Star Trek: TNG As a Teaching Tool For First Year Courses

Andrew E. Taslitz, American University College of Law, Okianer Christian Dark, Howard University School of Law, and Atiba R. Ellis, West Virginia University College of Law, have published The Star Trek Enrichment Series: An Exploration in Teaching and Learning in volume 58 of the Howard Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract.

This short essay, a part of the Howard Law Journal’s symposium in honor of the contributions of the late Professor Andrew E. Taslitz, discusses the authors’ experiences teaching the Star Trek Enrichment Series (“the Series”) at the Howard University School of Law. The Series was a six-session, one semester, non-credit course designed to creatively use Star Trek as a teaching tool in the legal academy, with particular attention to the needs of first-year students. This essay discusses our aims for the Series. It then situates the Series (and this essay) within the literature on the use of Star Trek as a tool for post-secondary teaching. Finally it reflects on the specific contributions of our dear colleague Andrew Taslitz to the Series. We designed the Series to reinforce students’ understanding of doctrine, to improve students’ understanding of jurisprudence, and to draw larger connections between the law, culture, and society. We posit that this innovation, spurred by Professor Taslitz and combining all our talents, is an important and substantial contribution to the practice and the literature on teaching and learning.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

The Scholarship of Andrew Taslitz

Susan A. Bandes, DePaul University College of Law, has published Taz and Empathy in volume 58 of the Howard Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract.

This article, written for the Taslitz Galaxy Conference at Howard Law School celebrating the life and work of Andrew Taslitz (Taz), will explore the elusive concept of empathy, the notion of empathic divides, and the challenges of empathic accuracy, and will discuss Taz’s scholarship as an ongoing project of bridging empathic divides. Taz's project took many interrelated forms. One primary focus was on the dynamics of cognitive bias and self-deception, drawing on psychology, neuroscience and related disciplines. Taz’s scholarship keeps coming back to the question of the barriers to understanding the narrowness of one’s own perspective, and the barriers to grasping the different frameworks employed by others. It focuses, to take a few examples, on racial blindsight, gender bias, status quo bias, tunnel vision, the bias against the poor, harmful rape narratives, and the self-deception that can lead to date rape. Another primary focus is on identifying institutional reforms that will aid in overcoming these barriers. Empathy, along with respect for the dignity of others (another of his scholarly themes) were not only a primary focus of Taz's scholarship, but also the hallmarks of his relationships with others. He was the rare person whose scholarship and life were of a piece.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.