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Lessons From Experts: Improving College Science Instruction Through Case Teaching

Posted on: Saturday, 16 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

The overall aim of this article is to introduce case teaching to college professors who may wish to increase their students' level of engagement with science, mathematics, and engineering. Case teaching is an incredibly adaptable instructional method able to involve students in higher levels of cognitive processing. The explicit purposes of this article are (a) to answer some of the basic questions about case teaching and (b) to show how other science and engineering professors have employed cases in their college courses. The basic questions addressed in the article include the following: What is case teaching? What can case teaching do for college science classrooms? and Where can I go to get more information on case teaching? Information from the National Center for Case Teaching in Science website is referenced. The second half of this article illustrates how cases are used in college science and engineering courses based upon interviews with expert case teachers. Several descriptive vignettes and "lessons" from these experts are available to show how case teaching can be applied in diverse contexts.

Much of the support for case teaching practices comes from anecdote. Individuals who employ case teaching techniques in their science and engineering courses can personally attest to the increase in student engagement and, in many instances, student achievement. Unfortunately, empirical and quantitative research in the effectiveness of case teaching across teaching contexts is practically nonexistent. In a recent guest editorial, Clyde Herreid (2004), co-director of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science made a plea to college science and engineering professors to conduct more research into case teaching. Unquestionably, such research would contribute to the global understanding of college- level science teaching and learning, but on a more local level, the practice of reflecting upon cases gives individual college faculty members the unique opportunity to be reflective of their own professional teaching goals.

The first step in conducting such research rests in college professors' motivation to employ case teaching methods in their own courses. Like other learners, college professors often emulate the practices of individuals they deem expert in their fields, and without readily available role models to encourage participation in case teaching, little progress into case teaching efficacy is possible. Faculty must use cases in order to study case teaching.

The aim of this article is to encourage more science, mathematics, and engineering faculty members to employ case teaching in their own courses and to consider ways to collaborate across teaching contexts to evaluate the actual efficacy of case teaching on student outcomes. The specific goals of this article are (a) to introduce college science professors to case teaching via the National Center for Case Teaching in Science website and (b) to describe and analyze the experiences of three college professors who use case teaching in their undergraduate science and engineering courses.

Case Teaching: Common Questions

What Is Case Teaching?

Case teaching represents a variety of instructional approaches built around a central story, called a case. Science cases are written for the explicit purpose of engaging students in learning science. Cases cover a wide range of science topics and ideas. For example, a case can be about a specific science concept, such as the case of the Van Deemter equation in chemistry (http:// ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/vandeemter/ vandeemter.html). A case can also encompass broad, overarching science ideas, such as an exploration of scientists' biographies. The case entitled, A Recipe for Invention: Scientist Biographies is an example (http://www.sciencecases.org/sci_bios/sci_bios.asp).

Cases are also flexible in their method of presentation. Cases can be presented for small groups or in whole class discussion format. The instructional goals of cases are also varied. Some cases ask students to refine their knowledge by asking systematic sets of questions (directed case). Other cases require students to make decisions about ethics in science (problem case). Due to their great flexibility and adaptability, case teaching is an approach that all science professors can implement in their courses (Herreid, 1998).

What Can Case Teaching Do for College Science Classrooms?

Case teaching improves undergraduate student motivation, interest, and achievement in science. Case teaching connects real world contexts with science content and inquiry, leading to conceptual learning and analytical decision making skills necessary for scientific literacy (Herreid, 1994). Case teachers in business, law, medicine, and teacher education employ case studies to develop skills for lifelong learning (Barnes, Christensen, & Hansen, 1994; Erskine, Leenders, & Maufette-Leenders, 1998; Lundeberg, Levin, & Harrington, 1999). Pedagogically, case methods are flexible instructional tools that provide university professors withmodels for meaningful learning. Cases can be presented in lecture format, discussion mode, debate formats, problem based learning mode, public hearing formats, and small learning groups.

Where Can More Information on Case Teaching Be Obtained?

The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science at SUNY Buffalo has been in the vanguard of undergraduate science case study research and development for over 15 years (see Figure 1; http:// ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/case.html). The National Center has received funding from sources such as the National Science Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The site offers rich information about the origin of case teaching and hosts a diverse array of prewritten cases that can be adapted to fit the needs of a variety of college science, mathematics, and engineering courses. Teaching notes accompanied each case, and these notes provide the background detail on how to conduct and find additional resources to support the case. Overall, the website is a ready-made resource available at no cost to all college professors.

Figure 1. National Center for Case Teaching website available at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/case.html

Cases in Context: Lessons From Case Teaching Experts

To explore the ways that cases are currently used in college classrooms, three expert case teachers recognized for their work with case teaching through the National Center for Case Teaching in Science were interviewed. Each of the experts is a practicing college or university professor. Interviews were either conducted over the telephone or in person, and the average length of conversation was approximately 1 hour. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed for pattern analysis.

The intent of the interviews was to learn about the diverse contexts in which cases have been successfully employed in college classrooms so that short vignettes could be drawn to illustrate the flexibility and adaptability of case teaching method. With this in mind, the data analysis was conducted for descriptive purposes, and the resultant patterns are intended to be illustrative of three unique approaches to case teaching.

Altogether, nine factors were compared for the analysis. These factors include courses where cases are used; number of cases used per course; preferred case format; preferred presentation method; case resource information; instructional goals; years of case teaching experience; institutional Carnegie classification; and regional institutional location. The descriptive matrix produced from the interview sequence is available in Table 1.

In addition, brief vignettes were produced to illustrate the individual personalities of case professors and the manner in which they use case teaching techniques. Following the vignettes are a series of six "lessons" learned from interacting with the case teachers. These lessons provide unique insights into the case teachers' concerns and motivations regarding teaching and learning with cases. They also offer tips to college professors who might like to begin to use case teaching in their own classrooms.

Table 1

Matrix of Three Unique Case Teaching Approaches

Vignettes on the Expert Case Teachers

Frank. Frank is a chemistry professor on an urban college campus in the Northeast. Frank' s teaching load includes organic chemistry for majors and two courses that Frank has designed specifically around case teaching. These courses are Chemistry by the Case, a nonmajors chemistry course driven by case teaching, and an honor's course called Technology and Literature, which he team-teaches with an English professor.

Frank enthusiastically endorses the case method because it permits him to break from the rigid structure of his traditional courses. Frank specifically addressed the rigidity of organic chemistry when he stated, "It is just so terribly structured. It's almost fastened into place." Cases offer a degree of freedom from this structure. "What cases do for me," Frank said, "is they let me bring other issues that would normally not fit into an organic chemistry course."

Team teaching forms the basis of Fran\k's case teaching approach. Team teaching is a method of instruction that engages students in peer collaboration and dialogue. When Frankuses a case, he asks students to bring a written a response to class. Then, during lecture, students discuss their written responses in small groups. At the close of the group conversation, each group reports back to the whole class on its response. In this way, Frank is able to engage students in responding to questions that relate chemistry content to real-world issues. Frank calls this experience "looking out the window." Cases give students the chance to "step outside of this narrow, technical framework and use the framework to look out the window to see how it applies in the real world."

When asked to describe if he thinks his organic chemistry course "covers" the same amount of content that a traditional, lecture driven course might include, Frank explained, "It' s just an illusion [to think that] you can teach everything in organic chemistry." He went on to say, "The cases just add a dimension to [organic chemistry] that is missing otherwise."

Alan. Alan is a professor of engineering at a research university in the Southwest. Alan integrates case teaching with long-term projects and team learning in his junior and senior level engineering courses. Alan describes his case teaching approach as "project-based." Alan bases his entire semester-long curriculum upon two cases. These cases "drive" students through the lengthy process of designing and building an engineering project. For example, one of the projects in Alan's class is to develop a laser that will assist scientists studying underwater caves. Through the case, Alan presents the students with the outcome goals for the project, and the case story serves as a vehicle to engage students in problem solving as they work on their laser. Alan uses the case as a common reference point for homework, tests, and class discussions.

Alan's approach to case teaching is revolutionary in the sense that he has entirely eliminated lecture from his teaching repertoire. Instead, Alan designs curricular modules consisting of readings, homework, and quizzes, all of which are presented using a web-based software package (WebCT). Students are self-reliant as they move through the modules, which Alan calls "KnowLegos." Alan described KnowLegos in the following way: "I've tried to develop a modular curriculum where every day is devoted to a different concept or a reiteration of a concept they've already learned but every concept is tied back to the case study - everything is tied back to the story." Alan described case teaching as a way to help students conceptualize the global picture of engineering as a field of study rather than merely a field focused on technologic skills. Relevancy is key to Alan's engineering curriculum.

Bill. Bill is a professor of biology at a suburban college in the Northeast. Bill uses cases in his sophomore level, yearlong anatomy and physiology course. He and his colleagues developed cases for each of the 13 human body systems, and these cases accompany his instruction. Bill prefers to present his course material through lecture, but he uses the cases to engage students in outside-of- class readings on the material.

Typically, at the beginning of a body system unit, Bill will assign students a case that includes a story followed by approximately 10 highly structured questions. The students are expected to use their textbooks as a resource to answer these questions as homework. On the last day of presentation on that body system, students must submit their responses to the case questions for evaluation. The final day of lecture on a body system is also considered "review day." The students' case responses are used as part of the review of the body system.

Bill prefers to use closed-response questions for his cases. Closed questions are designed to have a specific resolution or answer. This way, Bill is helping students reinforce content knowledge and relate the content to relevant experience. In Bill's course, the cases "bookend" individual units of instruction, meaning that the case provides a point to begin study and a point for review. In the interim, as content is relayed through course lecture, the cases give students a place to engage with the content outside of the class lecture.

Bill described his teaching style as that of a lecturer. So case teaching had to correspond with his teaching approach. He explained, "I started as a lecturer. I know that. I know the textbooks. And so I'm trying to add something with the least amount of disruption to what is going on already." Bill acknowledged that for many science professors, his method of case teaching may be a good starting point. Bill stated, "If you want to bring cases in [to your classroom] with a minimum invasion or disruption of what you are doing, here's a way to start!"

Lessons Learned

Lesson 1. Case teaching does not necessarily require professors to make revolutionary shifts in their instructional approach. Bill was quite forthcoming about his interest in maintaining some reins on his teaching style, which consisted largely of interactive whole class lectures. Bill's use of cases as out-of-lecture homework shows how a successful lecture style can still be reinforced with case teaching. On the other hand, Alan's use of cases as the driving force in his engineering courses demonstrates how cases can support an entire curriculum. Frank provides an "in between" curricular approach in that he employs cases as a way to stretch the otherwise rigid boundaries of chemistry and to engage students in social, ethical, and moral decision-making.

Lesson 2. Covering content is possible, but not the driving goal of case teaching. All three professors spoke at length about "the content coverage dilemma." All three of the experts explained that while they no longer cover the same amount of content, the students who learn through cases are more apt to understand the material and can apply the material to real-life experiences. Frank noted that in any science course, there is "an infinity of material to cover," and though many professors claim to do justice to the content, in no way can they be thorough with their coverage.

Alan also spoke of the shifting goal that occurred as he transitioned from traditional lecture-style teaching to project- based, case-driven instruction. He stated, "If you design a content based curriculum, you are wasting your time. Everyone thinks that their area [of expertise] is important, and everyone wants to teach everything. You just end up with a hodgepodge of things." Alan writes his curriculum with the express desire to get his students working at higher cognitive levels.

Bill also noticed that his students were working at higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive skill when they used cases. Students were engaging in problem solving through evaluation and synthesis, and students' in-class discussions reflected a much more "solid and deep" understanding of the science.

Lesson 3. Case teaching will take practice. Frank said that at the beginning of the term, he gets his students energized and motivated to learn through cases. Bill spoke about how he begins the academic year with a "warm up" case that he uses as a model for how to analyze cases. Although all of the subsequent cases for Bill's course will be analyzed outside of the class lecture, the students have the opportunity to work through that first case with the modeling of the professor. Alan uses a weeklong team building experience to introduce his students to the concept of group collaboration and case study learning. He admitted that, at first, this seemed to be a lot of time to dedicate to team building, but the positive gains he saw with student productivity made the time well spent.

Lesson 4. Building a case teaching course will require some dedicated time. All three of the experts interviewed for this study have been actively engaged in writing cases for several years. The preparation that goes into the development of a good case is tremendous, and a novice case teacher should not expect to reinvent the wheel in a single academic year. Bill described the way that he was able to write the 13 cases he uses as follows. Bill and a colleague wrote a new case for each body system per year for the first 3 years that he started case teaching. His most valuable resource for writing cases was his textbook, which provided simple vignettes on which to ground the case. After developing his first set of cases, Bill has chosen to use these cases over again, with minor revisions and alterations. He now has a set of three cases for each body system that can be rotated over the years.

Lesson 5. A college or university's institutional orientation does not have to limit a professor's ability to engage in case teaching. Research universities have developed a reputation for encouraging professors to focus on research, often to the detriment of teaching. Alan serves as a model for how a professor at a research university can blend research and teaching interests while encouraging students to do the same. Alan uses project-based teaching accompanied by illustrative cases to motivate his engineering students to work systematically through authentic problems and to construct projects that meet the guidelines posed in the cases. Alan integrates case teaching, project based learning, and student teaming to help his students take charge of their own progress and become self-directed learners, essentially freeing Alan from the confines of a teacher-heavy lecture burden - and with even more impressive gains in student achievement and motivation to learn.

Lesson 6. When beginning case teaching, course instructors may find themselves gravitating toward cases that match their personal instructional style. For example, Bill chose highly structured and directed casesto use for his content-rich anatomy and physiology course. He recognized that other types of cases exist, but he found that the structured, systematic, and content-based cases were in better alignment with his own interest in reinforcing student conceptual and content knowledge. Frank, in comparison, gravitated toward more open-ended cases. For Frank, case teaching offered a new freedom to explore the big ideas about science that are often overlooked in more traditional, content-driven science courses. Frank aptly described his case teaching as offering his students the opportunity to "look out the window" and to apply their chemistry knowledge to the world around them. Frank tends to rely heavily on team learning to support students' interactions as they come to conclusions about the case dilemmas. Alan wanted his students to have full control over their education, and he designed his course to empower students. Cases caused Alan to "step out of the limelight" and to assist his students in a relevant, holistic pre- professional engineering education.

Conclusion

As a former high school teacher and science education specialist, I was impressed with the ability of all three experts to use education-speak ably to illustrate their case teaching goals. The primary focus for each of the experts was on their students' achievement and understanding in science and engineering. They spoke of learning styles and of Bloom's taxonomy, and they were able to distinguish pedagogical and content goals. In every case, the experts determined that case teaching added significantly to their own teaching efficacy as well as to their students' success.

Also, as the diverse experiences of the three expert case teachers can attest, case teaching fits with a range of teaching needs and philosophies. A strategy for instructional change, case teaching can meet the demands of the most rigorous content-based course, as well as provide a source of freedom in college science curriculum development. Hopefully, with the mentorship of the three professors in this study, more college professors will include case teaching in their repertoire and embrace the challenge to study case teaching efficacy systematically across teaching contexts. There exists a real dearth of research on student learning outcomes and the role that case teaching can have in student achievement and student attitudes about science, mathematics, and engineering. The first step in filling this gap is to employ cases purposefully and to develop rigorous research agendas that include and contribute to the professional growth of faculty members and to the growth of the students in their courses.

Editors' Note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kim Bilica, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo, Dept of Learning & Instruction, 515 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260.

References

Barnes, L. B., Christensen, C. R., & Hansen, A. J. (1994). Teaching and the case method: Text, cases and readings. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.

Erskine, J. A., Leenders, M. R., & Maufette-Leenders, L. A. (1998). Teaching with cases. Ontario, Canada: University of Western Ontario.

Herreid, C. (1994). Case studies in science: A novel method. Journal of College Science Teaching, 25, 221-229.

Herreid, C. F. (1998). Sorting potatoes for Miss Bonner. Journal of College Science Teaching, 27(4), 236-239.

Herreid, C. F. (2004). Copias de Ciego. Journal of College Science Teaching, 33(4), 6.

Lundeberg, M. A., Levin, B. B., & Harrington, H. L. (1999). Who learns what from cases and how? The research base for teaching and learning with cases. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Kim Bilica

University at Buffalo

Electronic mail may be sent via Internet to kbilica@buffalo.edu

Copyright School Science and Mathematics Association, Incorporated Oct 2004

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