On October 3, prof. Charles Szypszak (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Government) introduced the Socratic teaching method to the Law Faculty members. The Socratic method is a pedagogical technique that is widely applied in the US law schools, making the US legal education exceptional.
Prof. Szypszak talked about the specificity of the teaching method, tips for its application in classes, question types to be given to students. He underlined special features of his way of teaching: “With an analytical dialogue method teachers engage individual students in a series of questions and answers, with each question building on the previous questions and answers, in a manner understood as preparing students for spontaneous analytical skills encountered in practice. Effective teacher-led and student-centered dialogue encourages learning that deepens and broadens knowledge and develops decision-making abilities.”
We discussed challenges of applying the analytic dialogue method in Lithuanian legal education. “Preparing reading material, ensuring that students read it before the class and encouraging students to continue the dialogue after the initial “correct” response”, Dr. Donatas Murauskas of Vilnius University Law Faculty indicated talking about the challenges in application of the method in Lithuania.
The event was organized by the US Law Center at the Law Faculty of Vilnius University.