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NCCSTS Case Collection • Teaching Resources
The publications listed below have been produced by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science.
Books
Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science
Edited by Clyde Freeman Herreid
Originally published in 2006 by NSTA Press; reprinted by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) in 2013. Collection of 40+ essays examining every aspect of the case study method and its use in the science classroom. The book is available for purchase through NSTA.
Science Stories You Can Count On: 51 Case Studies with Quantitative Reasoning in Biology
Edited by Clyde Freeman Herreid, Nancy A. Schiller, and Ky F. Herreid, NSTA Press, 2014.
Includes case studies as well as tips and techniques for promoting quantitative reasoning in biology. The book is available for purchase through NSTA or from Amazon.
Science Stories: Using Case Studies to Teach Critical Thinking
Edited by Clyde Freeman Herreid, Nancy A. Schiller, and Ky F. Herreid, NSTA Press, 2012.
A compilation of case studies with questions and teaching notes that can be used to help develop STEM students’ critical thinking skills. The book is available for purchase through NSTA or from Amazon.
Videos
The NCCSTS has produced two training videos with supporting brochures on the case method and its use in science education.
Use of Case Studies and Group Discussion in Science Education
This hands-on video shows the classical method of running a case study class used by Harvard law and business school professors for almost 100 years—the art of using successful group discussion. In 26 minutes you will learn how to ensure that your large group discussion is not a free-for-all or an exercise in futility as you try to get students to say something intelligent. Preparation and control are the key ingredients. For preparation students must read a case study ahead of time. But it is more than that. In this video, which focuses on a case study involving genetically modified food, you will see how an actual class is given a “warm-up” by breaking into small groups to discuss the reading they’ve done ahead of time. Then you will see how a large group discussion is successfully controlled. It’s the important, yet subtle, use of appropriate questions, body language, blackboard planning, and summarization that makes it all work.
Team Learning: Cooperative Learning in the Science Classroom
Having students work in small groups is arguably the best way to teach science and this includes teaching science using cases. But how can we run a classroom this way? Here is one answer using a method called Team Learning. This 26-minute video shows you how to establish groups, how to set up a grading system that encourages group participation, how to answer students’ questions and, most importantly, why this is a superior method of teaching.
Bibliographies
- Bibliography on Case Study Teaching in Science compiled by Nancy A. Schiller and Clyde Freeman Herreid.
Articles
The articles listed below are selected by Clyde F. Herreid and other members of the NCCSTS.
Getting Started
- Case Studies in Science: A Novel Method of Science Education
- What is a Case? Bringing to Science Education the Established Teaching Tool of Law and Medicine
- My Favorite Case and What Makes It So
- What Makes a Good Case? Some Basic Rules of Good Storytelling Help Teachers Generate Student Excitement in the Classroom
- Sorting Potatoes for Miss Bonner: Bringing Order to Case Study Methodology Through a Classification Scheme
- Can Case Studies Be Used to Teach Critical Thinking?
- A Peek Behind the Curtain of Tenure and Promotion
Writing Cases
- Cooking With Betty Crocker: A Recipe for Case Writing
- The Way of Flesch: The Art of Writing Readable Cases
- Twixt Fact and Fiction: A Case Writer’s Dilemma
- Let’s Get Personal: Putting Personality into your Cases
- Puttin’ on the Ritz: How to Put Science into Cases
- Putting Words in Their Mouth: Writing Dialogue for Case Studies
- And All That Jazz: An Essay Extolling the Virtues of Writing Case Teaching Notes
- Exercises in Style: Is There a Best Way to Write a Case Study?
- The Chef Returns: A Recipe for Writing Great Case Studies
- Creating a Video Case Study
Teaching with Cases
- Don't! What Not to Do When Teaching Cases
- Return to Mars: How Not to Teach a Case Study
- Assembling a Case Study Tool Kit: 10 Tools for Teaching With Cases
- The Interrupted Case Method
- Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom
- A Chat with the Survey Monkey: Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom
- Intimate Debate Technique
- "Clicker" Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching into Large Classrooms
- Structured Controversy: A Case Study Strategy
- Trigger Cases Versus Capstone Cases
- The Boy Scouts Said Its Best: Some Advice on Case Study Teaching and Student Prepara-tion
- Naming Names
- Science, Pseudoscience, and Nonsense
Cases and Cooperative Learning
- The Bee and the Groundhog: Lessons in Cooperative Learning
- I Never Knew Joe Paterno: An Essay on Teamwork and Love
- The Wisdom of Groups
Grading Case Work