This semester, middle school students across the nation can learn about the judicial system using computer games on Our Courts, an interactive online civics-education project backed by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of Arizona.

Online computer games are the newest edition to the Web site, ourcourts.org, a Web-based teaching tool for middle school classrooms.

Students can interpret the law for themselves using games called “Supreme Decision” and “Do I Have a Right?” which both debuted on the site in August.

The project is the result of a two-year collaboration of professors and students at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, the ASU College of Teacher Education and Leadership and the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education, and the Sandra Day O’Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center.

Charles Calleros, a professor at ASU’s law school, said the educational games are meant to engage students in ways textbooks can’t while teaching them about judicial enforcement of their constitutional rights.

“It’s a very engaging way to teach,” Calleros said. “Students are thrown into a situation, so they develop the need to learn and move forward.”
The Web site has lesson plans about the Constitution and the different branches of government.

It also has links and information about state, federal and tribal governments, videos, information about Supreme Court Justices and a section about U.S. classrooms that are actively involved in civics projects.

But the Web site doesn’t only target students. Our Courts also has a section for teachers, which contains resources and lesson plans about various civics topics including the Constitution and the branches of government.

“Justice O’Connor wants to increase the population’s knowledge of how the courts work and function, partly so that students understand the importance of judicial independence,” Calleros said. “Making that widely and freely accessible is the goal.”

Executive Director of Our Courts and iCivics Inc. Abigail Taylor said the project was created out of the Conference on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown University in 2006, which was chaired by O’Connor and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The partners realized that civics education is often lacking in classrooms around the country, which leads to poor understanding of the roles and function of the judicial system, Taylor said.

Georgetown Law collaborated with several schools at ASU to begin researching engaging ways to teach young students.

“We thought we could create resources that were fun and engaging for kids,” Taylor said. “Online gaming was found to be a great way to do that.”

Since the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act passed, teachers’ emphasis has been on reading, writing, science and math, said Nancy Haas, the former director of the Center for Civics Education and Leadership at the College of Teacher Education and Leadership.

The amount of time educators spend teaching civics and social studies was cut in order to meet testing requirements in the other areas.

“Our Courts games are not just games to kill time,” Haas said. “We have thought very carefully about the concepts we want students to learn.”

Elizabeth Hinde, an assistant professor at ASU’s College of Teacher Education and Leadership said that students and teachers across the nation are responding positively to Our Courts.

“It’s a fun way to deliver lessons, and it addresses various academic standards,” Hinde said. “This is a very dynamic way for students to learn.”

Reach the reporter at daniel.baxley@asu.edu.