PART ONE is a web-based lesson for young people to complete on-line, using resources from the Internet.

• Youth court administrators (or their education/training leader) will assign this task for young people to complete on their own at home, a library, or in a school computer lab. (It is also possible for this assignment to be completed in groups, but the youth court administrator will need to take additional steps to be sure all students in a group contribute to the final work.)
   

• Youth court administrators simply make the assignment by giving their young people the Web address for the lesson. The address is www.youthcourt.net/street_law/alcohol_lesson.htm.
   

• The on-line lesson will guide youth as they conduct research on the Internet about laws relating to:
  a) underage drinking and alcohol-related driving,
  b) other risks of underage drinking (not related to driving), and
  c) programs and laws available in their state that attempt to reduce underage drinking.
   

• Each of the three on-line lesson parts prompts youth to record their answers and ideas on handouts provided in the lesson. They are instructed to bring their answer sheets back to their youth court administrator. This will let their youth court administrator know who completed the assignment. Youth also will use these handouts again for the group class about underage drinking that is described in Part Two.
   

• Click here to go the web-based lesson for young people. Click here to see the handouts that go with each of three parts of the Web-based lesson.
   

PART TWO is a lesson for a group of youth to do together after they have completed the on-line lesson.  It is a bit more like a traditional youth court or Street Law class. 

• The group lesson is highly interactive and gives peers a chance to share and apply what they learned in the on-line lesson. In addition, the group lesson also prompts students to personalize the problems of underage drinking, and to evaluate programs designed to reduce underage drinking.
   

• Click here to download a copy of the group lesson, “Reducing Underage Drinking: What Do We Think Works?”

      [ This lesson will require Acrobat ]         
 

 
Is there an answer key for the on-line lesson?
 
In an effort to make the on-line lesson as realistic and relevant as possible, we have included numerous links to state and local laws and initiatives. For example, we ask students to learn about how “zero tolerance” laws apply in their own state.  Given that, we have not created an answer key that could be used by youth courts all across the country.
 
We strongly encourage youth court administrators to complete this lesson themselves, so they can become familiar with its format, questions and state-specific answers.
 
How long with this lesson take?
 
We tested the on-line lesson with a number of young people, who represent a range of middle school and high school ages as well as a range of reading and writing skills.  We anticipate the on-line lesson will take youth about 90 minutes to complete.  However, youth court administrators know their young people best.  Please allow plenty of time.
 
The class lesson is also designed to take approximately ninety minutes.   

How does this lesson fit with other youth court lessons and projects related to underage drinking?
 

You may want to use this lesson in conjunction with another youth court lesson called “Alcohol, Violence and Drunk Driving: What Risk Are You Willing to Take?”  It can be found in the curriculum called Street Law™ for Youth Courts:  Educational Workshops. 

This resource is available on-line at www.streetlaw.org/youthcourtlessons.asp. 
 

You may also consider awarding community service or service learning credit as an incentive for young people who complete the lesson.