Over the course of 3 years, the Political Science and Biology Programs at a regional HBCU have built a curricular learning community centered on a mock trial competition, where a microbiology course was paired with an introductory legal studies course. Over the course of a semester, students enrolled in both courses studied a real appellate case…

Mock trials serve as useful experiential learning tools for undergraduate kinesiology students. In the current study, Kolb's experiential learning cycle was employed over the course of a semester through a comprehensive mock trial project that aimed to provide undergraduate students with an interactive learning experience as a means to achieve…

This study was designed to gain a greater understanding of the learning outcomes associated with the mock trial as an active teaching method. Participating in a product liability mock trial presents students with the complex interplay of administrative regulations and common law. As in real life, the harsh constraints of time pressures, less than…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Teaching Quality and includes: (1) Fostering Culturally Diverse Learning Environments (Paula Johnson); (2) Unlocking Instruction…

Courtroom interpreting requires a high level of accuracy due to the strategic use of language in such an institutional setting. It is generally agreed among interpreting scholars that quality interpreting in court should accurately relay both propositional content and illocutionary force of the original utterances. This high standard of accuracy…

Although Bayesian methodology has become a powerful approach for describing uncertainty, it has largely been avoided in undergraduate statistics education. Here we demonstrate that one can present Bayes' Rule in the classroom through a hypothetical, yet realistic, legal scenario designed to spur the interests of students in introductory- and…

In the Legal Environment of Business course in a traditional undergraduate business curriculum, students are expected to acquire knowledge about many areas of the law and the application of law to business, society, and the international marketplace. Current concepts in undergraduate business education, such as ethics and sustainability, must also…

Teacher incompetence and the identification of incompetent teachers have become major educational issues. With the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), every student is expected to be taught by a "highly qualified" teacher. Although "highly qualified" does not guarantee competent teaching, the two often go…

The author examines the effectiveness of a curriculum aimed to raise awareness of prospective English teachers and writers while studying the psychological and sociological impact of language use. Action research tested whether students already knew how to argue and think critically when they came to a 200-level undergraduate course. Finding that…

This article proposes a new role-playing exercise for public law courses: a mock-trial simulation using the European inquisitorial system of trial procedure. By exposing students to an alternative method of conducting a trial, numerous pedagogical benefits can be obtained, including stimulating critical thinking regarding the potential…

The majority of literature regarding problem-based learning demonstrates its usefulness as a teaching technique in the natural sciences curriculum. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the broad purpose is to illustrate the application of problem-based learning for instructing students about controversial issues in sociology. Within the…

This article reviews 68 hearings and cases concerned with disputes regarding individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities. It concludes that IEP goals must be matched to evaluation data, team members must be qualified to develop programs, and the methodology selected must be able to assist the students in achieving…

Recommends using literature, Supreme Court cases, and moral dilemmas in a debate format as means of instruction for character education. Includes a rationale and examples for each approach. Explains several guiding values (respect for persons, justice, telling the truth) and their relevance to character education. (MJP)

This paper addresses issues in the relationship of instructional grouping to both educational excellence and equity. First, equity issues are considered in light of two court cases: Hobson v. Hansen and Marshall v. Georgia which, together, offer guidelines for equitable ability grouping. Next, the research on the effects of grouping arrangements…

In 1999-2000, over one-third of all students in the 30 Abbott districts spoke a native language other than English, and more than one-tenth were considered limited English proficient (LEP). The proportions of LEP students varied considerably across the districts, but they comprised between 5% and 29% of total enrollments in 18 of the districts.…