Washington DC -- February 25, 2009
Our Courts released a new website, ourcourts.org, with various features for middle school teachers and students. The project is the vision of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to offer an online, interactive program to engage youth in civics.
Ourcourts.org will feature a Curriculum Builder tool for teachers; relevant lesson plans by topic; a message board for students to exchange ideas with Justice O’Connor; and section showcasing middle school student community projects.
Curriculum Builder allows teachers to search premier lesson plans by topic, state, and grade. Our Courts’ education professionals have vetted all materials to meet or exceed social studies standards. Each section of the site also contains quick activities which teachers can use to add depth to the website content.
The website’s Talk to the Justice message board will feature a monthly topic of interest for students to post thoughts about and to which Justice O’Connor will regularly respond. This month’s topic is about what President Obama should consider if he gets to nominate someone to the Supreme Court.
The Civics in Action section will promote a monthly student service or community project.
In addition to the current website resources, Our Courts will release two interactive civics games this summer. These fun, animated games will challenge students explore their rights under the Constitution. The content will exceed state standards and be available free of cost on ourcourts.org.
The Our Courts website was designed and developed by Cabengo LLC, a New York City-based creative studio.
About Our Courts
Our Courts is the vision of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to create an interactive program designed to engage middle school students in civics. Our Courts is a free, interactive web-based curriculum developed in partnership with education, law, entertainment, and technology partners across the country. The project will release a series of online games for classroom and non-classroom use in 2009 and 2010. For more information, please visit www.ourcourts.org
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CONTACT
Jeff Curley
(202) 661-6527
jjc232@law.georgetown.edu
