Lecture/direct instruction

• Mini-lecture
• To summarize group work
• To conclude an activity by summarizing learning points

• Passive listening
• Reaches only one learning style

• Implies superiority of speaker and ignores experience of learners
• May produce boredom
• Supports false notion that saying creates learning

• Use only as a mini-lecture (5 minutes or less)
• Tailor to emphasize the topic's impact or importance to the students
• Solicit input from your audience
• Follow with a participatory activity 

Small-group learning activity

• Brainstorming

• Fish Bowl Tag Discussion

• Round Robin

• Small Group Work

• Structured Conversation for Controversial Issues

• Think, Pair, Share

• To integrate the following:
  • Personal experiences
  • Individual knowledge
  • Specific perspectives
  • Consensus on issues
  • Responses and reactions
• To prepare for a subsequent activity

• Everyone participates
• Creates shared ownership in outcome
• Reaches  multiple learning styles

• Learners can practice using information provided
• Practical framework better addresses educational needs
• Instructors and participants have greater equality
• Can have groups do same or different tasks

• Write concrete learning objectives
• Ensure accountability by requiring groups to complete and submit a handout related to the activity
• Consider the make-up of the groups
• Provide groups with precise written instructions
• Small groups should have no more than 5 members; sometimes working in pairs is useful
• Assign specific roles to small group: recorder, reporter, time-keeper
• Allocate time to specific activities and monitor and be prepared for groups that end early
• Conclude and debrief with a structured large-group discussion

Role-Play and Simulation

Role-play:  Participants feel like, think like, and/or act like another individual and “act out” a particular problem or situation

Simulation: Participants react to a specific problem within a structured environment

• Legislative Hearing  
• Mock trial
• Moot court
• Pro se court

• To practice/model new skills
• To present specific content that you wish for students to consider
• To experience and appreciate different viewpoints

• Reaches multiple learning styles
• Draws students into more active participation
• Quickly builds relationships among unacquainted students 

• Learners can apply new information

• Set the context and prepare the audience with questions to consider during role-play/simulation
• Use props to make it more authentic
• Prepare the participants by providing specific instructions or scripted roles
• Step aside and let the role-play/simulation unfold
• Acknowledge the participants and ask how it felt to play their roles
• Conclude and debrief with a structured large-group discussion

Individual activity

• Each One Teach One
• P.R.E.S. Method

• To reflect on specific issues and their resolution
• To apply new information
• To accomplish learning objectives

• Students feel individual ownership of their success
• Reaches limited number of learning styles—reflective

• Give clear instructions for individual work
• Ask participants to share results with the instructor and/or other students
• Conclude and debrief with a structured large-group discussion

Teaching about controversial issues

• Take a Stand
• Teaching About Controversial Issues: The Continuum Method

• To illustrate multiple sides of a controversial issue
• To provide discussion
• To set groundwork for learning about public policy

• Active participant involvement

• Reaches multiple learning styles
• Requires instructors to control for emotional reactions
• Fosters analysis and critical thinking

• Clearly communicate that every opinion is right, provided it is backed up with reason
• Select issues that are of concern to students
• Ensure that any foundational terms are taught
• If there is no disagreement, ask for possible alternate opinion
• Support the lone dissenter

Jigsaw   

• To teach a lot of information in a short amount of time
• To teach content and practice important skills: explaining difficult information, asking questions, listening, and communicating.

• Active participant involvement

• Reaches multiple learning styles
• Strengthens students’ knowledge and self-esteem for knowing information they can teach others

• Select topics that are important and relatively unknown to the students
• Develop a handout for students to keep track of what they learn
• After the peer teaching, evaluate student learning with an additional activity to ensure the information is understood (e.g., role-play, case study, etc.)

Case study

• Apply what students have learned about law to an actual case
• Probe students’ current knowledge and/or sense of fairness

• Active student participation
• Increased interest from using a real world example

• Reaches multiple learning styles

• Select cases that are applicable to students
• Have students identify important facts, the key issue(s), and arguments for each side
• Inform students of court’s decision and have them evaluate its significance and impact

Games

• Evaluation

• Active student participation

• Reaches multiple learning styles

• Ensure that the rules are fair
• Keep the focus on learning; don’t let students get too carried away by playing the game