What is the Courts in the Classroom Project?
The Courts in the Classroom is a Web-based project intended to team up educators and the courts to teach California’s youth about the role of the judicial branch in American democracy.  Using Web-based technologies, the project provides age-appropriate materials that can be used by:

1. Educators to introduce basic concepts about constitutional democracy and the role of the third branch of government to students in a user-friendly format that is appealing to youth
2. Students who are researching civics-related material for school or working independently to understand the foundational institutions of American democracy
3. Judges and other court professionals for conducting outreach in the community, especially with youth, that focusing on the underlying principles of the court system and the constitutional balance of power. 

The project uses graphics, interactivity, and youth-oriented, sequential storylines (most of which are based on actual court cases) to attract youth to the site and hold their attention once they arrive.  The stories and activities are grouped together into topic modules, such as protesting or privacy. The topic modules are entirely self-contained, encouraging kids to explore on their own. 

At the same time, they can be “stacked” together, allowing a teacher to tailor the content to fit his or her lesson plan objectives. A teacher might assign, for example, several modules covering aspects of the First Amendment as an introduction to more in-depth discussions to take place in class.  In this way, the site provides a fun way to learn the basics but also ensures that everyone has the same information at the initiation of a lesson plan. 

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