Teaching Law Students through Individual Learning Styles
![handle is hein.journals/albany62 and id is 227 raw text is: TEACHING LAW STUDENTS THROUGH INDIVIDUAL
LEARNING STYLES
Robin A. Boyle*
Rita Dunn**
[S]ome things invite understanding and others do not.1
INTRODUCTION
Teaching can be rewarding, but it can also be frustrating when
some students fail to grasp the material. Professor Robin A. Boyle
of St. John's University School of Law has been teaching Legal
Research and Writing in small sections of approximately twenty to
thirty students for four years. She, like many of her similarly
exasperated colleagues, has repeated the same course content by
using either lecture or collaborative learning, and has observed
some students doing well, whereas others continued to perform
poorly. Then, Dr. Rita Dunn was introduced to the law school
faculty and suggested that law professors incorporate learning-
styles theory into their lesson plans to accommodate students with
diverse learning styles. Suddenly, there was light in the tunnel.
Dr. Dunn challenged the conventional belief that students who
were motivated, concentrated during professors' class lectures, did
* Assistant Legal Writing Professor, St. John's University School of Law; Adjunct
Assistant Professor, Fordham University College of Liberal Studies. B.A., Vassar College,
1980; J.D., Fordham University School of Law, 1989. Appreciation goes to several people
who have made valuable contributions to this article: Elizabeth W. Cohen, Assistant Legal
Writing Professor, St. John's University School of Law (who also permitted the study to be
conducted in her class); Deanna DeLuise, Teaching Assistant, St. John's University School of
Law; Paul Skip Laisure, Esq.; Paula Lustbader, Director of Academic Resource Center,
Seattle University School of Law; Kristine Knaplund, Senior Lecturer & Director of
Academic Support Program, U.C.L.A. School of Law; and Paul T. Wangerin, Associate
Professor, John Marshall Law School.
** Director, Center for The Study of Learning and Teaching Styles; Professor, St. John's
University. Ed. D., New York University, 1949.
1 PLATO, THE REPUBLIC 185 (Raymond Larson ed. & trans., AHM 1979).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/albany62&div=12&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Teaching Law Students through Individual Learning Styles
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