Using Scaffolding to Improve Student Learning in Legal Environment Courses

• Author: Diane May
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jlse.12015
• Date: 01 June 2014
• Published date: 01 June 2014

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 31, Issue 2, 233–248, Summer 2014

Using Scaffolding to Improve Student

Learning in Legal Environment

Courses

Diane May∗

In the age of technology, sometimes it just seems right to have students sit down

together, grab a pencil, and scratch their heads,

In the age of passivity, sometimes it just seems right to have students sit down

together, grab a pencil, and scratch their heads,

In the age of complexity, sometimes it just seems right to have students sit down

together, grab a pencil, and scratch their heads.1

I. Introduction

Instructors of business law have one thing in common; very few, if any, have

a degree in education or have taken education courses on “how to teach.”

However, those who are taught to “think like a lawyer” cannot only “think

like a lawyer” but also bring that wealth of knowledge, intellect, and creativity

into teaching. The literature is replete with articles on successful teaching

methods in business law, demonstrating many very innovative and creative

approaches.2We are fortunate to have a fascinating subject to teach, and we

teach well.

Despite these efforts, many students seem to struggle with learning

the law in the initial legal environment course. Many students enter higher

∗Associate Professor, Business Law Winona State University.

1Diane May, December 13, 2012 (ever-evolving teaching philosophy of this business law instruc-

tor).

2See Robert C. Bird, Advice for the New Legal Studies Professor,29J. Legal Stud. Educ. 239, 239-62

(2012) (citing multiple resources for teaching strategies as well as recommending a teaching

mentor). See also L.J. Oswald, Musings by a Non-”Born Teacher”28 J. Legal Stud. Educ. 143,

143-48 (2011) (providing teaching advice for the nonnatural born teacher).

C2014 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2014 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

233

234 Vol. 31 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

education with their knowledge of the law limited to what they see on televi-

sion, or in other media, or perhaps what they personally experienced through

a personal lawsuit of some type. In other words, students taking the initial le-

gal environment course in a business school generally have little background

in the law.3Most of these students are learning new terms and are exposed

to the workings of the legal system and statutes and cases for the first time.

Some students have characterized learning the law as like “learning a new

language.” Students struggle not only with the new vocabulary but also with

learning how the law works.

It is in this environment that the author proposes the use of a specific

teaching strategy taught in schools of education but not law schools. Scaffold-

ing is a teaching strategy where an instructor provides structured support in

an activity to help the student get to the next level of learning.4It is typically

used in a task that is “just beyond the level of what the learner can do alone.”5

A scaffold activity builds on prior knowledge and helps students internal-

ize new information.6Scaffolding exercises in a legal environment course

have two rewards: they build on a student’s acquired knowledge to increase

student knowledge as well as teach students how to apply the law to problem

solving. The premise behind using scaffolding in a legal environment course

is that if students better learn the law and gain confidence in applying the

law to problem solve, it will positively impact their experience as learners in

that course and in higher-level law courses in business school. In higher-level

courses, the student will be better able to move to the next level of think-

ing. Ultimately, the students’ mastery of legal problem solving will positively

impact their ability to recognize and prevent legal problems in the workplace.

3See Peter M. Edelstein, Teach Your Pupils to Be Students of the Law 15 J. Legal Stud. Educ. 133,

133 (1997) (stating that “we do not expect our students to bring to our classrooms a meaningful

knowledge of the law about to be taught and it may not be realistic nor fair to expect them to

bring a knowledge of the tools and the skills necessary to learn that law”). See also George. W.

Spiro, Collaborative Learning and the Study of the Legal Environment,10J. Legal Stud. Educ. 55,

55 (1992) ( recognizing that because a legal environment of business course is required of all

business administration majors in many schools, students arrive in the classroom with a wide

range of interests, enthusiasm, and preparation for the course).

4Paul D. Eggen & Donald P. Kauchak, Strategies for Teachers; Teaching Content and

Thinking Skills 278 (2001).

5Id.

6Rachel R. Van Der Stuyf,Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy 2 (2002), available at http://condor.

admin.ccny.cuny.edu/˜group4/Van%20Der%20Stuyf/Van%20Der%20Stuyf%20Paper.doc.