Development of A Civil Law Course Based on Heuristic Teaching Method Combined with Case Teaching Method to Enhance University Students' Civil Dispute Resolution Ability and Students' Satisfaction

บทคัดย่อ

Background and Aims: The civil law course was recognized by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 1999 as one of the 14 core courses in law, and education in civil law plays a key role in cultivating the awareness of the rule of law and legal literacy among contemporary college students. Civil law is also a legal course closest to the practical life of college students. However, the traditional civil law course suffers from three main problems: abstract theoretical knowledge and a wide range of legal texts involved, insufficient motivation of students to learn and high learning pressure, and insufficient ability to solve actual civil disputes, which leads to poor teaching effect of the course. Civil law studies possess the significant feature of "coexistence of abstraction and concreteness, and equal emphasis on theory and practice", which determines that civil law teaching not only needs to help students establish a systematic theoretical knowledge system but also cultivate their ability to apply legal knowledge to solve practical problems. In response to the three issues mentioned above in the civil law course, this article intends to start from constructing a brand-new teaching strategy, changing the traditional model of merely using the case teaching method or the heuristic teaching method for course instruction: although the case teaching method can provide vivid practical scenarios, it may lack theoretical depth; while the heuristic teaching method can guide students to think deeply, it may lack specific cognitive carriers. Empirical evidence shows that adopting a new teaching strategy that combines the case teaching method with the heuristic teaching method can form a virtuous cycle of "cases arouse interest—heuristic prompts thinking—interaction promotes internalization—transfer enhances ability", enabling students to mobilize comprehensive legal knowledge to solve real-world problems at a deep level. Students actively construct knowledge in the process of "analyzing cases - responding to questions - debating legal principles", while simultaneously improving their ability to apply the law and resolve civil disputes. This study aimed to (1) focus on the elements of the course, existing problems and theoretical foundations, and systematically sort out the background information of the civil law course in China; (2) develop the course based on heuristic teaching method and case teaching method to enhance students' civil dispute resolution ability and students satisfaction; (3) evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the civil law course in China based on heuristic teaching method and case teaching method.

Materials and Methods: This study used a pretest-posttest design to conduct an instructional strategy with 30 students (1 class) who took a course in civil law at Chongqing Polytechnic University of Electronic Technology in the second semester of the 2024-2025 academic year. Participants were selected through a cluster random sampling method. The new civil law course consisted of eight lesson plans focusing on the new instructional strategy based on the heuristic teaching method combined with the case teaching method. Data were collected using three instruments: 1) An assessment of the applicability of the eight lesson plans (M=4.87, SD=0.18); 2) A pretest-posttest paper focusing on students' civil dispute resolution ability (pre-test mean: M = 50.65, SD = 7.85; post-test mean: M = 86.32, SD = 5.32; Reliability 0.823); 3) A student satisfaction questionnaire (Reliability 0.936).

Results: The results showed that 1) existing problems of the current course were abstract theoretical knowledge and numerous legal provisions, low learning motivation and interest, resulting in high learning pressure, and the ability to resolve civil disputes through the knowledge of civil law is not high. 2)The new course adopts a new teaching strategy that combines heuristic teaching methods and case teaching methods. It integrates abstract legal knowledge into actual cases. Through methods such as inspiration and guidance, it enables students to shift from passively accepting knowledge to actively seeking legal support behind the cases, which greatly stimulates students' interest in learning and significantly improves students' Civil Dispute Resolution Ability. 3) Posttest scores of civil dispute resolution ability were statistically significantly higher than the pre-test scores with a significance level of 0.01 (t₂₉ = 21.23, p < 0.01) with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 3.88). Students’ satisfaction scores (M=4.49, standard deviation 0.55) were significantly higher than the standardized score of 3.51 (70%) (t₂₉ = 44.58, p < 0.01) at the 0.01 level of statistical significance, indicating that the course was extremely effective.

Conclusion: This study revealed that incorporating a new instructional strategy based on a heuristic teaching method combined with the case teaching method in a civil law course can effectively stimulate students' interest in learning and substantially improve college students' ability to apply their knowledge of civil law to resolve actual civil disputes. The findings contribute to course development by providing an innovative teaching model that can sustainably promote the enhancement of students' civil dispute resolution ability and increase students’ satisfaction. Future research should explore the long-term impact of this approach and its applicability across different disciplines.