From the Federal Judicial Center
This is an online 10-question quiz relating to other resources on the Federal Judicial Center site. The quiz tests students' knowledge about what civil courts do (see the FJC page here for a brief summary of the distinctions between a civil and criminal court).
When used as a culminating exercise either for general presentation or a presentation based on the FJC site (see the linked resource, What the Federal Courts Do), this quiz is a good way to conclude a talk on civil cases.
If this quiz is worked on online by students, an advantage of the online format is that the students are able to self-check their answers. The quiz format gives users the correct answers if they guessed wrong — before moving on to the next question. The corrected answers also provide students with a brief explanation of the correct response. Use of the quiz allows students to see what they actually retained from listening to a talk (or reading the FJC resources).
The exercise is also a helpful classroom tool, because if a student did not get much from a lecture or reading, the quiz would reinforce the most important information.
Caution:
The questions are quite sophisticated, but emerge out of the material elsewhere on the site, and serve, especially via the "check answers" component, to reinforce key concepts and issues. How do you use it?This quiz is best used as a review following a presentation; this is not a stand-alone resource. This quiz could be given as-is to ensure that an audience retained the key concepts of civil course, but the questions could also be migrated over to a PowerPoint presentation and used as core points for a talk to high school and especially college students interested in government and politics, criminal justice and law. If the quiz is used alone, following a judge's presentation, for example, it can serve to give the users direct feedback to see if they’ve what they've learned and retained. Depending on how the quiz is given, computers or a hand-out would be needed if individuals were to complete the answers by themselves. If the quiz was going to be done by a group a projector/smart board for an oral test/group discussion would be sufficient. A blackboard would also work for answers.
This interactive quiz holds students' attention, but also forces them to think about their answers, pushing them to actively learn the content. At the end of the quiz, links to additional readings about civil cases could be provided for a more in-depth learning experience.
Caution: Students with little knowledge of civil cases would be unable to complete the quiz. This resource must be done in conjunction with another resource or after a quite detailed presentation. It is a good tool for measuring achievement of learning objectives. It is a a solid tool to add to another lesson at the end, rather than as a single resource.
Who is the audience?This quiz is primarily geared to high school and college students, but with more context and explanation it could be adapted to fit the needs of a younger audience.
What other resources will complement this?
Additional Recommended Resources | Off-Site Links
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