The Channel Wire

June 05, 2008

Kids, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wants you to put down your Xboxes and pay attention to the workings of the U.S. judicial system. O'Connor is launching an online interactive product aimed at middle-school children and recent immigrants at the college level to learn about American civics.

The "Our Courts" project will release the first module in late 2008, which focuses on a case study about the First Amendment as it relates to young people. Other modules are slated for release sometime next year.

"We hope that Our Courts will be adopted by schools as part of their curriculum and that information about the judicial branch of the government will be usable outside the classroom," said Meryl Chertoff, director of the Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary.

The project has been in development since last year under the auspices of The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center.

The site features sections on keyword definitions, branches of government, state government, the structure of the courts and educational resources.

"If we can capture just a little bit of that time to get them thinking about government and civic engagement rather than playing shoot-'em-up video games, that's a huge step in the right direction," O'Connor told Reuters.

When asked by Reuters which video games the 78-year-old O'Connor plays, she replied, "I don't play video games. Sorry."