African American History Month

Reviewing a Supreme Court Case

Web quest

By Tom Sullivan

Sully303@aol.com

 

 

Introduction

Congratulations!  You’ve just been hired (along with 3 other co-teachers in your group) to teach an important Social Studies Lesson to a 6th grade class.

 

 

During African American History Month you will make a presentation about an important Supreme Court Case that impacted the African American community.   You will teach about  Dred Scott v Sanford.  Of course, like all good teachers, research and planning are very important to you.  Of course, you will be evaluated on your teaching performance, but don’t be nervous. 

You have a great group of students!

 

 

Task

I.

Your group will study the essential facts of the Dred Scott case using CompuLEGAL; you will also study other websites for background information about your case, and along the way you will complete some mini assessment activities. 

 

II.

Your group will create a brief digital presentation for a 6th grade class where you will present the essentials about the case and why it is important in African American History.   Your lesson will be evaluated according to the rubric listed below. 

 

 

Process
  1. Our class will be divided into groups of 4.  Your group will work to become informed about the case of  Dred Scott v Sanford.

 

 

  1. In order for you to become familiar with CompuLEGAL, I will conduct a presentation to the class about how to research an unrelated case.

 

 

  1. One way you will study the Dred Scott case is by completing some activities on CompuLEGAL about the case.  We will share these findings with each other in a class discussion. Your group will be checked off as it completes various CompuLEGAL activities for its case.

 

(a)  First, you will review the facts of the case.  Every member needs to be up to speed, because one randomly selected member of the group will be quizzed in class on his/her understanding of these facts for a group grade. The Facts of the Case.

 

(b) Next, your group will study the visual.  Be prepared to answer questions about each frame in  the Visual.   Again, anyone in your group could be called on to represent the group in this mini-assessment.   

 

(c) When studying this case it is important to study the Missouri Compromises. Consult the following link (or find one that you like better), and be prepared to explain how the Missouri Compromise relates to this case.    

 

(d) Parts of the Constitution/Bill of Rights are related to this case.  We will examine the U.S. Constitution - Article IV to understand those connections.

 

e)We will complete the CompuLEGAL reasoning page about this case.

 

e)      Finally we will read about the  decision in this case. And we will read about a later famous case Brown vs. Board of Education which completely changed the law.  

 

4.      Then we will set out on some additional internet research regarding background knowledge on the case.   We will examine different texts and links relating to the case and take notes in order to answer the following questions.  We will find answers to the following questions before moving on. 

 

a)      When did this case occur?

b)      What facts about African American life in the USA do we need to know about the time period of our case?

c)      What are some major differences between then and now?

d)      What are some similarities?

e)      What did you learn in your research that you didn’t know before? What’s important about that?

 

  1. In the final phase of our project you will prepare your Power Point presentation to the class.   Remember that the students you will be teaching may have very limited knowledge of this case.   Below you will find the criteria on which your presentation will be judged.  

                                                               i.            Does the presentation contain at least between 5 and 10 Power Point slides?

                                                             ii.            Is the presentation between 4 and 6 minutes?

                                                            iii.            Does the presentation explain what the Dred Scott case was about?

                                                           iv.            Does the presentation explain the outcome of that case?

                                                             v.            Does the presentation explain what has changed in the law since the decision was made?

                                                           vi.            Does the presenter explain how this case connects to African American History Month?

 

 

Resources:

compulegal home page

good link on Dred Scott case

good link #2 on Dred Scott case

compulegal visual about Dred Scott case

easy to read discussion about the DECISION the Dred Scott case

useful BIOGRAPHY about Dred Scott

description of the MISSIOURI COMPROMISE

another useful description of the MISSOURI COMPROMISE

 

 

Evaluation:

 

Research Phase

Strong Yes

5 points

 

Sort of

3 points

Not really

1 point

 

 

 

 

Randomly selected members of a given group can articulate “The Facts” and explain a particular frame of the visual.