Inquiry Based Learning: The First Amendment

Travis Chalk

8.2.10 Research and defend positions on issues in which fundamental values and principles are related to the United States Constitution are in conflict such as 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, the rights to privacy, and the rights of the individual.

Driving Question: Should the first amendment right of freedom of speech and the press still be strictly enforced in todays America?

Attention Grabber: When the Constitution of the United States was written over two hundred years ago, there was barely even a newspaper, and the U.S population was only 2.5 million. The first Amendment meant something entirely different in 1789 than it did in 1900, and as it does today. Today there are over 300 million people living with in the United States, and all with differing opinions. Today there are hundreds of thousands of media outlets, some humongous, and some with only few viewers, all with their own look or spin on certain subjects around the United States. So with the vast number of media outlets, and the absolute explosion of social media, should this first Amendment right still be enforced? Should media outlets and social media accounts have limits or constraints on how far they can go and what they can say about certain people or topics?

Culminating Activity: Class Debate

I would divide the class into kids who think the first Amendment should remain the same, and those who think the first Amendment should be changed. I would then give each team a list of questions to research for their debate, questions that each side will have to either ask to the other team or answer to the other team. I will then tell them that they need to come up with three questions of their own to ask the other team.

Day of the Debate: Students will come into the room and the desks will be split, one side will be those students in favor of keeping the first Amendment as is, and the other side will be the students who believe the first Amendment should be changed and be more strictly enforced. One side will have the opportunity to ask their first question too, and the other side will have the opportunity to respond, and vice versa until there have been 7 rounds of question and answer between the two sides. We will have an unbiased person come into the classroom, and listen to the arguments of each side, then decide which side made the more convincing argument.