Guilty or Not Guilty?

For the Year 8’s PBL Day they had organised sessions which were based on Law. Their activity day was called ‘Guilty or not Guilty’

The Year 8’s worked on an investigation involving a crime which had been committed. Based on the facts and evidence they had to find a conclusion.

Their first session was called Witness/ Police and during this they had a series of tasks to complete which was to do with memory. First, the teacher did a class memory game which tested the students’ memory, they then had to go onto the computers and create their own individual memory game so that they can test their friends’ memory for witness statements. All of the students “enjoyed” themselves and thought that the activity was a good way to test their memory skills.

During their Forensics session, the students investigated a crime scene by taking fingerprint and footprint moulds of defendants. They then used microscopes to identify what fibres of material they found and matched the evidence. The students got into character by wearing forensic white suits. They had a fun-packed session which was practical and interactive.

They then moved onto the Reporting Crime session. Based on the forensic evidence they collected in previous sessions, students had to carry out research for a court case. They researched how court rooms worked and court roles. They investigated how crime is reported and how to use evidence to come up with a conclusion of what happened. Callum from Year 8 said the practical tasks were fun, but he didn’t enjoy researching as much as getting involved.

The final session of the daw was called Law of the Land. In this session, all of their research was collected together to form a final judgement. To do this, they researched on different courts including Supreme Courts, Magistrate Courts, County Courts, Crown Courts and High Courts. They researched sentences which could be given to defendants if found guilty under each court. On their research, they came to a final decision of whether the defendants in their case were guilty or not guilty.

Overall, the Year 8’s had enjoyed their experience with the Law and discovered how the Law works and how the police and crown prosecution service find evidence to convict the defendants.