Creating a visual representation of a law from the Texas Penal Code is the focus of a project for a Survey of Law course at the CTE Center.

The Texas Penal code establishes a system of prohibitions, penalties, and correctional measures in a crime that affects the safety of individuals or the public.

“It’s a learning tool to help them understand a specific statute, as well as to help them read the Texas Penal Code, understand all the elements and how to read the elements, the defenses, the level offenses involved, the penalties, the statutory offenses that may be associated with it,” Survey of Law teacher John Morrison said. “All of that comes into play and there’s a real life application to all of this in this career field, where obviously, you gotta know how to read the statutes before you can make cases.”

Students were required to create a three-dimensional model and come up with an example of their law.

“The project was a good way to help grasp some of the concepts of the offenses that we learn and what their consequences are,” junior Ethan Watson said. “I learned there are more offenses than most people realize and when you bring in a real life example, it really opens your eyes to what actually happens in the world.”

Students presented their projects to their class, allowing them to learn about multiple laws.

“Since everyone had to pick a different law, I feel like I’m getting a bigger grasp on the Texas Penal Code,” sophomore Kasey Harvey said. “There’s so many laws that it’s hard to comprehend all of them just by reading it, but by using a model, we can see and get a deeper understanding of what each law is and the Texas Penal Code as a whole.”