Reaching Backward and Stretching Forward: Teaching for Transfer in Law School Clinics

Authors

Shaun ArcherFollow
James P. Eyster, Ave Maria University School of LawFollow
James J. Kelly Jr., Notre Dame School of LawFollow
Tonya Kowalski, Washburn University School of LawFollow
Colleen F. Shanahan, Columbia Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

In thinking about education, teachers may spend more time considering what to teach than how to teach. Unfortunately, traditional teaching techniques have limited effectiveness in their ability to help students retain and apply the knowledge either in later classes or in their professional work. What, then, is the value of our teaching efforts if students are unable to transfer the ideas and skills they have learned to later situations? Teaching for transfer is important to the authors of this article, four clinical professors and one psychologist.

The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to some of the techniques that can improve the transfer of teaching's lessons. While this article focuses on applications in the law clinic, the procedures can be profitably used in doctrinal classes as well.

Disciplines

Law | Legal Education

Comments

AALS is the copyright holder of the edition of the Journal in which the article first appeared.

Recommended Citation

Shaun Archer, James P. Eyster, James J. Kelly Jr., Tonya Kowalski & Colleen F. Shanahan, Reaching Backward and Stretching Forward: Teaching for Transfer in Law School Clinics, 64 J. Legal Educ. 258 (2014).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2357