PRACTICE • DISCOVER • GROW
Welcome to the Challenge Zone.
Test an argument. Spot a missing fact. Change your mind when the evidence changes.
All scenarios here are fictional. These activities earn personal practice badges—not scholarship points. They are reasoning exercises, not statements of law.
Your practice badges
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YOU’RE THE JUDGE
The missing camera
A fictional photography club’s written rule says a borrower pays for damage they cause. Jordan returned a camera to the club’s unlocked equipment shelf. The next morning, its lens was broken. The club asks Jordan to pay because Jordan was the last recorded borrower. Jordan says the camera was working when returned. No one checked it at return.
Now consider this…
Another member says they moved the camera after Jordan left, but cannot remember whether the lens was already broken. The club has no photographs of its condition at return.
Reasoning check: Being the last recorded borrower does not by itself establish who caused damage. Consider the rule’s wording, access to the shelf, and the reliability of each account. Several conclusions may be defensible if you explain their limits.
EVIDENCE DETECTIVE
Fact, claim, or missing evidence?
For this fictional exercise, “fact” means information established in the supplied record. A claim still needs support. Missing evidence is information you need but do not have.
SWITCH SIDES
Beat your own argument.
A fictional art competition accepts a late entry after its upload system goes down. Other entrants want the original deadline enforced. Should the late entry be accepted?
Your practice notebook
Download your saved challenge responses or clear this browser’s practice record. Your Case Lab submissions remain separate.
Take your skills into a Case Lab.
Use what you practiced: identify what is known, challenge assumptions, and address the strongest opposing argument.
Explore Cases Join a DiscussionLEGAL WORD DECODER
Big words. Plain language.
Tap a term to see what it means. These are introductory explanations; the applicable rules depend on the case and jurisdiction.
Allegation
A statement that someone says is true but has not yet proved. An allegation is not automatically a fact.
Source: Cornell Legal Information InstituteEvidence
Information offered to help establish whether something is true, such as testimony, documents, or objects. Evidence may be disputed, and not everything offered can be used in court.
Source: Cornell Legal Information InstituteBurden of proof
The responsibility to establish a claim to the level of proof the law requires. Ask: who must prove what, and how convincing must the proof be?
Source: Cornell Legal Information Institute