Student population This study was conducted at Kingsborough Community College, which is part of the City University of New York system, located in Brooklyn, New York. The sociological factors involved 5. Although there is now a substantive and growing body of literature describing how to develop and use case studies in science teaching, current research on the effectiveness of case study teaching at meeting specific learning objectives is of limited scope and depth. Information on the lives of people appears in newspapers, biographies, autobiographies, and frequently in fiction stories. Foss, University of Colorado Denver; Scott Paynton, Humboldt State University; Laura Hahn, Humboldt State University.
Similarly, case studies facilitate interdisciplinary learning and can be used to highlight connections between specific academic topics and real-world societal issues and applications ,. We strongly encourage all participants to seek opportunities to test their cases in a classroom. Crosser, Metropolitan State University of Denver; Christine L. Related Links By Wellesley College With considerable help from , , , and What is Teaching with the Case Method? This section provides detailed instructions on how to develop each of these components. Although case studies were considered a novel method of science education just 20 years ago, the case study teaching method has gained popularity in recent years among an array of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, nursing, and psychology —, , , , —, , ,.
Case-based Teaching With case-based teaching, students develop skills in analytical thinking and reflective judgment by reading and discussing complex, real-life scenarios. Teaching with case studies improves performance on learning assessments, independent of case study origin To evaluate the effectiveness of the case study teaching method at promoting learning, student performance on examination questions related to material covered by case studies was compared with performance on questions that covered material addressed through classroom discussions and textbook reading. Lowery, Jones County Junior College; Jalynn Roberts, William Carey University; Jessica Roberts, University of Southern Mississippi. Journal of Case Studies in Education This journal has been retired and is no longer accepting manuscripts for publication. Fox, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; Austin Vasek, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; Derek Davis, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Teaching with the case method. One of my students suggested that in his view the use of case studies in teaching is merely an extension of the discussion method and not a method in itself. D Help you understand the connections between scientific concepts and other aspects of your everyday life? Niehm, Iowa State University; Leslie Stoel, Ohio State University. Wait and check their body language before adding or changing the discussion. Case materials are made available to students at a variety times in the course of a decision-forcing case. Four of the remaining core topics covered in this course macromolecules, photosynthesis, genetic inheritance, and translation were selected as control lessons to provide control assessment data.
We seek a diverse group of participants, including faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from both the social and natural sciences. The observation that case studies published by unaffiliated instructors are just as effective as those produced by the instructor of a course suggests that instructors can reasonably rely on the use of pre-published case studies relevant to their class rather than investing the considerable time and effort required to produce a novel case study. How to Teach with the Case Method? Finally, data were analyzed to determine whether performance on examination questions is positively correlated to student perceptions of learning gains resulting from case study teaching. It is therefore important to determine whether case studies published by instructors who are unaffiliated with a particular course can be used effectively and obviate the need for each instructor to develop new case studies for their own courses. An additional subsection, entitled appears at the end.
These findings support increased use of published case studies in the teaching of a variety of biological concepts and learning objectives. Sheehan, Mount Royal University; Larry Katz, University of Calgary; Brian J. Within the next month Jack will spend as much time as he can with Manuel. Kingsborough Community College has a diverse population of approximately 19,000 undergraduate students. The cases were developed with the use of local health department scenarios and data and have been taught and refined in a number of settings.
Although many instructors have produced case studies for use in their own classrooms, the production of novel case studies is time-consuming and requires skills that not all instructors have perfected. Successful instructors simultaneously manage content and process, and they must prepare rigorously for both. The tensions causing the problem Another principle is to encourage our classes to concentrate on learning to share their points of view. To elucidate the effectiveness of case studies at promoting learning gains related to specific course learning objectives compared with class discussions and textbook reading, students were asked how much each of these methods of content delivery specifically helped improve skills that were integral to fulfilling three main course objectives. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. A good example of this would be a class session devoted to an analysis of the character of Philemon and an inductive study of the book which bears his name.
Raw case materials are those that were initially produced for reasons other than the informing of a case discussion. Despite what is known about the effectiveness of case studies in science education, questions remain about the functionality of the case study teaching method at promoting specific learning objectives that are important to many undergraduate biology courses. Case studies covering a wide range of topics in the sciences are available from a number of sources, and many of them are free access. That is why the group leader must be plugged in to the Word of God so that he can identify a biblical explanation and interpretation of the issues in the case. Cases in education may be submitted to the Research in Higher Education Journal for review.
R 2 value indicates the coefficient of determination. Volume 6 - September, 2014: , Adam J. Fierke, University of Minnesota, Duluth. Why Teach with the Case Method? This indicates that case studies are more effective than more commonly used, traditional methods of content delivery at promoting learning of a variety of core concepts covered in general biology courses. Whether to use a simple scenario-type case or a complex detailed one depends on your course objectives. This has been reported to increase student motivation to participate in class activities, which promotes learning and increases performance on assessments , , ,.