February 10, 2006

Calgary... Educating Alberta elementary students about the justice system is the focus of a new, on-line and interactive teaching resource that supports the social studies curriculum.

The new resource, called Alberta's Justice System in the Community, will help teach Grade 3 students what the justice system is, and how it keeps their families and communities peaceful and safe.

"We developed this resource as an informative and interactive way for eight- and nine-year-old children to learn about the justice system," said Ron Stevens, Minister of Justice and Attorney General. "I'm pleased that the justice system is being included in the curriculum and I think children will find the resource an interesting and fun way to learn."

The resource is housed on the Alberta Justice and Attorney General website and leads the students through three different aspects of the justice system.

One section focuses on the people who work in the justice system, another on the criminal aspect of justice and how the system works to keep communities and people safe, and a third on how the justice system helps people to resolve disagreements in a peaceful way. Cartoon characters Justin and Lilly are on hand to guide the students through each section.

Stevens added that the success of the project was due to a dedicated project team made up of representatives from Alberta Justice, Alberta Education, Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security, as well as the judiciary, a member of the law enforcement community and other justice stakeholders, who partnered to develop this innovative resource.

The 2005-06 school year marks the first time students will learn about Alberta's justice system as a formal part of the new social studies curriculum. Individual schools will schedule when the resource will be taught during the year.

Additional resources to teach Grade 6 and Grade 9 students about the justice system are in the planning stage. Implementation into the curriculum is scheduled for 2008.

Alberta's Justice System in the Community can be viewed at: http://www.justice.gov.ab.ca/education/ajs_in_your_community/home.htm

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Media enquiries may be directed to:
Mark Cooper
Alberta Justice Communications
Phone: 780-427-8530

Backgrounder

This new, interactive learning resource has been developed to assist with teaching Grade 3 students about Alberta's justice system. The resource is divided into three sections, along with a teacher's guide.

• Section One teaches children about the people who work in the justice system and how they work together to make our communities safe and peaceful.
• It encourages learning with an on-line game where students visit each of the pages and collect tokens along the way.
• There are printable worksheets, and comics/activities to reinforce the lessons learned.

• Section Two focuses on the criminal aspect of the justice system. Justin, an eight-year old boy, explains how the justice system works to keep his friends, family and community safe.
• Learning can be tested with the interactive questions at the end of the story, and printable worksheets are available.

• Section Three focuses on the civil aspect of justice and helps children understand how the justice system can help people resolve disagreements in a peaceful way.
• Students can participate on-line as they read the story and reinforce what they've learned with printable activity sheets and other on-line activities.

• A comprehensive teacher's guide is also available on-line.
• It outlines the curriculum outcomes the resources addressed and provides ideas for further activities, real-life scenarios and walkthrough scripts.

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Media enquiries may be directed to:
Mark Cooper
Alberta Justice Communications
Phone: 780-427-8530

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