Automated generation of examples for a tutorial in case-based argumentation

Abstract

Examples in our domain are argumentation problems involving small sets of legal cases that are related in interesting ways. We call these collections of cases Argument Contexts. We have identified several types of Argument Contexts that can be used to teach the Issues in our curriculum for case-based argumentation. We have developed a program that generates Argument Contexts that address these Issues and have other pedagogically desirable properties, such as being clear and concise. In a preliminary feasibility study a human tutor used examples generated by the program with encouraging results. Because assembling Argument Contexts by hand is time-consuming, we believe that our program can be a useful tool for law professors who teach reasoning with cases. Also, we plan to use it as a component of an intelligent tutoring system for case-based argumentation that we are currently developing.