Legal News

In Surprise to Herself, Justice O?Connor Makes Foray Into Digital Gaming

By Dan Slater

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is a gamer. Who knew?

A Loyal LB’er alerted us to a report on Wired magazine’s Game Life blog. On Wednesday, according to the blog, SDO delivered the keynote address at the the annual Games For Change conference, which was held at Parsons New School For Design. In the speech, she said she’s spearheading a project called “Our Courts,” which she reportedly described as an “online, interactive civic education project for seventh- and eighth-graders” that familiarizes students with the legal system.

“If someone told me when I retired from court that I’d be talking at a conference about digital gaming, I’d think they’d had one drink too many,” O’Connor told the crowd. But, like the Law Blog, O’Connor is finding that “American Idol” leads her to do strange things: “Only one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government,” she lamented, “but two-thirds can name a judge on American Idol.”

O’Connor said that the No Child Left Behind act of 2001 has “effectively squeezed out civics education” from public schools. That’s why she wants to work alongside University of Wisconsin-Madison prof James Paul Gee to create “Our Courts.” Professor Gee, a linguistics professor, has pubbed three books on video games: “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”; “Situated Language and Learning”; and “Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul.”

O’Connor said that “Our Courts” will allow students to “step into the shoes of a judge, a legislator, an executive — teach them how to think through and analyze problems, take action and voice opinions to their elected representatives.” An early exercise in the game will likely deal with educating students about their First Amendment rights, using examples like Tinker v. Des Moines and the “Bong Hits For Jesus” case.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).