Story of Our Rights and Freedoms - Rights, Freedoms and the Law

In this Finding Out lesson, students explore the concept of justice using the ‘Chalk-Talk’ visible thinking routine. They will consider the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and dive deep into Article 14 of the Convention to better understand rights associated with the legal system. They will create and display an educational presentation about people’s legal rights. Students will extend their understanding about the right to appeal by reading and interpreting a set of case studies featuring appeals that have reached the High Court of Australia. Students will then reflect on their understanding of the content covered in the lesson using the ‘I used to think…now I think’ visible thinking routine.

Essential questions:

• What is equality before the law?
• What recourse is available to people who believe that their rights and freedoms have not been upheld by the judicial system?
• What is an appeal?