Legal Studies for VCE Chapter 2 sample lesson plan

Lesson plan

Chapter 2 Introduction to Unit 1 – The presumption of innocence Pages 32–39 Suggested time allocation: 1‒2 periods Aim: The aim of this chapter is to introduce students to some underlying concepts in the Legal Studies course. These concepts will provide students with an understanding of the foundations of Australia’s legal system and of the VCE Legal Studies course.

These lessons can be conducted at the start of the year, as part of a ‘headstart’ program at the end of the previous year, or as homework in anticipation of the new year (with adjustments to be made). Lots of activities have been provided on the assumption that teachers can choose which ones they do, and depending on whether this is taught ‘in class’ or is provided as pre-reading or homework. Some teachers may have more time than others to introduce the course to their students, and so may choose to do more activities.

Topics covered in this chapter: • laws and the Australian legal system • parliaments and courts • the rule of law.

Key legal terms: Act of Parliament, Australian Constitution, bicameral parliament, government, governor, Governor-General, laws, parliament, political party, rule of law How to use these lesson plans These teacher notes assume that teachers will teach the core content within each topic as they wish. For example, teachers may work through each topic page-bypage, set it as pre-reading, prepare a PowerPoint, or do some other activity. The additional activities in the teacher notes below are intended to be in addition to working through the core content in the topic.

© Oxford University Press 2024 Legal Studies for VCE Units 1 & 2 Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342531 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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Lesson plan

Chapter 2 Introduction to Unit 1 – The presumption of innocence Pages 32–39 **Note: A single lesson plan is provided for Topics 2.1–2.3.

Suggested timing: 2 periods

Lesson starter

Resources

Icebreaker Organise the students into two separate groups and line them up in the classroom in two lines, with the first student in each line facing the whiteboard, and the last student in each line at the back of the class. Give the first two students in the line a marker. When you say ‘go’, they need to run up and write a word on the board that relates to the legal system and then pass the marker onto the next student. Do this for as long as you have time. The purpose of this activity is to gauge the students’ prior knowledge and to build their confidence by showing them that many of the concepts that they will study in Unit 1 are already familiar to them.

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Warm up!: Check what you know about The presumption of innocence before you start

Then get students to complete Warm up! quiz for Chapter 2.

During class

Resources

Additional activities

Topic 2.1: Laws and the Australian legal system 

Topic 2.1: Laws and the Australian legal system 1 Watch the video ‘What is law?’ and complete the accompanying worksheet.

2 Complete Check your learning 2.1 as a class.

3 Complete Quiz me! for topic 2.1.

Video, worksheet and answers: What is law?

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Quiz me! A quick quiz on laws and the Australian legal system

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Topic 2.2: Parliaments and courts 4 Complete the Worksheet – The parliamentary system.

5 Complete Check your learning 2.2 as a class.

6 Complete the Quiz me! for topic 2.2.

Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

© Oxford University Press 2024 Legal Studies for VCE Units 1 & 2 Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342531 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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Topic 2.2: Parliaments and courts Topic 2.3 The rule of law 7 Complete the worksheet – The rule of law.

8 Compete Check your learning 2.3 as a class.

9 Complete the Quiz me! for topic 2.3.

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Worksheet and answers: The parliamentary system

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Quiz me! A quick quiz on parliaments and courts

Support (for less able students) Have students to answer the Check your learning questions for Topics 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. Provide feedback to the students on those answers.

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Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

Extension (for more able students) Get students to complete the worksheet on Topic 1.4 – How to find and understand Acts and cases.

Teaching tips 1 The amount of time you spend on this topic depends on your cohort. If you have a significant number of students who have prior knowledge, you may use this as a refresher for them. Alternatively, you may need to work through the material with the students. The same applies to the questions – you may be able to work through these as a class.

2 There is a topic dedicated to the rule of law (Topic 2.3) because there is a reference to this concept in the Study Design and because many of the principles and concepts studied in Units 1–4 are linked to the rule of law. It’s worth spending some time on this concept early on and mentioning it where possible.

Topic 2.3 The rule of law 

Worksheet and answers: The rule of law

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Quiz me! A quick quiz on the rule of law

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Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

Legal tip The Student Book has adopted the term ‘secondary legislation’ to refer to delegated legislation. It reflects the usage in other glossaries such as those used by the Australian Government’s federal register of legislation and by the Parliamentary Education Office.

© Oxford University Press 2024 Legal Studies for VCE Units 1 & 2 Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342531 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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Summing up

Resources

Review Get the students to write down as many ‘ahas’ (something they have learned from the lesson), and as many ‘huhs’ (something they are still not sure about from the lesson) as they can think of. Get the students to work through the ‘huhs’.

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Students to then complete the Quizlet for Chapter 2.

Homework 1 Complete any Check your learning questions not covered in class. Alternatively, the students may need additional class time to complete these questions, depending on their prior knowledge. Get students to become familiar with submitting their answers online through the digital platform, or they can complete them in their notebooks.

2 Students to practise writing revision notes based on this chapter. It is a good idea for students to start working on what their revision notes should look like, and how much detail they need to go into now. As an activity, you could challenge them as to how few words they can write on each topic, but still provide the detail they need to properly revise.

3 Get students to download key VCAA documents, including the VCAA Study Design, and arrange their online and hard copy folders ready for Unit 1 (e.g. dividing into tabs, making sure they have plastic pockets, creating electronic folders for each Area of Study).

4 Students to look at Chapter 1 and more particularly Tip 4 on page 10 to work out how best they learn. There are a number of websites that provide quizzes or tests for students to explore this. This will help them for the rest of the year if they target revision and learning tools that are best suited to them.

© Oxford University Press 2024 Legal Studies for VCE Units 1 & 2 Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342531 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

Quizlet: Test your knowledge of key legal terms in this chapter by working individually or in teams

Topic 2.1: Laws and the Australian legal system 

Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

Topic 2.2: Parliaments and courts 

Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

Topic 2.3 The rule of law 

Check your learning: A digital version of the Check your learning questions

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Student book answers: Answers to the Check your learning questions

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© Oxford University Press 2024 Legal Studies for VCE Units 1 & 2 Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342531 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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