teaching the smartphone generation: how cognitive science can help maximize learning in the law...
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TEACHING THE SMARTPHONE GENERATION: HOW COGNITIVE SCIENCE CAN HELP
MAXIMIZE LEARNING IN THE LAW SCHOOL CLASSROOM
Shailini J. George [email protected]
Rosa Kim [email protected]
Suffolk University Law School
LWI Biennial Conference, July 1st, 2014
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Impetus for research and presentation
• Changing characteristics of students• ABA outcome measures/assessment• Carnegie/Best Practices
What is the best way to teach these students?
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Who are we teaching?
• Millennials• Digital natives• Multitaskers- “gen M”• Google generation• FOMO generation
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Starting point: the science of learning
• Frontal lobe-brain’s manager. Used to concentrate and deeply focus.
• Parietal lobe-always seeking sensory information from the environment.
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How do we learn?• Complex, multi-step process
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Challenges to learning: Working memory/short term memory = brain’s scratch pad
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Translating information to knowledge• Long term memory = brain’s hard wire storage
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Cognitive capacity = how much we can learn
2009 brain imaging study of the National Academy of Science• Brain geared to novelty• Active parietal lobe- decline in focused, specific tasks• When fatigued, the frontal lobe is the first part of the brain
to slow down
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Neuroplasticity: Old dogs can learn new tricks
• Brain’s wiring changes to deal more efficiently with information
• But–new visual spatial skills at the expense of deep processing, inductive analysis, imagination, and reflection
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Traditional law school learning
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Law school learning for Gen M
Cognitive overload + multitasking diminished ability to engage in in-depth analysis
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Educate students to promote metacognition
(Bloom’s Taxonomy – Revised)
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Identify Learning Goals Using Higher Order Thinking Skills• Ask students to perform tasks consistent with goals
• Evaluating Creating
• Appraise Compose• Argue Construct• Defend Determine• Judge Formulate• Support Organize• Conclude Prepare• Assess Develop• Critique Synthesize
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Use impactful teaching methods
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Strategies for reducing cognitive load
• Relate new information to data already stored in long term memory
• Use “dual channels” (visual and auditory)
• Words and graphics rather than words alone
• Minimize “eye and ear candy”
• Avoid reading text on slides
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Hierarchy of Legal Authority
• Primary authority = the law• statutes, constitutions, cases, regulations
• Secondary authority = commentary on the law• Law reviews, restatements, treatises, hornbooks
• Binding authority = primary law from same jurisdiction
• Persuasive authority = secondary authority or primary law from different jurisdiction
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Hierarchy of Legal Authority
PrimaryAuthority
SecondaryAuthority
Persuasive
Authority
Binding Authority
Same Jurisdiction
All
Different Jurisdiction
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Examples of “Saying and Doing” in the Legal Writing Classroom• Simulated exercises/role play
• Partner briefing• Status conference• Client interview
• Group/partner exercises• Small group discussion • Peer review with oral feedback• Pair and share
• Class presentations• Expert/Teacher of the Day• Debate-style timed arguments• Group presentations of cases
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Reflective teaching and learning• “Merely doing something is not enough…reflecting on the
doing and testing out the reflection must follow for learning to be effective.” (Sosteng)
• Examples of reflective assignments• Logs• Journals• Self-critiques• Mid-term evaluations• Short writing assignments• Muddiest point/one-minute paper
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Summary of Teaching Choices that Respect the Cognitive Process
• Educate students about metacognition
• Establish learning goals using higher order thinking skills
• Use impactful teaching methods
• Include reflection assignments
• Encourage students to practice mindfulness
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Selected Bibliography• Shailini George, Teaching the Smartphone Generation: How
Cognitive Science Can Improve Learning in Law School, Me. L. Rev. Vol. 66, No. 1, (Winter 2013).
• Rosa Kim, Lightening the Cognitive Load: Maximizing Learning in the Legal Writing Classroom, Perspectives Vol. 21 No. 2 (Spring 2013).
• Sam Anderson, In Defense of Distraction: Twitter, Alderall, Lifehacking, Mindful Jogging, Obama’s BlackBerry, and the Benefits of Overstimulation, New York Magazine (May, 2009).
• Margaret Butler, Resource-based Learning and Course Design: A Brief Theoretical Overview and Practical Suggestions, 104 Law Libr. J. 219 (Spring, 2012).
• Joan Catherine Bohl, Generations X and Y in Law School: Practical Strategies for Teaching the “MTV/Google” Generation, 54 Loy. L. Rev. 775 (Winter 2008).
• Nicholas Carr, The Shallows, (W.W. Norton & Co., 2011).
• Anne Enquist, Multitasking and Legal Writing, Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, Vol. 18 No. 1 (Fall 2009).
• Mark Fenske, The Winner’s Brain (De Capo Press, 2010).
• M. H. Sam Jacobson, Paying Attention or Fatally Distracted? Concentration, Memory, and Multi-Tasking in a Multi-Media World, 16 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 419 (2010).
• Amishi Jha, et al., Mindfulness Training Modifies Subsystems of Attention, 7 COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 109 (2007).
• Rhonda V. Magee, Educating Lawyers to Meditate? 79 U. MO.–KAN. CITY L. REV. 535, 540 (2011).
• Richard E. Mayer, Cognitive Theory and the Design of Multimedia Instruction: An Example of the Two-Way Street Between Cognition and Instruction, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, n 89, (Spring 2002).
• Richard E. Mayer, Cognition and Instruction: Their Historic Meeting Within Educational Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 84, No. 4, 405-12 (1992).
• Deborah J. Merritt, Legal Education in the Age of Cognitive Science and Advanced Classroom Technology, 14 B.U. J. Sci. & Tech. L. 39 (Winter 2008).
• John Sosteng, et al. , A Legal Education Renaissance: a Practical Approach for the Twenty-First Century, Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Apr. 2, 2008, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1084098.
• Claudia Wallis, genM: The Multitasking Generation, TIME, Mar. 27, 2006, available at http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1174696,00.html.