Creator: PBS | visit site
Grade Range: 8 - 11
Although this site is no longer maintained, most links are working. As a supplement to their series on The Supreme Court, PBS has prepared nine interactive modules on various aspects of the high court. Although they are called "games" most are simply interactive lessons on topics including a quiz on the constitution, information on the symbols used by the court to illustrate its importance to the US system of government, civil rights rulings, specific justices of note, and landmark cases. For reasons not immediately apparent, one of the interactives requires registration with an email address and password. Rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes.<a href="/whats-hot/policy-tips.cfm#8"> Here is a blog post </a> that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. There are also links to educator resources and lesson plans.
In the Classroom
These lessons would be useful on an interactive whiteboard or projector along with a unit on the Supreme Court or the US judicial system. Students might also use them to to extend or enrich the topic on their own time, or when they have completed other classwork. They are well researched and informative, however, most students won’t view them as "games" as they are labeled. Have cooperative learning groups investigate one specific topic and share their discoveries with the class. Challenge students to create a video using Powtoon, <a href="/single.cfm?id=13954">reviewed here</a>,rnand it share using a site such as SchoolTube, <a href="/single.cfm?id=9437">reviewed here</a>.
At Home
Your son or daughter may want to extend or enrich their knowledge of the Supreme Court on their own time. Most students won’t view activities as "games" as the site has them labeled, but they may find the interactive lessons engaging. This site is a great resource when your student is researching the Supreme Court of the US judicial system.
Tags
supreme court, constitution, civil rights,