Team-Based Learning in Law

Used for over thirty years in a wide variety of fields, Team-Based Learning is a powerful teaching strategy that improves student learning. Used effectively, it enables students to actively engage in applying legal concepts in every class -- without sacrificing coverage. Because this teaching strategy has been used in classes with over 200 students, it also provides an efficient and affordable way to provide significant learning. Based on the principles of instructional design, Team-Based Learning has built-in student accountability, promotes independent student preparation, and fosters professional skills. This article provides an overview of Team-Based Learning, reasons to adopt this teaching strategy in light of Best Practices for Legal Education and the Carnegie and MacCrate reports, concrete methods to use Team-Based Learning in Law School, and ways to address challenges to this teaching strategy. Co-authors Sophie M. Sparrow and Margaret Sova McCabe provide examples from their years of teaching a variety of courses using Team-Based Learning

Economics of wind energy for utilities

Utility acceptance of this technology will be contingent upon the establishment of both its technical and economic feasibility. This paper presents preliminary results from a study currently underway to establish the economic value of central station wind energy to certain utility systems. The results for the various utilities are compared specifically in terms of three parameters which have a major influence on the economic value: (1) wind resource, (2) mix of conventional generation sources, and (3) specific utility financial parameters including projected fuel costs. The wind energy is derived from modeling either MOD-2 or MOD-0A wind turbines in wind resources determined by a year of data obtained from the DOE supported meteorological towers with a two-minute sampling frequency. In this paper, preliminary results for six of the utilities studied are presented and compared

Structure Constant of the Yang-Lee Edge Singularity

This paper studies the Yang-Lee singularity of the 2-dimensional Ising model on the cylinder via transfer matrix and finite-size scaling techniques. These techniques enable a measurement of the 2-point and 3-point correlations and a comparison of a measurement of a corresponding universal amplitude with a prediction for the amplitude from the (A4,A1) minimal conformal field theory.Comment: 1 figur

Approximate Bayesian Computation in State Space Models

A new approach to inference in state space models is proposed, based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). ABC avoids evaluation of the likelihood function by matching observed summary statistics with statistics computed from data simulated from the true process; exact inference being feasible only if the statistics are sufficient. With finite sample sufficiency unattainable in the state space setting, we seek asymptotic sufficiency via the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the parameters of an auxiliary model. We prove that this auxiliary model-based approach achieves Bayesian consistency, and that - in a precise limiting sense - the proximity to (asymptotic) sufficiency yielded by the MLE is replicated by the score. In multiple parameter settings a separate treatment of scalar parameters, based on integrated likelihood techniques, is advocated as a way of avoiding the curse of dimensionality. Some attention is given to a structure in which the state variable is driven by a continuous time process, with exact inference typically infeasible in this case as a result of intractable transitions. The ABC method is demonstrated using the unscented Kalman filter as a fast and simple way of producing an approximation in this setting, with a stochastic volatility model for financial returns used for illustration

Scaffolded Code-switching: A resource for achieving academic literacy?

The aim of this paper is to establish whether code-switching is still common practice in rural Limpopo as it was 16 years ago (McCabe, 1996) and if so, to suggest ways to use it as a resource to aid comprehension of English and to explicitly teach cognitive skills and academic literacy. Many rural South African schools have chosen English as a medium of instruction (MoI) from grade 4; and consequently, English second language learners need to simultaneously master English language skills, content and academic literacy. Particularly in rural schools, English MoI has led to code-switching between the mother tongue (L1) and English. Through an English Language Teaching (ELT) lens, code-switching (CS) is generally viewed as a reflection of a language deficiency of the speaker, language interference and an obstacle to learning. This view, however, ignores  codeswitching’s functionality and its potential to assist the achievement of academic literacy. CS, clearly an inevitable component of our rural classrooms, could be used as a resource at school from the intermediate phase, through secondary school and to a limited extent at university. CS can be ‘scaffolded’ at school and gradually ‘faded’ as learners advance through secondary school and enter tertiary institutions.Keywords: code-switching, translanguaging, academic literacy, medium of instruction, English as second languag

Examining DiDonato\u27s Damage Limitations and Mandatory Joinder Requirements - Greer v. Parsons

This Note will outline the evolution of wrongful death actions, with particular attention being given to the inclusion of unborn children under the providing statutes. It also traces North Carolina\u27s legislative and judicial treatment of wrongful death actions. Next, the Note will discuss the inconsistencies created by ruling that pecuniary loss and loss of society and companionship cannot be recovered as a matter of law in a wrongful death action brought on behalf of viable fetus. It will argue that instead ,of limiting recovery as a matter of law, such damages should be addressed on a case-by-case basis and the question of whether damages are too speculative should be answered by the trial court. The Note concludes by addressing the consequences of Greer\u27s decision to disregard DiDonato\u27s mandatory joinder requirement. It suggests that although Greer provides an exception to the joinder requirement, it is unclear exactly how broad (or narrow) that exception is

A Wilderness Primer

A Wilderness Prime

An academic literacy course: Making choices

Academic Literacy (AL) or English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses have been initiated at various South African Institutions of Higher Education to assist English Second Language students in their tertiary studies. This article presents the choices that may confront course or materials designers when developing such courses for mainly rural students. The choices mainly lie between English for general purposes or for specific purposes; whether to focus on academic literacy or on study skills; which approach or method is most appropriate for teaching English in an academic literacy course to speakers of vernaculars particularly in a rural context. Whether to adapt the level of complexity of the course and the materials to the level of language skills and proficiency with which rural students enter the university or to expect them to cope with a set standard, also needs to be considered. The choices made for the context of this study were based on the findings of a study of the development of evaluation criteria for tertiary in-house EAP materials for first-entering students at the University of Limpopo (UL), but could also apply to any institution hosting learners from impoverished English input contexts such as rural Limpopo.Keywords: choice; course content; language materials development; English for Academic Purposes; Academic Literacy; interculturality