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Course Standards
General Course Information and Notes
General Notes
M/J Law Studies – The social studies curriculum for this course consists of the following content area strands: Geography, Civics and Government. The primary content for this course pertains to the principles, functions, and organization of the American legal system. The content should include, but not be limited to, the purpose of law, the role of citizens, the impact of laws on the lives of citizens, civil and criminal laws, fundamental civil and criminal justice procedures, causes and effects of crime, consumer and family law, comparison of adult and juvenile justice systems, and career opportunities in the legal system. Students will study methods of historical inquiry and primary and secondary historical documents.Mathematics Benchmark Guidance – Social Studies instruction should include opportunities for students to interpret and create representations of historical events and concepts using mathematical tables, charts, and graphs.
Instructional Practices
Teaching from well-written, grade-level instructional materials enhances students' content area knowledge and also strengthens their ability to comprehend longer, complex reading passages on any topic for any reason. Using the following instructional practices also helps student learning:
- Reading assignments from longer text passages as well as shorter ones when text is extremely complex.
- Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
- Asking high-level, text-specific questions and requiring high-level, complex tasks and assignments.
- Requiring students to support answers with evidence from the text.
- Providing extensive text-based research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).
General Information
Educator Certifications
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
In this interactive 2-part tutorial series, you'll learn ALL about the Electoral College, the often-confusing mechanism used for picking the President of the United States.
This is part 2 in a two-part series. Click HERE to open Part 1.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this 2-part interactive tutorial series, you'll learn ALL about the Electoral College, the often-confusing mechanism used for picking the President of the United States.
This is part 1 in a two-part series. Click HERE to open Part 2.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In Part 2 of this interactive tutorial series, learn about the impeachment process detailed in the U.S. Constitution, including what it is, who can be impeached, why someone would be impeached, and some famous examples of impeachment in action.
This is Part 2 in a two-part series. Click HERE to open Part 1.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In Part 1 of this interactive tutorial series, learn about the impeachment process detailed in the U.S. Constitution, including what it is, who can be impeached, why someone would be impeached, and a bit about the process.
This is Part 1 in a two-part series. Click HERE to open Part 2.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about the forms governments take, including monarchy, democracy, autocracy, and oligarchy. You'll also learn about the advantages of a constitutional republic, the chosen form of government of the United States.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about three economic ideologies--capitalism, socialism, and communism--as well as economic systems.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, unlock the language of propaganda and learn about bias and symbolism in political propaganda.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about the famous Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review. You'll examine the details of the case and its important legacy in American history.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, explore several landmark cases of the Supreme Court to see how the Court's decisions have impacted the rights of individuals and society throughout American history.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial hosted by "Bill" O. Rights, learn in great detail about the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment: religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this tutorial, learn about two different types of democracies. You'll compare and contrast presidential and parliamentary systems of government using the examples of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about three systems of government: federal, unitary, and confederal (a confederation).
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, you'll examine the powers and workings of the three branches of our federal government. You'll learn what Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court really do. Enjoy!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, explore the impact of federal, state, and local governments on your daily life.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, explore the state government of Florida and learn how its three branches are modeled after those in the federal government.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, you'll identify the impacts of individuals, interest groups, and the media on monitoring and influencing the government of the United States.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about six important amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments ended slavery, ensured equal rights for all citizens, and guaranteed voting rights to women, African Americans, and other minority groups.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about one of the most important principles in American democracy: rule of law. You'll explore this important concept and learn about its application to a famous Supreme Court decision: United States v. Nixon.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn how to evaluate candidates running for political office. You'll play the role of a voter choosing between two candidates running for mayor of your town!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn about the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of American citizenship.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the three branches of the U.S. federal government with a special emphasis on the checks and balances that allow our government to achieve a proper separation of powers in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Simulate the experience of serving on a jury and deciding a case in this interactive tutorial. Learn all about trial by jury and why it's such an important part of our society, as well as an obligation of citizenship.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, analyze all 10 Amendments that make up the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. You'll learn not only about the rights and freedoms guaranteed by each, but also the limits of those rights.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
This interactive tutorial will help you answer the questions: What can individuals do on their own to make change? When can your government help you? To which government can you turn? Learn about responsible citizenship and how you might make positive changes in your own community.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, explore the sources and types of laws in the American legal system.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate the limiting factors of a Florida ecosystem and describe how these limiting factors affect one native population-the Florida Scrub-Jay-with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, explore the similarities and differences between the federal Constitution of the United States and the state Constitution of Florida. You'll also learn about our system of federalism and how it is expressed in these Constitutions.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn what genetic engineering is and some of the applications of this technology. In this interactive tutorial, you’ll gain an understanding of some of the benefits and potential drawbacks of genetic engineering. Ultimately, you’ll be able to think critically about genetic engineering and write an argument describing your own perspective on its impacts.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
This interactive tutorial teaches you all about the process of amending (changing) the United States Constitution.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how to analyze the ideas, grievances (complaints), and language found in the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents in the history of the United States.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn all about political parties in the U.S., including what they are and how they function in our political system. You'll learn lots about the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, and also about third parties and what it means to be a political "Independent."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the different levels of our federal judicial system, from federal district courts all the way up to the one and only Supreme Court. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also learn about the landmark Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, which set an important precedent for students' right to free speech in schools.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Practice identifying and examining the evidence used to support a specific argument. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read several short texts about the exploration of Mars to practice distinguishing relevant from irrelevant evidence. You'll also practice determining whether the evidence presented is sufficient or insufficient.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn how the decisions of the United States Supreme Court have affected the equal rights of Americans. You'll learn the outcomes and impacts of two famous cases: Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to identify the three branches of the federal government as established by the Constitution of the United States. In this interactive tutorial, you will also learn to identify the structure and function of each branch of government.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, compare and contrast different forms of government, including democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, oligarchy, and autocracy.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how Enlightenment ideas like separation of powers, natural law, and the social contract influenced the Founders and their design of the United States government in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how and why American citizens are governed by TWO governments which share power: the federal government of the United States and the government of the state in which they live.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how several famous documents influenced the views of American colonists when they sought their independence from Great Britain and formed their own government. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn about the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In this interactive tutorial, learn how a bill becomes a law. You will see how bills (ideas for laws) are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, and you'll learn how all three branches of government play a role in determining the laws of our land.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Tutorials
Learn about Article II, Section II of the U.S. Constitution and the president's role as the commander in chief in this tutorial video provided by Khan Academy and the National Constitution Center.
Type: Tutorial
Learn more about the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. This case was a pivotal moment in the struggle for racial equality in America.
Type: Tutorial
View a documentary about the First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. You'll review the historic origins of these rights and then go into detail about the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in New York Times v. United States, the Pentagon Papers case. Enjoy!
Type: Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will view an outstanding video on the meaning and history of habeas corpus: the law that prevents a person being held in jail or prison without being able to hear and contest the charges being brought against them. You'll then learn about 4 recent Supreme Court cases where habeas corpus has been called into question in the context of the global war on terror.
Type: Tutorial
In this video, you will hear from Supreme Court Justices O'Connor, Breyer and Kennedy as they recount the landmark Supreme Court decision on the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. This case was instrumental in the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement and to desegregating public schools in America. The video also include discussion of a key event that followed the Brown v. Board ruling, specifically that of the nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, a group known as the Little Rock Nine. Enjoy this conversation on the Constitution!
Type: Tutorial
Video/Audio/Animation
This 3-part video from Mount Vernon details the struggles that led delegates from the 13 colonies to hold a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. At this convention, under the leadership of George Washington, the delegates rejected the Articles of Confederation in favor of a new, stronger federal government. After the Constitution's ratification, Washington become the new nation's first president.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
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