiated and led by students before each class?

10. The students will present their PowerPoint presentation to the class. At the end they will field question from the class.

Evaluation

 

Grade 93-100

·        Group demonstrated a complete and detailed understanding of the topic and task

·        Group successfully discussed similarities and differences in detail

·        Richly supported the task using relevant facts and examples

·        Members working agreeably with other group members

·        Group members clearly communicated desires, ideas, personal needs and feelings with other group members

·        Presented a PowerPoint presentation that demonstrated mastery of the technology

 

Grade  85-92

 

  • Demonstrated  a good understanding of the topic and task
  • Group Successfully discussed similarities and differences
  • Included relevant facts and examples to support opinions and perspectives
  • Members working agreeably with other group members
  • Group members clearly communicated desires, ideas, personal needs and feelings with other group members
  • Presented a PowerPoint presentation that demonstrated a basic mastery of the technology

 

 

Grade 75-85

 

  • Showed a satisfactory understanding of the topic and task
  • Completed most aspects of the task
  • Included some facts and examples to support opinions and perspectives but not in depth
  • Members working for the most part agreeably with other group members and feelings with other group members
  • Group members attempted with varying degrees of success to clearly communicated desires, ideas, personal needs and
  • Presented a PowerPoint presentation that demonstrated  some mastery of the technology

 

Grade 65-75

 

  • Showed some or basic understanding of the topic or task
  • Attempted to address task and provided some relevant information
  • Included some facts and examples
  • Members working somewhat agreeably with other group members
  • Group members attempted to clearly communicated desires, ideas, personal needs and
  • Presented a PowerPoint presentation that demonstrated a very basic mastery of the technology

 

 

Grade F

  • Did not address the topic or task
  • Included no relevant facts and examples
  • Could not produce a PowerPoint presentation of any kind

 

Materials:

Handout 1A: RELIGION & THE CONSTITUTION

Handout 1B: RELIGION & THE CONSTITUTION

Handouts: 2A, "Engel v. Vitale (1962)," 2B "Letters to a Newspaper Editorial Page from Students in 1962."

Handout 2B: RELIGION & THE CONSTITUTION

Resources

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/conlaw.html

http://dictionary.reference.com/

https://www.google.com/

http://www.fg-a.com/gifs.html  (graphics, flags…)

 

Standard 5:   Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.