Case-based Teaching

Introduction

Case-based teaching is an active learning strategy in which students read and discuss complex, real-life scenarios that call on their analytical thinking skills and decision-making. The sites below provide methods for incorporating cases in all disciplines.

General Resources

Using Cases in Teaching (Penn State).
For instructors interested in starting to use cases in teaching. Provides strategies for writing an effective case and teaching with it, additional resources for specific disciplines, and links to case examples.
http://archive.tlt.psu.edu/suggestions/cases/

"Teaching with Case Studies," Speaking of Teaching, Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching, Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 1994.
Discussion of designing a case study experience from writing or finding the case through wrapping up the discussion.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf

"Case Based Learning in Your Classes," Margaret A. Waterman and Ethel D. Stanley.
Describes various types of cases, teaching methods for them, and other issues in case-based teaching, including assessment.
http://cstl-csm.semo.edu/waterman/CBL/index.html

Case Method Website (John Foran, Department of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara).
A toolkit for teaching with cases. Contains everything faculty members would need to know to use the case method as a pedagogy in their own teaching, including a set of cases in many social science areas as models for classroom use.
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/projects/casemethod/intro.html

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (State University of New York at Buffalo).
A comprehensive site for all scientific disciplines. Links to numerous articles on case study teaching in science plus an extensive collection of cases.
http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/

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