Law-related education programs for elementary school should be based on children's perceptions of reality. Psychologist Jean Piaget's studies of cognitive development indicate that children constantly reconstruct reality as they undergo new experiences. Children at early developmental stages may not be capable of understanding the origin and function of the law. Another problem for law-related education is that legal understandings require a conceptual framework which is more easily constructed individually than in a classroom setting. Also, justice cannot be taught in the unjust setting of most schools. Some schools have encouraged experiential learning of legal concepts by involving students in decision making. For example, the Cottage Lane School in Rockland County, New York, which has based a law-related curriculum on the idea of a just community, has taught students to use problem-solving techniques on matters such as school bus boarding, playground rules, and behavior in the classroom. The conclusion is that a law-related education program will be effective if it encourages experiential understanding about rights, community, authority, power, and the strengths and limits of the law. (DB)