Science Court has officially begun! The students have been split into groups of two and each team has come up with a potential case to be tried in SciCourt.
Listen to Episode 2 of our Podcast "Case Pitches!" by Luke Diamond:
Case topics include:
- privatized prisons
- immigration laws
- mandatory recycling
- online behavioral targeting
- direct to consumer advertising of pharmaceutical drugs
- ceasing subsidies for nonrenewable resources
- sanctuary cities
- regulation of drug prices
- technology in K-12 schools
In total there were nine potential case ideas, but only two will make it to the final round!
After spending a week researching their cases, students pitched their ideas and argued how they fit the requirements for a good SciCourt case. A good SciCourt case must:
- deal with an important issue
- be controversial
- be complex with multiple domains for scientific research
- have widespread interest
- explain a specific action that should be taken
Each team had four minutes to present their case and a three-minute discussion period. After all the teams presented it was time to vote. Every student in the class ranked the cases from the best fit to the worst. Many teams fought hard for their cases but in the end there could only be two selected! The votes were tallied via an online voting system PollEverywhereand the two cases chosen for the next stage where the regulation of drug prices and one to one technology in K-12 schools.
Now that it is down to two cases, the teams are starting to form. Students were assigned one of the cases and placed on one of the three teams (Science, Legal, and Media). The students' next task is to take a deep dive into the cases to see which case is really the best fit and is going to become the first SciCourt case. Next week we will find out the winner!