TY - JOUR
T1 - Instructional support for novice law students
T2 - Reducing search processes and explaining concepts in cases
AU - Nievelstein, Fleurie
AU - van Gog, Tamara
AU - van Dijck, Gijs
AU - Boshuizen, Henny P A
PY - 2011/5/1
Y1 - 2011/5/1
N2 - Reasoning about legal cases is a complex skill that imposes a high working memory load, especially for novice students. Not only do novices lack necessary conceptual knowledge, searching through the information sources that are used during reasoning can also be assumed to impose a high additional working memory load that does not contribute to learning. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of supporting novice law students' learning by (a) providing the meaning of important concepts in the case and (b) reducing the search process by providing a condensed (relevant articles only) rather than a complete civil code. Results show that performance on a test case (for which they had to use the complete civil code) was significantly better for participants who had used the condensed civil code during learning. Performance on a conceptual knowledge post-test was significantly enhanced when students had received the concept explanations during learning.
AB - Reasoning about legal cases is a complex skill that imposes a high working memory load, especially for novice students. Not only do novices lack necessary conceptual knowledge, searching through the information sources that are used during reasoning can also be assumed to impose a high additional working memory load that does not contribute to learning. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of supporting novice law students' learning by (a) providing the meaning of important concepts in the case and (b) reducing the search process by providing a condensed (relevant articles only) rather than a complete civil code. Results show that performance on a test case (for which they had to use the complete civil code) was significantly better for participants who had used the condensed civil code during learning. Performance on a conceptual knowledge post-test was significantly enhanced when students had received the concept explanations during learning.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79956194863&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/acp.1707
DO - 10.1002/acp.1707
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79956194863
SN - 0888-4080
VL - 25
SP - 408
EP - 413
JO - Applied Cognitive Psychology
JF - Applied Cognitive Psychology
IS - 3
ER -