The Redistricting Game provides a basic introduction to the redistricting system, allows players to explore the ways in which abuses can undermine the system, and provides information about reform initiatives – including a playable version of the Tanner Reform bill to demonstrate the ways that the system might be made more consistent with tenets of good governance. Beyond playing the game, the web site provides a wealth of information about redistricting in every state as well as providing hands-on opportunities for civic engagement and political action.
Civics Lessons
Grade Level: Grades 9-12
The Redistricting Game
People vs. Brunetti
Case developed for the 2002 Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament
Criminal Case-Murder
The Michigan Supreme Court
This unit includes ten lessons including a history of the Michigan Supreme Court, Procedures of the Court, and Civil Rights and the Michigan Supreme Court.
Texas v Johnson: Is There a Constitutional Right to Burn the American Flag?
This lesson explores Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 Supreme Court decision on flag burning. First, students read about and discuss Texas v. Johnson. Then in small groups, students role play aides to a U.S. senator on the Judiciary Committee. The committee is considering a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning flag burning, and the aides must make a recommendation on whether the
senator should support or oppose the proposed amendment.
People v Sam Seaside
Case developed for the 2014 Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament: Criminal Case
After interviewing the witnesses and conducting extensive forensic analysis, police arrested and charged Sam Seaside for the murder of Nicki Shore.
Jamie R. Killian v. R.A.G.E. Enterprises & Chris Schultz
Case developed for the 2001 Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament
Civil Case-Negligence, paint ball injury
This is Our Town Too: The Jury Process
In this lesson students learn about the process of voir dire and the use of peremptory challenges. Through the study of three actual Supreme Court cases, students gain background information for a classroom lesson.
Equal Justice Under Law
In this lesson, students explore the cause-and-effect relationships
between historical events and the development of constitutional
principles that protect the rights of all people in America today. In its first constitutional challenge to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme
Court decided to hear a case brought by a Chinese immigrant, not an American citizen.
Perdante v. Dalton Academy
Case developed for the 2013 Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament: Civil Case
The plaintiff, a member of an up-and-coming high-school mock-trial team, alleges that the defendant, a rival school, made defamatory statements about the plaintiff in the defendant’s online newspaper.
Moot Court : An Appellate Court Simulation People of the State of Michigan v Booker T. Hudson, Jr.
Students learn about the Michigan Supreme Court, developing oral arguments about an actual case examining Fourth Amendment rights related to search and seizure,