In the news you may noticed the following story pop up. The latest TikTok challenge this week, called “Devious Lick,” was making the rounds. The challenge began when a student posted a video of himself stealing a bottle of hand sanitizer. As the challenge made its rounds, posters began escalating the challenges and schools all over the country noticed an uptick in serious bathroom vandalism, theft, and other property damage.
As adults, it’s easy to be annoyed with such a mass lapse in judgement. As educators? This is the perfect real-world opportunity for powerful, practical critical thinking instruction.
thinkLaw Jury Deliberations are designed to be short ways to discuss current events in a way that builds critical thinking skills. These two activities can be used as warm-up activities before class or easily be stretched to become full-class activities. This FREE download includes Two Parts.
(Part 1) Root Cause Analysis
Before you can solve a problem you have to understand the root causes of the issue. This is not the first time a dangerous or illegal online challenge has made the news. But why do teens participate in dangerous or illegal challenges online? Ask your class and conduct a root cause analysis together on this pressing question.
(Part 2) Analysis from Multiple Perspectives
In the second exercise, consider a scenario where a school’s bathroom was destroyed in an online challenge. How would different people impacted by this act of vandalism feel? For example:
- Random online viewer: Do you think the video will stand out from other content available to the viewer? How long do you think the viewer will think about the video?
- A principal: What additional issues does this create for an administrator? Do you think parents will be angry at the principal if they are forced to close restrooms? How many angry emails or calls will the administrator probably receive? How would you feel if you had to make a phone call to the parents of the student that destroyed the bathroom?
- An Attorney- What is a lawyer going to say about recording yourself committing a crime AND posting it publicly on the internet? If you were hired to defend this student, what is your best argument? Why?
This FREE download inlcludes:
- 2 PowerPoint Presentations
- 2 Teacher Guides
- 2 Student Work Pages (available as Word Documents AND Editable PDF's)