An award winning Internet-based curriculum on capital punishment is offering educators the opportunity to take this timely topic from the headlines of the evening news into their classrooms. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), in conjunction with the Michigan State Communications Technology Laboratory, has prepared this balanced educational tool that uses capital punishment to teach critical thinking skills, group decision-making, persuasive-writing, and civic responsibility.

This Curriculum on the Death Penalty is available at http://teacher.deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu. Using exercises such as role-playing, written reports, quick-writes, learning journals, and simulations, the curriculum engages students’ interests and allows them to thoughtfully consider the central issues concerning the death penalty.

“Recent events have confirmed that the death penalty is a particularly timely issue throughout the country,” said Richard C. Dieter, DPIC Executive Director. “DPIC is proud to provide this curriculum for teachers to explore current issues in their classrooms, and we are pleased that those educators who have used the curriculum found it to be a valuable and accessible resource.”

Praised by teachers and students alike, the curriculum offers separate teacher and student sites, two 10-day lessons plans, teacher overviews, and objectives meeting national educational standards. In 2001, the Division for Public Education of the American Bar Association used it as a resource.#