From Participation to Legal Literacy: Causal Effects of Low‑Cost Classroom Micro-Interventions in Universities

YANG Danming, LUO Haowen, LV Tong, WU Jinhe, WU Miaoxian

Abstract

This study tests whether embedding low-cost, replicable classroom “micro-interventions” that raise participation can improve university students’ legal literacy. We conducted a two-wave, class-level staggered adoption across law-related courses, assembling a four-wave student panel (T0–T3; N=1,080; 4,320 student‑wave records). Causal identification relies on difference‑in‑differences with student and time fixed effects and class‑clustered inference, complemented by an event‑study; a 0–100 engagement index from learning logs opens the mechanism. The intervention increases the legal‑cognition test (O1, 0–100) by 5.37 points (SE=0.33; d≈0.77) and the scenario‑based compliance task (O2, 0–100) by 6.07 points (SE=0.58; d≈0.64). Dynamics show O1 building up across post‑adoption waves, whereas O2 peaks early and attenuates. Benefits are larger for students with low baseline engagement, indicating compensatory effects. While mild positive pre‑trends—especially for O2—advise caution in causal interpretation, robustness checks preserve sign and magnitude. Overall, routine, repeatable participatory practices embedded in ordinary teaching yield policy‑relevant gains in legal cognition and short‑term scenario performance and offer a scalable pathway for civics/legal education in higher education.

Keywords

Learning participationLegal literacyActive learningDifference‑in‑differencesEvent studyHigher education

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