teaching method case study

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• v.16(1); 2015 May

Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains †

Associated data.

• Appendix 1: Example assessment questions used to assess the effectiveness of case studies at promoting learning
• Appendix 2: Student learning gains were assessed using a modified version of the SALG course evaluation tool

Following years of widespread use in business and medical education, the case study teaching method is becoming an increasingly common teaching strategy in science education. However, the current body of research provides limited evidence that the use of published case studies effectively promotes the fulfillment of specific learning objectives integral to many biology courses. This study tested the hypothesis that case studies are more effective than classroom discussions and textbook reading at promoting learning of key biological concepts, development of written and oral communication skills, and comprehension of the relevance of biological concepts to everyday life. This study also tested the hypothesis that case studies produced by the instructor of a course are more effective at promoting learning than those produced by unaffiliated instructors. Additionally, performance on quantitative learning assessments and student perceptions of learning gains were analyzed to determine whether reported perceptions of learning gains accurately reflect academic performance. The results reported here suggest that case studies, regardless of the source, are significantly more effective than other methods of content delivery at increasing performance on examination questions related to chemical bonds, osmosis and diffusion, mitosis and meiosis, and DNA structure and replication. This finding was positively correlated to increased student perceptions of learning gains associated with oral and written communication skills and the ability to recognize connections between biological concepts and other aspects of life. Based on these findings, case studies should be considered as a preferred method for teaching about a variety of concepts in science courses.

INTRODUCTION

The case study teaching method is a highly adaptable style of teaching that involves problem-based learning and promotes the development of analytical skills ( 8 ). By presenting content in the format of a narrative accompanied by questions and activities that promote group discussion and solving of complex problems, case studies facilitate development of the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning; moving beyond recall of knowledge to analysis, evaluation, and application ( 1 , 9 ). Similarly, case studies facilitate interdisciplinary learning and can be used to highlight connections between specific academic topics and real-world societal issues and applications ( 3 , 9 ). This has been reported to increase student motivation to participate in class activities, which promotes learning and increases performance on assessments ( 7 , 16 , 19 , 23 ). For these reasons, case-based teaching has been widely used in business and medical education for many years ( 4 , 11 , 12 , 14 ). 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 ( 5 – 7 , 9 , 11 , 13 , 15 – 17 , 21 , 22 , 24 ).

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. Studies have shown that working in groups during completion of case studies significantly improves student perceptions of learning and may increase performance on assessment questions, and that the use of clickers can increase student engagement in case study activities, particularly among non-science majors, women, and freshmen ( 7 , 21 , 22 ). Case study teaching has been shown to improve exam performance in an anatomy and physiology course, increasing the mean score across all exams given in a two-semester sequence from 66% to 73% ( 5 ). Use of case studies was also shown to improve students’ ability to synthesize complex analytical questions about the real-world issues associated with a scientific topic ( 6 ). In a high school chemistry course, it was demonstrated that the case study teaching method produces significant increases in self-reported control of learning, task value, and self-efficacy for learning and performance ( 24 ). This effect on student motivation is important because enhanced motivation for learning activities has been shown to promote student engagement and academic performance ( 19 , 24 ). Additionally, faculty from a number of institutions have reported that using case studies promotes critical thinking, learning, and participation among students, especially in terms of the ability to view an issue from multiple perspectives and to grasp the practical application of core course concepts ( 23 ).

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. A recent survey of teachers who use case studies found that the topics most often covered in general biology courses included genetics and heredity, cell structure, cells and energy, chemistry of life, and cell cycle and cancer, suggesting that these topics should be of particular interest in studies that examine the effectiveness of the case study teaching method ( 8 ). However, the existing body of literature lacks direct evidence that the case study method is an effective tool for teaching about this collection of important topics in biology courses. Further, the extent to which case study teaching promotes development of science communication skills and the ability to understand the connections between biological concepts and everyday life has not been examined, yet these are core learning objectives shared by a variety of science courses. 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. 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. The results reported herein indicate that teaching with case studies results in significantly higher performance on examination questions about chemical bonds, osmosis and diffusion, mitosis and meiosis, and DNA structure and replication than that achieved by class discussions and textbook reading for topics of similar complexity. Case studies also increased overall student perceptions of learning gains and perceptions of learning gains specifically related to written and oral communication skills and the ability to grasp connections between scientific topics and their real-world applications. The effectiveness of the case study teaching method at increasing academic performance was not correlated to whether the case study used was authored by the instructor of the course or by an unaffiliated instructor. These findings support increased use of published case studies in the teaching of a variety of biological concepts and learning objectives.

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. Kingsborough Community College has a diverse population of approximately 19,000 undergraduate students. The student population included in this study was enrolled in the first semester of a two-semester sequence of general (introductory) biology for biology majors during the spring, winter, or summer semester of 2014. A total of 63 students completed the course during this time period; 56 students consented to the inclusion of their data in the study. Of the students included in the study, 23 (41%) were male and 33 (59%) were female; 40 (71%) were registered as college freshmen and 16 (29%) were registered as college sophomores. To normalize participant groups, the same student population pooled from three classes taught by the same instructor was used to assess both experimental and control teaching methods.

Course material

The four biological concepts assessed during this study (chemical bonds, osmosis and diffusion, mitosis and meiosis, and DNA structure and replication) were selected as topics for studying the effectiveness of case study teaching because they were the key concepts addressed by this particular course that were most likely to be taught in a number of other courses, including biology courses for both majors and nonmajors at outside institutions. At the start of this study, relevant existing case studies were freely available from the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) to address mitosis and meiosis and DNA structure and replication, but published case studies that appropriately addressed chemical bonds and osmosis and diffusion were not available. Therefore, original case studies that addressed the latter two topics were produced as part of this study, and case studies produced by unaffiliated instructors and published by the NCCSTS were used to address the former two topics. By the conclusion of this study, all four case studies had been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication by the NCCSTS ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/ ). 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.

To minimize extraneous variation, control topics and assessments were carefully matched in complexity, format, and number with case studies, and an equal amount of class time was allocated for each case study and the corresponding control lesson. Instruction related to control lessons was delivered using minimal slide-based lectures, with emphasis on textbook reading assignments accompanied by worksheets completed by students in and out of the classroom, and small and large group discussion of key points. Completion of activities and discussion related to all case studies and control topics that were analyzed was conducted in the classroom, with the exception of the take-home portion of the osmosis and diffusion case study.

Data collection and analysis

This study was performed in accordance with a protocol approved by the Kingsborough Community College Human Research Protection Program and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the City University of New York (CUNY IRB reference 539938-1; KCC IRB application #: KCC 13-12-126-0138). Assessment scores were collected from regularly scheduled course examinations. For each case study, control questions were included on the same examination that were similar in number, format, point value, and difficulty level, but related to a different topic covered in the course that was of similar complexity. Complexity and difficulty of both case study and control questions were evaluated using experiential data from previous iterations of the course; the Bloom’s taxonomy designation and amount of material covered by each question, as well as the average score on similar questions achieved by students in previous iterations of the course was considered in determining appropriate controls. All assessment questions were scored using a standardized, pre-determined rubric. Student perceptions of learning gains were assessed using a modified version of the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) course evaluation tool ( http://www.salgsite.org ), distributed in hardcopy and completed anonymously during the last week of the course. Students were presented with a consent form to opt-in to having their data included in the data analysis. After the course had concluded and final course grades had been posted, data from consenting students were pooled in a database and identifying information was removed prior to analysis. Statistical analysis of data was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and calculation of the R 2 coefficient of determination.

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. The latter questions served as control items; assessment items for each case study were compared with control items that were of similar format, difficulty, and point value ( Appendix 1 ). Each of the four case studies resulted in an increase in examination performance compared with control questions that was statistically significant, with an average difference of 18% ( Fig. 1 ). The mean score on case study-related questions was 73% for the chemical bonds case study, 79% for osmosis and diffusion, 76% for mitosis and meiosis, and 70% for DNA structure and replication ( Fig. 1 ). The mean score for non-case study-related control questions was 60%, 54%, 60%, and 52%, respectively ( Fig. 1 ). In terms of examination performance, no significant difference between case studies produced by the instructor of the course (chemical bonds and osmosis and diffusion) and those produced by unaffiliated instructors (mitosis and meiosis and DNA structure and replication) was indicated by the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance. However, the 25% difference between the mean score on questions related to the osmosis and diffusion case study and the mean score on the paired control questions was notably higher than the 13–18% differences observed for the other case studies ( Fig. 1 ).

Case study teaching method increases student performance on examination questions. Mean score on a set of examination questions related to lessons covered by case studies (black bars) and paired control questions of similar format and difficulty about an unrelated topic (white bars). Chemical bonds, n = 54; Osmosis and diffusion, n = 54; Mitosis and meiosis, n = 51; DNA structure and replication, n = 50. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean (SEM). Asterisk indicates p < 0.05.

Case study teaching increases student perception of learning gains related to core course objectives

Student learning gains were assessed using a modified version of the SALG course evaluation tool ( Appendix 2 ). To determine whether completing case studies was more effective at increasing student perceptions of learning gains than completing textbook readings or participating in class discussions, perceptions of student learning gains for each were compared. In response to the question “Overall, how much did each of the following aspects of the class help your learning?” 82% of students responded that case studies helped a “good” or “great” amount, compared with 70% for participating in class discussions and 58% for completing textbook reading; only 4% of students responded that case studies helped a “small amount” or “provided no help,” compared with 2% for class discussions and 22% for textbook reading ( Fig. 2A ). The differences in reported learning gains derived from the use of case studies compared with class discussion and textbook readings were statistically significant, while the difference in learning gains associated with class discussion compared with textbook reading was not statistically significant by a narrow margin ( p = 0.051).

The case study teaching method increases student perceptions of learning gains. Student perceptions of learning gains are indicated by plotting responses to the question “How much did each of the following activities: (A) Help your learning overall? (B) Improve your ability to communicate your knowledge of scientific concepts in writing? (C) Improve your ability to communicate your knowledge of scientific concepts orally? (D) Help you understand the connections between scientific concepts and other aspects of your everyday life?” Reponses are represented as follows: Helped a great amount (black bars); Helped a good amount (dark gray bars); Helped a moderate amount (medium gray bars); Helped a small amount (light gray bars); Provided no help (white bars). Asterisk indicates p < 0.05.

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. When students were asked how much each of the methods helped “improve your ability to communicate knowledge of scientific concepts in writing,” 81% of students responded that case studies help a “good” or “great” amount, compared with 63% for class discussions and 59% for textbook reading; only 6% of students responded that case studies helped a “small amount” or “provided no help,” compared with 8% for class discussions and 21% for textbook reading ( Fig. 2B ). When the same question was posed about the ability to communicate orally, 81% of students responded that case studies help a “good” or “great” amount, compared with 68% for class discussions and 50% for textbook reading, while the respective response rates for helped a “small amount” or “provided no help,” were 4%, 6%, and 25% ( Fig. 2C ). The differences in learning gains associated with both written and oral communication were statistically significant when completion of case studies was compared with either participation in class discussion or completion of textbook readings. Compared with textbook reading, class discussions led to a statistically significant increase in oral but not written communication skills.

Students were then asked how much each of the methods helped them “understand the connections between scientific concepts and other aspects of your everyday life.” A total of 79% of respondents declared that case studies help a “good” or “great” amount, compared with 70% for class discussions and 57% for textbook reading ( Fig. 2D ). Only 4% stated that case studies and class discussions helped a “small amount” or “provided no help,” compared with 21% for textbook reading ( Fig. 2D ). Similar to overall learning gains, the use of case studies significantly increased the ability to understand the relevance of science to everyday life compared with class discussion and textbook readings, while the difference in learning gains associated with participation in class discussion compared with textbook reading was not statistically significant ( p = 0.054).

Student perceptions of learning gains resulting from case study teaching are positively correlated to increased performance on examinations, but independent of case study author

To test the hypothesis that case studies produced specifically for this course by the instructor were more effective at promoting learning gains than topically relevant case studies published by authors not associated with this course, perceptions of learning gains were compared for each of the case studies. For both of the case studies produced by the instructor of the course, 87% of students indicated that the case study provided a “good” or “great” amount of help to their learning, and 2% indicated that the case studies provided “little” or “no” help ( Table 1 ). In comparison, an average of 85% of students indicated that the case studies produced by an unaffiliated instructor provided a “good” or “great” amount of help to their learning, and 4% indicated that the case studies provided “little” or “no” help ( Table 1 ). The instructor-produced case studies yielded both the highest and lowest percentage of students reporting the highest level of learning gains (a “great” amount), while case studies produced by unaffiliated instructors yielded intermediate values. Therefore, it can be concluded that the effectiveness of case studies at promoting learning gains is not significantly affected by whether or not the course instructor authored the case study.

Case studies positively affect student perceptions of learning gains about various biological topics.

Finally, to determine whether performance on examination questions accurately predicts student perceptions of learning gains, mean scores on examination questions related to case studies were compared with reported perceptions of learning gains for those case studies ( Fig. 3 ). The coefficient of determination (R 2 value) was 0.81, indicating a strong, but not definitive, positive correlation between perceptions of learning gains and performance on examinations, suggesting that student perception of learning gains is a valid tool for assessing the effectiveness of case studies ( Fig. 3 ). This correlation was independent of case study author.

Perception of learning gains but not author of case study is positively correlated to score on related examination questions. Percentage of students reporting that each specific case study provided “a great amount of help” to their learning was plotted against the point difference between mean score on examination questions related to that case study and mean score on paired control questions. Positive point differences indicate how much higher the mean scores on case study-related questions were than the mean scores on paired control questions. Black squares represent case studies produced by the instructor of the course; white squares represent case studies produced by unaffiliated instructors. R 2 value indicates the coefficient of determination.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that teaching with case studies produced by the instructor of a course is more effective at promoting learning gains than using case studies produced by unaffiliated instructors. This study also tested the hypothesis that the case study teaching method is more effective than class discussions and textbook reading at promoting learning gains associated with four of the most commonly taught topics in undergraduate general biology courses: chemical bonds, osmosis and diffusion, mitosis and meiosis, and DNA structure and replication. In addition to assessing content-based learning gains, development of written and oral communication skills and the ability to connect scientific topics with real-world applications was also assessed, because these skills were overarching learning objectives of this course, and classroom activities related to both case studies and control lessons were designed to provide opportunities for students to develop these skills. 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.

Compared with equivalent control questions about topics of similar complexity taught using class discussions and textbook readings, all four case studies produced statistically significant increases in the mean score on examination questions ( Fig. 1 ). 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. The average increase in score on each test item was equivalent to nearly two letter grades, which is substantial enough to elevate the average student performance on test items from the unsatisfactory/failing range to the satisfactory/passing range. The finding that there was no statistical difference between case studies in terms of performance on examination questions suggests that case studies are equally effective at promoting learning of disparate topics in biology. The observations that students did not perform significantly less well on the first case study presented (chemical bonds) compared with the other case studies and that performance on examination questions did not progressively increase with each successive case study suggests that the effectiveness of case studies is not directly related to the amount of experience students have using case studies. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence from previous semesters of this course suggests that, of the four topics addressed by cases in this study, DNA structure and function and osmosis and diffusion are the first and second most difficult for students to grasp. The lack of a statistical difference between case studies therefore suggests that the effectiveness of a case study at promoting learning gains is not directly proportional to the difficulty of the concept covered. However, the finding that use of the osmosis and diffusion case study resulted in the greatest increase in examination performance compared with control questions and also produced the highest student perceptions of learning gains is noteworthy and could be attributed to the fact that it was the only case study evaluated that included a hands-on experiment. Because the inclusion of a hands-on kinetic activity may synergistically enhance student engagement and learning and result in an even greater increase in learning gains than case studies that lack this type of activity, it is recommended that case studies that incorporate this type of activity be preferentially utilized.

Student perceptions of learning gains are strongly motivating factors for engagement in the classroom and academic performance, so it is important to assess the effect of any teaching method in this context ( 19 , 24 ). A modified version of the SALG course evaluation tool was used to assess student perceptions of learning gains because it has been previously validated as an efficacious tool ( Appendix 2 ) ( 20 ). Using the SALG tool, case study teaching was demonstrated to significantly increase student perceptions of overall learning gains compared with class discussions and textbook reading ( Fig. 2A ). Case studies were shown to be particularly useful for promoting perceived development of written and oral communication skills and for demonstrating connections between scientific topics and real-world issues and applications ( Figs. 2B–2D ). Further, student perceptions of “great” learning gains positively correlated with increased performance on examination questions, indicating that assessment of learning gains using the SALG tool is both valid and useful in this course setting ( Fig. 3 ). These findings also suggest that case study teaching could be used to increase student motivation and engagement in classroom activities and thus promote learning and performance on assessments. The finding that textbook reading yielded the lowest student perceptions of learning gains was not unexpected, since reading facilitates passive learning while the class discussions and case studies were both designed to promote active learning.

Importantly, there was no statistical difference in student performance on examinations attributed to the two case studies produced by the instructor of the course compared with the two case studies produced by unaffiliated instructors. The average difference between the two instructor-produced case studies and the two case studies published by unaffiliated instructors was only 3% in terms of both the average score on examination questions (76% compared with 73%) and the average increase in score compared with paired control items (14% compared with 17%) ( Fig. 1 ). Even when considering the inherent qualitative differences of course grades, these differences are negligible. Similarly, the effectiveness of case studies at promoting learning gains was not significantly affected by the origin of the case study, as evidenced by similar percentages of students reporting “good” and “great” learning gains regardless of whether the case study was produced by the course instructor or an unaffiliated instructor ( Table 1 ).

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. 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. The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) database ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/ ) contains over 500 case studies that are freely available to instructors, and are accompanied by teaching notes that provide logistical advice and additional resources for implementing the case study, as well as a set of assessment questions with a password-protected answer key. Case study repositories are also maintained by BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium ( http://www.bioquest.org/icbl/cases.php ) and the Science Case Network ( http://sciencecasenet.org ); both are available for use by instructors from outside institutions.

It should be noted that all case studies used in this study were rigorously peer-reviewed and accepted for publication by the NCCSTS prior to the completion of this study ( 2 , 10 , 18 , 25 ); the conclusions of this study may not apply to case studies that were not developed in accordance with similar standards. Because case study teaching involves skills such as creative writing and management of dynamic group discussion in a way that is not commonly integrated into many other teaching methods, it is recommended that novice case study teachers seek training or guidance before writing their first case study or implementing the method. The lack of a difference observed in the use of case studies from different sources should be interpreted with some degree of caution since only two sources were represented in this study, and each by only two cases. Furthermore, in an educational setting, quantitative differences in test scores might produce meaningful qualitative differences in course grades even in the absence of a p value that is statistically significant. For example, there is a meaningful qualitative difference between test scores that result in an average grade of C− and test scores that result in an average grade of C+, even if there is no statistically significant difference between the two sets of scores.

In the future, it could be informative to confirm these findings using a larger cohort, by repeating the study at different institutions with different instructors, by evaluating different case studies, and by directly comparing the effectiveness of the case studying teaching method with additional forms of instruction, such as traditional chalkboard and slide-based lecturing, and laboratory-based activities. It may also be informative to examine whether demographic factors such as student age and gender modulate the effectiveness of the case study teaching method, and whether case studies work equally well for non-science majors taking a science course compared with those majoring in the subject. Since the topical material used in this study is often included in other classes in both high school and undergraduate education, such as cell biology, genetics, and chemistry, the conclusions of this study are directly applicable to a broad range of courses. Presently, it is recommended that the use of case studies in teaching undergraduate general biology and other science courses be expanded, especially for the teaching of capacious issues with real-world applications and in classes where development of written and oral communication skills are key objectives. The use of case studies that involve hands-on activities should be emphasized to maximize the benefit of this teaching method. Importantly, instructors can be confident in the use of pre-published case studies to promote learning, as there is no indication that the effectiveness of the case study teaching method is reliant on the production of novel, customized case studies for each course.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

Acknowledgments.

This article benefitted from a President’s Faculty Innovation Grant, Kingsborough Community College. The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

† Supplemental materials available at http://jmbe.asm.org

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Case Method Teaching and Learning

What is the case method? How can the case method be used to engage learners? What are some strategies for getting started? This guide helps instructors answer these questions by providing an overview of the case method while highlighting learner-centered and digitally-enhanced approaches to teaching with the case method. The guide also offers tips to instructors as they get started with the case method and additional references and resources.

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What is case method teaching.

• Case Method at Columbia

Why use the Case Method?

Case method teaching approaches, how do i get started.

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For support with implementing a case method approach in your course, email [email protected] to schedule your 1-1 consultation .

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2019). Case Method Teaching and Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved from [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/case-method/  

Case method 1 teaching is an active form of instruction that focuses on a case and involves students learning by doing 2 3 . Cases are real or invented stories 4  that include “an educational message” or recount events, problems, dilemmas, theoretical or conceptual issue that requires analysis and/or decision-making.

Case-based teaching simulates real world situations and asks students to actively grapple with complex problems 5 6 This method of instruction is used across disciplines to promote learning, and is common in law, business, medicine, among other fields. See Table 1 below for a few types of cases and the learning they promote.

Table 1: Types of cases and the learning they promote.

For a more complete list, see Case Types & Teaching Methods: A Classification Scheme from the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science.

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Case Method Teaching and Learning at Columbia

The case method is actively used in classrooms across Columbia, at the Morningside campus in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the School of Business, Arts and Sciences, among others, and at Columbia University Irving Medical campus.

Faculty Spotlight:

Professor Mary Ann Price on Using Case Study Method to Place Pre-Med Students in Real-Life Scenarios

Read more  

Professor De Pinho on Using the Case Method in the Mailman Core

Case method teaching has been found to improve student learning, to increase students’ perception of learning gains, and to meet learning objectives 8 9 . Faculty have noted the instructional benefits of cases including greater student engagement in their learning 10 , deeper student understanding of concepts, stronger critical thinking skills, and an ability to make connections across content areas and view an issue from multiple perspectives 11 . 

Through case-based learning, students are the ones asking questions about the case, doing the problem-solving, interacting with and learning from their peers, “unpacking” the case, analyzing the case, and summarizing the case. They learn how to work with limited information and ambiguity, think in professional or disciplinary ways, and ask themselves “what would I do if I were in this specific situation?”

The case method bridges theory to practice, and promotes the development of skills including: communication, active listening, critical thinking, decision-making, and metacognitive skills 12 , as students apply course content knowledge, reflect on what they know and their approach to analyzing, and make sense of a case. 

Though the case method has historical roots as an instructor-centered approach that uses the Socratic dialogue and cold-calling, it is possible to take a more learner-centered approach in which students take on roles and tasks traditionally left to the instructor. 

Cases are often used as “vehicles for classroom discussion” 13 . Students should be encouraged to take ownership of their learning from a case. Discussion-based approaches engage students in thinking and communicating about a case. Instructors can set up a case activity in which students are the ones doing the work of “asking questions, summarizing content, generating hypotheses, proposing theories, or offering critical analyses” 14 . 

The role of the instructor is to share a case or ask students to share or create a case to use in class, set expectations, provide instructions, and assign students roles in the discussion. Student roles in a case discussion can include: 

• discussion “starters” get the conversation started with a question or posing the questions that their peers came up with; 
• facilitators listen actively, validate the contributions of peers, ask follow-up questions, draw connections, refocus the conversation as needed; 
• recorders take-notes of the main points of the discussion, record on the board, upload to CourseWorks, or type and project on the screen; and 
• discussion “wrappers” lead a summary of the main points of the discussion. 

Prior to the case discussion, instructors can model case analysis and the types of questions students should ask, co-create discussion guidelines with students, and ask for students to submit discussion questions. During the discussion, the instructor can keep time, intervene as necessary (however the students should be doing the talking), and pause the discussion for a debrief and to ask students to reflect on what and how they learned from the case activity. 

Note: case discussions can be enhanced using technology. Live discussions can occur via video-conferencing (e.g., using Zoom ) or asynchronous discussions can occur using the Discussions tool in CourseWorks (Canvas) .

Table 2 includes a few interactive case method approaches. Regardless of the approach selected, it is important to create a learning environment in which students feel comfortable participating in a case activity and learning from one another. See below for tips on supporting student in how to learn from a case in the “getting started” section and how to create a supportive learning environment in the Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia . 

Table 2. Strategies for Engaging Students in Case-Based Learning

Approaches to case teaching should be informed by course learning objectives, and can be adapted for small, large, hybrid, and online classes. Instructional technology can be used in various ways to deliver, facilitate, and assess the case method. For instance, an online module can be created in CourseWorks (Canvas) to structure the delivery of the case, allow students to work at their own pace, engage all learners, even those reluctant to speak up in class, and assess understanding of a case and student learning. Modules can include text, embedded media (e.g., using Panopto or Mediathread ) curated by the instructor, online discussion, and assessments. Students can be asked to read a case and/or watch a short video, respond to quiz questions and receive immediate feedback, post questions to a discussion, and share resources. 

For more information about options for incorporating educational technology to your course, please contact your Learning Designer .

To ensure that students are learning from the case approach, ask them to pause and reflect on what and how they learned from the case. Time to reflect  builds your students’ metacognition, and when these reflections are collected they provides you with insights about the effectiveness of your approach in promoting student learning.

Well designed case-based learning experiences: 1) motivate student involvement, 2) have students doing the work, 3) help students develop knowledge and skills, and 4) have students learning from each other.  

Designing a case-based learning experience should center around the learning objectives for a course. The following points focus on intentional design. 

Identify learning objectives, determine scope, and anticipate challenges. 

• Why use the case method in your course? How will it promote student learning differently than other approaches? 
• What are the learning objectives that need to be met by the case method? What knowledge should students apply and skills should they practice? 
• What is the scope of the case? (a brief activity in a single class session to a semester-long case-based course; if new to case method, start small with a single case). 
• What challenges do you anticipate (e.g., student preparation and prior experiences with case learning, discomfort with discussion, peer-to-peer learning, managing discussion) and how will you plan for these in your design? 
• If you are asking students to use transferable skills for the case method (e.g., teamwork, digital literacy) make them explicit. 

Determine how you will know if the learning objectives were met and develop a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the case method to inform future case teaching. 

• What assessments and criteria will you use to evaluate student work or participation in case discussion? 
• How will you evaluate the effectiveness of the case method? What feedback will you collect from students? 
• How might you leverage technology for assessment purposes? For example, could you quiz students about the case online before class, accept assignment submissions online, use audience response systems (e.g., PollEverywhere) for formative assessment during class? 

Select an existing case, create your own, or encourage students to bring course-relevant cases, and prepare for its delivery

• Where will the case method fit into the course learning sequence? 
• Is the case at the appropriate level of complexity? Is it inclusive, culturally relevant, and relatable to students? 
• What materials and preparation will be needed to present the case to students? (e.g., readings, audiovisual materials, set up a module in CourseWorks). 

Plan for the case discussion and an active role for students

• What will your role be in facilitating case-based learning? How will you model case analysis for your students? (e.g., present a short case and demo your approach and the process of case learning) (Davis, 2009). 
• What discussion guidelines will you use that include your students’ input? 
• How will you encourage students to ask and answer questions, summarize their work, take notes, and debrief the case? 
• If students will be working in groups, how will groups form? What size will the groups be? What instructions will they be given? How will you ensure that everyone participates? What will they need to submit? Can technology be leveraged for any of these areas? 
• Have you considered students of varied cognitive and physical abilities and how they might participate in the activities/discussions, including those that involve technology? 

Student preparation and expectations

• How will you communicate about the case method approach to your students? When will you articulate the purpose of case-based learning and expectations of student engagement? What information about case-based learning and expectations will be included in the syllabus?
• What preparation and/or assignment(s) will students complete in order to learn from the case? (e.g., read the case prior to class, watch a case video prior to class, post to a CourseWorks discussion, submit a brief memo, complete a short writing assignment to check students’ understanding of a case, take on a specific role, prepare to present a critique during in-class discussion).

Andersen, E. and Schiano, B. (2014). Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide . Harvard Business Press. 

Bonney, K. M. (2015). Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains†. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education , 16 (1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.846

Davis, B.G. (2009). Chapter 24: Case Studies. In Tools for Teaching. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Garvin, D.A. (2003). Making the Case: Professional Education for the world of practice. Harvard Magazine. September-October 2003, Volume 106, Number 1, 56-107.

Golich, V.L. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. International Studies Perspectives. 1, 11-29. 

Golich, V.L.; Boyer, M; Franko, P.; and Lamy, S. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. Pew Case Studies in International Affairs. Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. 

Heath, J. (2015). Teaching & Writing Cases: A Practical Guide. The Case Center, UK. 

Herreid, C.F. (2011). Case Study Teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. No. 128, Winder 2011, 31 – 40. 

Herreid, C.F. (2007). Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science . National Science Teachers Association. Available as an ebook through Columbia Libraries. 

Herreid, C.F. (2006). “Clicker” Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching Into Large Classrooms. Journal of College Science Teaching. Oct 2006, 36(2). https://search.proquest.com/docview/200323718?pq-origsite=gscholar  

Krain, M. (2016). Putting the Learning in Case Learning? The Effects of Case-Based Approaches on Student Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 27(2), 131-153. 

Lundberg, K.O. (Ed.). (2011). Our Digital Future: Boardrooms and Newsrooms. Knight Case Studies Initiative. 

Popil, I. (2011). Promotion of critical thinking by using case studies as teaching method. Nurse Education Today, 31(2), 204–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2010.06.002

Schiano, B. and Andersen, E. (2017). Teaching with Cases Online . Harvard Business Publishing. 

Thistlethwaite, JE; Davies, D.; Ekeocha, S.; Kidd, J.M.; MacDougall, C.; Matthews, P.; Purkis, J.; Clay D. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education: A BEME systematic review . Medical Teacher. 2012; 34(6): e421-44. 

Yadav, A.; Lundeberg, M.; DeSchryver, M.; Dirkin, K.; Schiller, N.A.; Maier, K. and Herreid, C.F. (2007). Teaching Science with Case Studies: A National Survey of Faculty Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges of Using Cases. Journal of College Science Teaching; Sept/Oct 2007; 37(1). 

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass.

Additional resources 

Teaching with Cases , Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

Features “what is a teaching case?” video that defines a teaching case, and provides documents to help students prepare for case learning, Common case teaching challenges and solutions, tips for teaching with cases. 

Promoting excellence and innovation in case method teaching: Teaching by the Case Method , Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning. Harvard Business School. 

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science . University of Buffalo. 

A collection of peer-reviewed STEM cases to teach scientific concepts and content, promote process skills and critical thinking. The Center welcomes case submissions. Case classification scheme of case types and teaching methods:

• Different types of cases: analysis case, dilemma/decision case, directed case, interrupted case, clicker case, a flipped case, a laboratory case. 
• Different types of teaching methods: problem-based learning, discussion, debate, intimate debate, public hearing, trial, jigsaw, role-play. 

Columbia Resources

Resources available to support your use of case method: The University hosts a number of case collections including: the Case Consortium (a collection of free cases in the fields of journalism, public policy, public health, and other disciplines that include teaching and learning resources; SIPA’s Picker Case Collection (audiovisual case studies on public sector innovation, filmed around the world and involving SIPA student teams in producing the cases); and Columbia Business School CaseWorks , which develops teaching cases and materials for use in Columbia Business School classrooms.

Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers a variety of programs and services for instructors at Columbia. The CTL can provide customized support as you plan to use the case method approach through implementation. Schedule a one-on-one consultation. 

Office of the Provost

The Hybrid Learning Course Redesign grant program from the Office of the Provost provides support for faculty who are developing innovative and technology-enhanced pedagogy and learning strategies in the classroom. In addition to funding, faculty awardees receive support from CTL staff as they redesign, deliver, and evaluate their hybrid courses.

The Start Small! Mini-Grant provides support to faculty who are interested in experimenting with one new pedagogical strategy or tool. Faculty awardees receive funds and CTL support for a one-semester period.

Explore our teaching resources.

• Blended Learning
• Contemplative Pedagogy
• Inclusive Teaching Guide
• FAQ for Teaching Assistants
• Metacognition

CTL resources and technology for you.

• Overview of all CTL Resources and Technology
• The origins of this method can be traced to Harvard University where in 1870 the Law School began using cases to teach students how to think like lawyers using real court decisions. This was followed by the Business School in 1920 (Garvin, 2003). These professional schools recognized that lecture mode of instruction was insufficient to teach critical professional skills, and that active learning would better prepare learners for their professional lives. ↩
• Golich, V.L. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. International Studies Perspectives. 1, 11-29. ↩
• Herreid, C.F. (2007). Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science . National Science Teachers Association. Available as an ebook through Columbia Libraries. ↩
• Davis, B.G. (2009). Chapter 24: Case Studies. In Tools for Teaching. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. ↩
• Andersen, E. and Schiano, B. (2014). Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide . Harvard Business Press. ↩
• Lundberg, K.O. (Ed.). (2011). Our Digital Future: Boardrooms and Newsrooms. Knight Case Studies Initiative. ↩
• Heath, J. (2015). Teaching & Writing Cases: A Practical Guide. The Case Center, UK. ↩
• Bonney, K. M. (2015). Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains†. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education , 16 (1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.846 ↩
• Krain, M. (2016). Putting the Learning in Case Learning? The Effects of Case-Based Approaches on Student Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 27(2), 131-153. ↩
• Thistlethwaite, JE; Davies, D.; Ekeocha, S.; Kidd, J.M.; MacDougall, C.; Matthews, P.; Purkis, J.; Clay D. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education: A BEME systematic review . Medical Teacher. 2012; 34(6): e421-44. ↩
• Yadav, A.; Lundeberg, M.; DeSchryver, M.; Dirkin, K.; Schiller, N.A.; Maier, K. and Herreid, C.F. (2007). Teaching Science with Case Studies: A National Survey of Faculty Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges of Using Cases. Journal of College Science Teaching; Sept/Oct 2007; 37(1). ↩
• Popil, I. (2011). Promotion of critical thinking by using case studies as teaching method. Nurse Education Today, 31(2), 204–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2010.06.002 ↩
• Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. ↩
• Herreid, C.F. (2006). “Clicker” Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching Into Large Classrooms. Journal of College Science Teaching. Oct 2006, 36(2). https://search.proquest.com/docview/200323718?pq-origsite=gscholar ↩

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Using Case Studies to Teach

Why Use Cases?

Many students are more inductive than deductive reasoners, which means that they learn better from examples than from logical development starting with basic principles. The use of case studies can therefore be a very effective classroom technique.

Case studies are have long been used in business schools, law schools, medical schools and the social sciences, but they can be used in any discipline when instructors want students to explore how what they have learned applies to real world situations. Cases come in many formats, from a simple “What would you do in this situation?” question to a detailed description of a situation with accompanying data to analyze. Whether to use a simple scenario-type case or a complex detailed one depends on your course objectives.

Most case assignments require students to answer an open-ended question or develop a solution to an open-ended problem with multiple potential solutions. Requirements can range from a one-paragraph answer to a fully developed group action plan, proposal or decision.

Common Case Elements

Most “full-blown” cases have these common elements:

• A decision-maker who is grappling with some question or problem that needs to be solved.
• A description of the problem’s context (a law, an industry, a family).
• Supporting data, which can range from data tables to links to URLs, quoted statements or testimony, supporting documents, images, video, or audio.

Case assignments can be done individually or in teams so that the students can brainstorm solutions and share the work load.

The following discussion of this topic incorporates material presented by Robb Dixon of the School of Management and Rob Schadt of the School of Public Health at CEIT workshops. Professor Dixon also provided some written comments that the discussion incorporates.

Advantages to the use of case studies in class

A major advantage of teaching with case studies is that the students are actively engaged in figuring out the principles by abstracting from the examples. This develops their skills in:

• Problem solving
• Analytical tools, quantitative and/or qualitative, depending on the case
• Decision making in complex situations
• Coping with ambiguities

Guidelines for using case studies in class

In the most straightforward application, the presentation of the case study establishes a framework for analysis. It is helpful if the statement of the case provides enough information for the students to figure out solutions and then to identify how to apply those solutions in other similar situations. Instructors may choose to use several cases so that students can identify both the similarities and differences among the cases.

Depending on the course objectives, the instructor may encourage students to follow a systematic approach to their analysis.  For example:

• What is the issue?
• What is the goal of the analysis?
• What is the context of the problem?
• What key facts should be considered?
• What alternatives are available to the decision-maker?
• What would you recommend — and why?

An innovative approach to case analysis might be to have students  role-play the part of the people involved in the case. This not only actively engages students, but forces them to really understand the perspectives of the case characters. Videos or even field trips showing the venue in which the case is situated can help students to visualize the situation that they need to analyze.

Accompanying Readings

Case studies can be especially effective if they are paired with a reading assignment that introduces or explains a concept or analytical method that applies to the case. The amount of emphasis placed on the use of the reading during the case discussion depends on the complexity of the concept or method. If it is straightforward, the focus of the discussion can be placed on the use of the analytical results. If the method is more complex, the instructor may need to walk students through its application and the interpretation of the results.

Leading the Case Discussion and Evaluating Performance

Decision cases are more interesting than descriptive ones. In order to start the discussion in class, the instructor can start with an easy, noncontroversial question that all the students should be able to answer readily. However, some of the best case discussions start by forcing the students to take a stand. Some instructors will ask a student to do a formal “open” of the case, outlining his or her entire analysis.  Others may choose to guide discussion with questions that move students from problem identification to solutions.  A skilled instructor steers questions and discussion to keep the class on track and moving at a reasonable pace.

In order to motivate the students to complete the assignment before class as well as to stimulate attentiveness during the class, the instructor should grade the participation—quantity and especially quality—during the discussion of the case. This might be a simple check, check-plus, check-minus or zero. The instructor should involve as many students as possible. In order to engage all the students, the instructor can divide them into groups, give each group several minutes to discuss how to answer a question related to the case, and then ask a randomly selected person in each group to present the group’s answer and reasoning. Random selection can be accomplished through rolling of dice, shuffled index cards, each with one student’s name, a spinning wheel, etc.

Tips on the Penn State U. website: https://sites.psu.edu/pedagogicalpractices/case-studies/

If you are interested in using this technique in a science course, there is a good website on use of case studies in the sciences at the National Science Teaching Association.

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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Case-Based Teaching & Learning Initiative

Teaching cases & active learning resources for public health education, teaching & learning with the case method.

2023. Case Compendium, University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership . Visit website This resource, compiled by the Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership, is "a case compendium that includes: (a) case studies with diverse protagonists, and (b) case studies that build “equity fluency” by focusing on DEI-related issues and opportunities. The goal of the compendium is to support professors at Haas, and business schools globally, to identify cases they can use in their own classrooms, and ultimately contribute to advancing DEI in education and business."

Kane, N.M. , 2014. Benefits of Case-Based Teaching . Watch video Watch a demonstration of Prof. Nancy Kane teaching public health with the case method. (Part 3 of 3, 3 minutes)

Kane, N.M. , 2014. Case teaching demonstration: Should a health plan cover medical tourism? . Watch video Watch a demonstration of Prof. Nancy Kane teaching public health with the case method. (Part 2 of 3, 17 minutes)

Kane, N.M. , 2014. Case-based teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health . Watch video Watch a demonstration of Prof. Nancy Kane teaching public health with the case method. (Part 1 of 3, 10 minutes)

2019. The Case Centre . Visit website A non-profit clearing house for materials on the case method, the Case Centre holds a large and diverse collection of cases, articles, book chapters and teaching materials, including the collections of leading business schools across the globe.

Austin, S.B. & Sonneville, K.R. , 2013. Closing the "know-do" gap: training public health professionals in eating disorders prevention via case-method teaching. International Journal of Eating Disorders , 46 (5) , pp. 533-537. Read online Abstract Expansion of our societies' capacity to prevent eating disorders will require strategic integration of the topic into the curricula of professional training programs. An ideal way to integrate new content into educational programs is through the case-method approach, a teaching method that is more effective than traditional teaching techniques. The Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders has begun developing cases designed to be used in classroom settings to engage students in topical, high-impact issues in public health approaches to eating disorders prevention and screening. Dissemination of these cases will provide an opportunity for students in public health training programs to learn material in a meaningful context by actively applying skills as they are learning them, helping to bridge the "know-do" gap. The new curriculum is an important step toward realizing the goal that public health practitioners be fully equipped to address the challenge of eating disorders prevention. "Expansion of our societies' capacity to prevent eating disorders will require strategic integration of the topic into the curricula of professional training programs. An ideal way to integrate new content into educational programs is through the case-method approach, a teaching method that is more effective than traditional teaching techniques." Access full article with HarvardKey . 

Ellet, W. , 2018. The Case Study Handbook, Revised Edition: A Student's Guide , Harvard Business School Publishing. Publisher's Version "If you're like many people, you may find interpreting and writing about cases mystifying and time-consuming. In The Case Study Handbook, Revised Edition , William Ellet presents a potent new approach for efficiently analyzing, discussing, and writing about cases."

Andersen, E. & Schiano, B. , 2014. Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide , Harvard Business School Publishing. Publisher's Version "The class discussion inherent in case teaching is well known for stimulating the development of students' critical thinking skills, yet instructors often need guidance on managing that class discussion to maximize learning. Teaching with Cases focuses on practical advice for instructors that can be easily implemented. It covers how to plan a course, how to teach it, and how to evaluate it." 

Honan, J. & Sternman Rule, C. , 2002. Case Method Instruction Versus Lecture-Based Instruction R. Reis, ed. Tomorrow's Professor . Read online "Faculty and discussion leaders who incorporate the case study method into their teaching offer various reasons for their enthusiasm for this type of pedagogy over more traditional, such as lecture-based, instructional methods and routes to learning." Exerpt from the book Using Cases in Higher Education: A Guide for Faculty and Administrators , by James P. Honan and Cheryl Sternman Rule.

Austin, J. , 1993. Teaching Notes: Communicating the Teacher's Wisdom , Harvard Business School Publishing. Publisher's Version "Provides guidance for the preparation of teaching notes. Sets forth the rationale for teaching notes, what they should contain and why, and how they can be prepared. Based on the experiences of Harvard Business School faculty."

Abell, D. , 1997. What makes a good case? . ECCHO–The Newsletter of the European Case Clearing House , 17 (1) , pp. 4-7. Read online "Case writing is both art and science. There are few, if any, specific prescriptions or recipes, but there are key ingredients that appear to distinguish excellent cases from the run-of-the-mill. This technical note lists ten ingredients to look for if you are teaching somebody else''s case - and to look out for if you are writing it yourself."

Herreid, C.F. , 2001. Don't! What not to do when teaching cases. Journal of College Science Teaching , 30 (5) , pp. 292. Read online "Be warned, I am about to unleash a baker’s dozen of 'don’ts' for aspiring case teachers willing to try running a classroom discussion armed with only a couple of pages of a story and a lot of chutzpah."

Garvin, D.A. , 2003. Making the case: Professional education for the world of practice . Harvard Magazine , 106 (1) , pp. 56-65. Read online A history and overview of the case-method in professional schools, which all “face the same difficult challenge: how to prepare students for the world of practice. Time in the classroom must somehow translate directly into real-world activity: how to diagnose, decide, and act."

• Writing a case (8)
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• Managing the classroom (4)
• Planning a course (1)
• Problem-based learning (1)
• Teaching & learning with the case method (14)
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• Teaching with Cases

At professional schools (like Harvard’s Law, Business, Education, or Medical Schools), courses often adopt the so-called "case method" of teaching , in which students are confronted with real-world problems or scenarios involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. Most of the cases which faculty use with their students are written by professionals who have expertise in researching and writing in that genre, and for good reason—writing a truly masterful case, one which can engage students in hours of debate and deliberation, takes a lot of time and effort. It can be effective, nevertheless, for you to try implementing some aspects of the case-teaching approach in your class. Among the benefits which accrue to using case studies are the following:

• the fact that it gives your students the opportunity to "practice" a real-world application;
• the fact that it compels them (and you!) to reconstruct all of the divergent and convergent perspectives which different parties might bring to the scenario;
• the fact that it motivates your students to anticipate a wide range of possible responses which a reader might have; and
• the fact that it invites your students to indulge in metacognition as they revisit the process by which they became more knowledgeable about the scenario.

Features of an Effective Teaching Case

While no two case studies will be exactly alike, here are some of those principles:

• The case should illustrate what happens when a concept from the course could be, or has been, applied in the real world. Depending on the course, a “concept” might mean any one among a range of things, including an abstract principle, a theory, a tension, an issue, a method, an approach, or simply a way of thinking characteristic of an academic field. Whichever you choose, you should make sure to “ground” the case in a realistic setting early in the narrative, so that participants understand their role in the scenario.
• The case materials should include enough factual content and context to allow students to explore multiple perspectives. In order for participants to feel that they are encountering a real-world application of the course material, and that they have some freedom and agency in terms of how they interpret it, they need to be able to see the issue or problem from more than one perspective. Moreover, those perspectives need to seem genuine, and to be sketched in enough detail to seem complex. (In fact, it’s not a bad idea to include some “extraneous” information about the stakeholders involved in the case, so that students have to filter out things that seem relevant or irrelevant to them.) Otherwise, participants may fall back on picking obvious “winners” and “losers” rather than seeking creative, negotiated solutions that satisfy multiple stakeholders.
• The case materials should confront participants with a range of realistic constraints, hard choices, and authentic outcomes. If the case presumes that participants will all become omniscient, enjoy limitless resources, and succeed, they won’t learn as much about themselves as team-members and decision-makers as if they are forced to confront limitations, to make tough decisions about priorities, and to be prepared for unexpected results. These constraints and outcomes can be things which have been documented in real life, but they can also be things which the participants themselves surface in their deliberations.

• The activity should include space to reflect upon the decision-making process and the lessons of the case. Writing a case offers an opportunity to engage in multiple layers of reflection. For you, as the case writer, it is an occasion to anticipate how you (if you were the instructor) might create scenarios that are aligned with, and likely to meet the learning objectives of, a given unit of your course. For the participants whom you imagine using your case down the road, the case ideally should help them (1) to understand their own hidden assumptions, priorities, values, and biases better; and (2) to close the gap between their classroom learning and its potential real-world applications.

For more information...

Kim, Sara et al. 2006. "A Conceptual Framework for Developing Teaching Cases: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature across Disciplines." Medical Education 40: 867–876.

Herreid, Clyde Freeman. 2011. "Case Study Teaching." New Directions for Teaching and Learning 128: 31–40.

Nohria, Nitin. 2021. "What the Case Study Method Really Teaches." Harvard Business Review .

Swiercz, Paul Michael. "SWIF Learning: A Guide to Student Written-Instructor Facilitated Case Writing."

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What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

• Nitin Nohria

Seven meta-skills that stick even if the cases fade from memory.

It’s been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self-confidence.

During my decade as dean of Harvard Business School, I spent hundreds of hours talking with our alumni. To enliven these conversations, I relied on a favorite question: “What was the most important thing you learned from your time in our MBA program?”

• Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. and Distinguished Service University Professor. He served as the 10th dean of Harvard Business School, from 2010 to 2020.

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Case-based Teaching and Problem-based Learning

Case-based teaching.

With case-based teaching, students develop skills in analytical thinking and reflective judgment by reading and discussing complex, real-life scenarios. The articles in this section explain how to use cases in teaching and provide case studies for the natural sciences, social sciences, and other disciplines.

Teaching with Case Studies (Stanford University)

This article from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning describes the rationale for using case studies, the process for choosing appropriate cases, and tips for how to implement them in college courses.

The Case Method (University of Illinois)

Tips for teachers on how to be successful using the Case Method in the college/university classroom. Includes information about the Case Method values, uses, and additional resource links.

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (National Science Teaching Association)

This site offers resources and examples specific to teaching in the sciences. This includes the “UB Case Study Collection,” an extensive list of ready-to-use cases in a variety of science disciplines. Each case features a PDF handout describing the case, as well as teaching notes.

The Michigan Sustainability Cases Initiative (CRLT Occasional Paper)

This paper describes the Michigan Sustainability Cases Initiative, including links to the full library of cases, and it offers advice both for writing cases and facilitating case discussions effectively.

The Case Method and the Interactive Classroom (Foran, 2001, NEA Higher Education Journal)

First-person account of how a sociology faculty member at University of California, Santa Barbara began using case studies in his teaching and how his methods have evolved over time as a professor.

Problem-based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is both a teaching method and an approach to the curriculum. It consists of carefully designed problems that challenge students to use problem solving techniques, self-directed learning strategies, team participation skills, and disciplinary knowledge. The articles and links in this section describe the characteristics and objectives of PBL and the process for using PBL. There is also a list of printed and web resources.

Problem-Based Learning Network (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy)

Site includes an interactive PBL Model, Professional Development links, and video vignettes to illustrate how to effectively use problem-based learning in the classroom. The goals of IMSA's PBLNetwork are to mentor educators in all disciplines, to explore problem-based learning strategies, and to connect PBL educators to one another.

Problem-Based Learning: An Introduction (Rhem, 1998, National Teaching and Learning Forum)

This piece summarizes the benefits of using problem-based learning, its historical origins, and the faculty/student roles in PBL. Overall, this is an easy to read introduction to problem-based learning.

Problem-Based Learning (Stanford University, 2001)

This issue of Speaking of Teaching identifies the central features of PBL, provides some guidelines for planning a PBL course, and discusses the impact of PBL on student learning and motivation.

Problem-Based Learning Clearinghouse (University of Delaware)

Collection of peer reviewed problems and articles to assist educators in using problem-based learning. Teaching notes and supplemental materials accompany each problem, providing insights and strategies that are innovative and classroom-tested. Free registration is required to view and download the Clearinghouse’s resources.

See also: The International Journal of Problem-Based Learning

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• Case Teaching Resources

Teaching With Cases

Included here are resources to learn more about case method and teaching with cases.

What Is A Teaching Case?

This video explores the definition of a teaching case and introduces the rationale for using case method.

Narrated by Carolyn Wood, former director of the HKS Case Program

Learning by the Case Method

Questions for class discussion, common case teaching challenges and possible solutions, teaching with cases tip sheet, teaching ethics by the case method.

The case method is an effective way to increase student engagement and challenge students to integrate and apply skills to real-world problems. In these videos,  Using the Case Method to Teach Public Policy , you'll find invaluable insights into the art of case teaching from one of HKS’s most respected professors, Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez.

Chapter 1: Preparing for Class (2:29)

Chapter 2: How to begin the class and structure the discussion blocks (1:37)

Chapter 3: How to launch the discussion (1:36)

Chapter 4: Tools to manage the class discussion (2:23)

Chapter 5: Encouraging participation and acknowledging students' comments (1:52)

Chapter 6: Transitioning from one block to the next / Importance of body (2:05)

Chapter 7: Using the board plan to feed the discussion (3:33)

Chapter 8: Exploring the richness of the case (1:42)

Chapter 9: The wrap-up. Why teach cases? (2:49)

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What is the Case Method?

The core pedagogy of Harvard Business School since the early 20th century, the case method boasts a unique ability to make complex concepts accessible and develop students’ leadership skills, all while creating an engaging intellectual atmosphere.

A “case” is a short narrative document – a story – that presents a particular challenge facing an individual or organization. Each case reflects the information available to decision-makers at the time, and builds to a particular decision point, but without revealing what decision was actually made. For each class, students are asked to read the case and to put themselves in the shoes of the actual decision-makers to consider what they themselves would have done given the information available at the time.

To help situate the decision, each case also provides background history on the most relevant issues and events leading up to the decision point. For example, a case that focuses on a decision facing Martin Luther King Jr. during the campaign for black voting rights in 1965 also traces the broader civil rights movement, as well as the history of segregation and black disenfranchisement in the U.S. since the Civil War.

In the classroom, the instructor poses questions to guide student discussion. These carefully designed questions are the key to any successful case-method course. An experienced case-method teacher is often thinking several steps ahead, anticipating what points and questions might be raised and standing ready with follow-up questions to guide the group. Active participation in class is essential to the case method’s success, and the grading metrics reflect its importance. Students quickly learn to speak up, to challenge each other, and to build on each other’s ideas.

Any professor or teacher can teach by the case method. Content expertise beyond the case itself is helpful but not required. To assist both experienced and new case-method teachers, each case has its own teaching plan: a flexible road-map for the instructor that suggests specific questions, strategies for eliciting key insights, and ideas for organizing student responses visually on a blackboard. For some cases, more extensive supporting documents known as “teaching notes” are available to fully brief the instructor on the relevant history and the multiple levels of questions he or she might consider.

“ I’ve never had this experience as a teacher before, and it's explicitly due to the case method — it's a game changer. ”

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Making Learning Relevant With Case Studies

The open-ended problems presented in case studies give students work that feels connected to their lives.

To prepare students for jobs that haven’t been created yet, we need to teach them how to be great problem solvers so that they’ll be ready for anything. One way to do this is by teaching content and skills using real-world case studies, a learning model that’s focused on reflection during the problem-solving process. It’s similar to project-based learning, but PBL is more focused on students creating a product.

Case studies have been used for years by businesses, law and medical schools, physicians on rounds, and artists critiquing work. Like other forms of problem-based learning, case studies can be accessible for every age group, both in one subject and in interdisciplinary work.

You can get started with case studies by tackling relatable questions like these with your students:

• How can we limit food waste in the cafeteria?
• How can we get our school to recycle and compost waste? (Or, if you want to be more complex, how can our school reduce its carbon footprint?)
• How can we improve school attendance?
• How can we reduce the number of people who get sick at school during cold and flu season?

Addressing questions like these leads students to identify topics they need to learn more about. In researching the first question, for example, students may see that they need to research food chains and nutrition. Students often ask, reasonably, why they need to learn something, or when they’ll use their knowledge in the future. Learning is most successful for students when the content and skills they’re studying are relevant, and case studies offer one way to create that sense of relevance.

Teaching With Case Studies

Ultimately, a case study is simply an interesting problem with many correct answers. What does case study work look like in classrooms? Teachers generally start by having students read the case or watch a video that summarizes the case. Students then work in small groups or individually to solve the case study. Teachers set milestones defining what students should accomplish to help them manage their time.

During the case study learning process, student assessment of learning should be focused on reflection. Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick’s Learning and Leading With Habits of Mind gives several examples of what this reflection can look like in a classroom: 

Journaling: At the end of each work period, have students write an entry summarizing what they worked on, what worked well, what didn’t, and why. Sentence starters and clear rubrics or guidelines will help students be successful. At the end of a case study project, as Costa and Kallick write, it’s helpful to have students “select significant learnings, envision how they could apply these learnings to future situations, and commit to an action plan to consciously modify their behaviors.”

Interviews: While working on a case study, students can interview each other about their progress and learning. Teachers can interview students individually or in small groups to assess their learning process and their progress.

Student discussion: Discussions can be unstructured—students can talk about what they worked on that day in a think-pair-share or as a full class—or structured, using Socratic seminars or fishbowl discussions. If your class is tackling a case study in small groups, create a second set of small groups with a representative from each of the case study groups so that the groups can share their learning.

4 Tips for Setting Up a Case Study

1. Identify a problem to investigate: This should be something accessible and relevant to students’ lives. The problem should also be challenging and complex enough to yield multiple solutions with many layers.

2. Give context: Think of this step as a movie preview or book summary. Hook the learners to help them understand just enough about the problem to want to learn more.

3. Have a clear rubric: Giving structure to your definition of quality group work and products will lead to stronger end products. You may be able to have your learners help build these definitions.

4. Provide structures for presenting solutions: The amount of scaffolding you build in depends on your students’ skill level and development. A case study product can be something like several pieces of evidence of students collaborating to solve the case study, and ultimately presenting their solution with a detailed slide deck or an essay—you can scaffold this by providing specified headings for the sections of the essay.

Problem-Based Teaching Resources

There are many high-quality, peer-reviewed resources that are open source and easily accessible online.

• The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science at the University at Buffalo built an online collection of more than 800 cases that cover topics ranging from biochemistry to economics. There are resources for middle and high school students.
• Models of Excellence , a project maintained by EL Education and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has examples of great problem- and project-based tasks—and corresponding exemplary student work—for grades pre-K to 12.
• The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning at Purdue University is an open-source journal that publishes examples of problem-based learning in K–12 and post-secondary classrooms.
• The Tech Edvocate has a list of websites and tools related to problem-based learning.

In their book Problems as Possibilities , Linda Torp and Sara Sage write that at the elementary school level, students particularly appreciate how they feel that they are taken seriously when solving case studies. At the middle school level, “researchers stress the importance of relating middle school curriculum to issues of student concern and interest.” And high schoolers, they write, find the case study method “beneficial in preparing them for their future.”

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Case-based learning.

Case-based learning (CBL) is an established approach used across disciplines where students apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios, promoting higher levels of cognition (see Bloom’s Taxonomy ). In CBL classrooms, students typically work in groups on case studies, stories involving one or more characters and/or scenarios.  The cases present a disciplinary problem or problems for which students devise solutions under the guidance of the instructor. CBL has a strong history of successful implementation in medical, law, and business schools, and is increasingly used within undergraduate education, particularly within pre-professional majors and the sciences (Herreid, 1994). This method involves guided inquiry and is grounded in constructivism whereby students form new meanings by interacting with their knowledge and the environment (Lee, 2012).

There are a number of benefits to using CBL in the classroom. In a review of the literature, Williams (2005) describes how CBL: utilizes collaborative learning, facilitates the integration of learning, develops students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn, encourages learner self-reflection and critical reflection, allows for scientific inquiry, integrates knowledge and practice, and supports the development of a variety of learning skills.

CBL has several defining characteristics, including versatility, storytelling power, and efficient self-guided learning.  In a systematic analysis of 104 articles in health professions education, CBL was found to be utilized in courses with less than 50 to over 1000 students (Thistlethwaite et al., 2012). In these classrooms, group sizes ranged from 1 to 30, with most consisting of 2 to 15 students.  Instructors varied in the proportion of time they implemented CBL in the classroom, ranging from one case spanning two hours of classroom time, to year-long case-based courses. These findings demonstrate that instructors use CBL in a variety of ways in their classrooms.

The stories that comprise the framework of case studies are also a key component to CBL’s effectiveness. Jonassen and Hernandez-Serrano (2002, p.66) describe how storytelling:

Is a method of negotiating and renegotiating meanings that allows us to enter into other’s realms of meaning through messages they utter in their stories,

Helps us find our place in a culture,

Allows us to explicate and to interpret, and

Facilitates the attainment of vicarious experience by helping us to distinguish the positive models to emulate from the negative model.

Neurochemically, listening to stories can activate oxytocin, a hormone that increases one’s sensitivity to social cues, resulting in more empathy, generosity, compassion and trustworthiness (Zak, 2013; Kosfeld et al., 2005). The stories within case studies serve as a means by which learners form new understandings through characters and/or scenarios.

CBL is often described in conjunction or in comparison with problem-based learning (PBL). While the lines are often confusingly blurred within the literature, in the most conservative of definitions, the features distinguishing the two approaches include that PBL involves open rather than guided inquiry, is less structured, and the instructor plays a more passive role. In PBL multiple solutions to the problem may exit, but the problem is often initially not well-defined. PBL also has a stronger emphasis on developing self-directed learning. The choice between implementing CBL versus PBL is highly dependent on the goals and context of the instruction.  For example, in a comparison of PBL and CBL approaches during a curricular shift at two medical schools, students and faculty preferred CBL to PBL (Srinivasan et al., 2007). Students perceived CBL to be a more efficient process and more clinically applicable. However, in another context, PBL might be the favored approach.

In a review of the effectiveness of CBL in health profession education, Thistlethwaite et al. (2012), found several benefits:

Students enjoyed the method and thought it enhanced their learning,

Instructors liked how CBL engaged students in learning,

CBL seemed to facilitate small group learning, but the authors could not distinguish between whether it was the case itself or the small group learning that occurred as facilitated by the case.

Other studies have also reported on the effectiveness of CBL in achieving learning outcomes (Bonney, 2015; Breslin, 2008; Herreid, 2013; Krain, 2016). These findings suggest that CBL is a vehicle of engagement for instruction, and facilitates an environment whereby students can construct knowledge.

Science – Students are given a scenario to which they apply their basic science knowledge and problem-solving skills to help them solve the case. One example within the biological sciences is two brothers who have a family history of a genetic illness. They each have mutations within a particular sequence in their DNA. Students work through the case and draw conclusions about the biological impacts of these mutations using basic science. Sample cases: You are Not the Mother of Your Children ; Organic Chemisty and Your Cellphone: Organic Light-Emitting Diodes ;   A Light on Physics: F-Number and Exposure Time

Medicine – Medical or pre-health students read about a patient presenting with specific symptoms. Students decide which questions are important to ask the patient in their medical history, how long they have experienced such symptoms, etc. The case unfolds and students use clinical reasoning, propose relevant tests, develop a differential diagnoses and a plan of treatment. Sample cases: The Case of the Crying Baby: Surgical vs. Medical Management ; The Plan: Ethics and Physician Assisted Suicide ; The Haemophilus Vaccine: A Victory for Immunologic Engineering

Public Health – A case study describes a pandemic of a deadly infectious disease. Students work through the case to identify Patient Zero, the person who was the first to spread the disease, and how that individual became infected.  Sample cases: The Protective Parent ; The Elusive Tuberculosis Case: The CDC and Andrew Speaker ; Credible Voice: WHO-Beijing and the SARS Crisis

Law – A case study presents a legal dilemma for which students use problem solving to decide the best way to advise and defend a client. Students are presented information that changes during the case.  Sample cases: Mortgage Crisis Call (abstract) ; The Case of the Unpaid Interns (abstract) ; Police-Community Dialogue (abstract)

Business – Students work on a case study that presents the history of a business success or failure. They apply business principles learned in the classroom and assess why the venture was successful or not. Sample cases: SELCO-Determining a path forward ; Project Masiluleke: Texting and Testing to Fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa ; Mayo Clinic: Design Thinking in Healthcare

Humanities - Students consider a case that presents a theater facing financial and management difficulties. They apply business and theater principles learned in the classroom to the case, working together to create solutions for the theater. Sample cases: David Geffen School of Drama

Recommendations

Finding and Writing Cases

Consider utilizing or adapting open access cases - The availability of open resources and databases containing cases that instructors can download makes this approach even more accessible in the classroom. Two examples of open databases are the Case Center on Public Leadership and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Case Program , which focus on government, leadership and public policy case studies.

• Consider writing original cases - In the event that an instructor is unable to find open access cases relevant to their course learning objectives, they may choose to write their own. See the following resources on case writing: 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 ; And All That Jazz: An Essay Extolling the Virtues of Writing Case Teaching Notes .

Implementing Cases

Take baby steps if new to CBL - While entire courses and curricula may involve case-based learning, instructors who desire to implement on a smaller-scale can integrate a single case into their class, and increase the number of cases utilized over time as desired.

Use cases in classes that are small, medium or large - Cases can be scaled to any course size. In large classes with stadium seating, students can work with peers nearby, while in small classes with more flexible seating arrangements, teams can move their chairs closer together. CBL can introduce more noise (and energy) in the classroom to which an instructor often quickly becomes accustomed. Further, students can be asked to work on cases outside of class, and wrap up discussion during the next class meeting.

Encourage collaborative work - Cases present an opportunity for students to work together to solve cases which the historical literature supports as beneficial to student learning (Bruffee, 1993). Allow students to work in groups to answer case questions.

Form diverse teams as feasible - When students work within diverse teams they can be exposed to a variety of perspectives that can help them solve the case. Depending on the context of the course, priorities, and the background information gathered about the students enrolled in the class, instructors may choose to organize student groups to allow for diversity in factors such as current course grades, gender, race/ethnicity, personality, among other items.  

Use stable teams as appropriate - If CBL is a large component of the course, a research-supported practice is to keep teams together long enough to go through the stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Tuckman, 1965).

Walk around to guide groups - In CBL instructors serve as facilitators of student learning. Walking around allows the instructor to monitor student progress as well as identify and support any groups that may be struggling. Teaching assistants can also play a valuable role in supporting groups.

Interrupt strategically - Only every so often, for conversation in large group discussion of the case, especially when students appear confused on key concepts. An effective practice to help students meet case learning goals is to guide them as a whole group when the class is ready. This may include selecting a few student groups to present answers to discussion questions to the entire class, asking the class a question relevant to the case using polling software, and/or performing a mini-lesson on an area that appears to be confusing among students.  

Assess student learning in multiple ways - Students can be assessed informally by asking groups to report back answers to various case questions. This practice also helps students stay on task, and keeps them accountable. Cases can also be included on exams using related scenarios where students are asked to apply their knowledge.

Barrows HS. (1996). Problem-based learning in medicine and beyond: a brief overview. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 68, 3-12.  

Bonney KM. (2015). Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, 16(1): 21-28.

Breslin M, Buchanan, R. (2008) On the Case Study Method of Research and Teaching in Design.  Design Issues, 24(1), 36-40.

Bruffee KS. (1993). Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and authority of knowledge. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Herreid CF. (2013). Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science, edited by Clyde Freeman Herreid. Originally published in 2006 by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA); reprinted by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) in 2013.

Herreid CH. (1994). Case studies in science: A novel method of science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 23(4), 221–229.

Jonassen DH and Hernandez-Serrano J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 50(2), 65-77.  

Kosfeld M, Heinrichs M, Zak PJ, Fischbacher U, Fehr E. (2005). Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature, 435, 673-676.

Krain M. (2016) Putting the learning in case learning? The effects of case-based approaches on student knowledge, attitudes, and engagement. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 27(2), 131-153.

Lee V. (2012). What is Inquiry-Guided Learning?  New Directions for Learning, 129:5-14.

Nkhoma M, Sriratanaviriyakul N. (2017). Using case method to enrich students’ learning outcomes. Active Learning in Higher Education, 18(1):37-50.

Srinivasan et al. (2007). Comparing problem-based learning with case-based learning: Effects of a major curricular shift at two institutions. Academic Medicine, 82(1): 74-82.

Thistlethwaite JE et al. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education. A BEME systematic review: BEME Guide No. 23.  Medical Teacher, 34, e421-e444.

Tuckman B. (1965). Development sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384-99.

Williams B. (2005). Case-based learning - a review of the literature: is there scope for this educational paradigm in prehospital education? Emerg Med, 22, 577-581.

Zak, PJ (2013). How Stories Change the Brain. Retrieved from: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain

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Teaching with Case Studies

The Case Study method is based on focused stories, rooted in reality, and provides contextual information such as background, characters, setting, and enough specific details to provide some guidance. Cases can be used to illustrate, remediate, and practice critical thinking, teamwork, research, and communication skills. Classroom applications of the case study method include:

• Socratic cross examination
• Directed discussion or research teams
• Public hearings or trials
• Dialogue paper (e.g., 10 exchanges between two characters from opposing sides of an issue that finish with a personal opinion or reflection)

At the Fifth Annual Conference on Case Study Teaching in Science hosted by the University of Buffalo-SUNY, two broad categories of case studies were identified (recognizing potential overlap):

• Open or Closed: Open cases are left to one’s interpretation and may have multiple correct or valid answers depending on the rationale and facts presented in the case analysis. Closed cases have specific, correct answers or processes that must be followed in order to arrive at the correct analysis.
• Analysis or Dilemma: Analysis Cases (Issues Cases) are a general account of “what happened.” Dilemma Cases (Decision Cases) require students to make a decision or take action given certain information.

Case Study Analysis Process

Based on a variety of different case study analysis models, we have identified four basic stages students follow in analyzing a case study. This process may vary depending on discipline and if case studies are being used as part of a problem-based learning exercise.

• Observe the facts and issues that are present without interpretation (“what do we know”).
• Develop hypotheses/questions, formulate predictions, and provide explanations or justifications based on the known information (“what do we need to know”).
• Collect and explore relevant data to answer open questions, reinforce/refute hypotheses, and formulate new hypotheses and questions.
• Communicate findings including citations and documentation.

How to Write a Case Study

Effective case studies tell a story, have compelling and identifiable characters, contain depth and complexity, and have dilemmas that are not easily resolved. The following steps provide a general guide for use in identifying the various issues and criteria comprising a good case study.

• Identify a course and list the teachable principles, topics, and issues (often a difficult or complex concept students just don’t “get”).
• List any relevant controversies and subtopics that further describe your topics.
• Identify stakeholders or those affected by the issue (from that list, consider choosing one central character on which to base the case study).
• Identify teaching methods that might be used (team project, dialogue paper, debate, etc.) as well as the most appropriate assessment method (peer or team assessments, participation grade, etc.).
• Decide what materials and resources will be provided to students.
• Identify and describe the deliverables students will produce (paper, presentation, etc.).
• Select the category of case study (open or closed/analysis or dilemma) that best fits your topic, scenario, learning outcomes, teaching method, and assessment strategy. Write your case study and include teaching notes outlining the critical elements identified above.
• Teach the case and subsequently make any necessary revisions.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

PBL uses case studies in a slightly different way by providing a more specific structure for learning. The medical field uses this approach extensively. According to Barrows & Tamblyn (1980), the case problem is presented first in the learning sequence, before any background preparation has occurred. The case study analysis process outlined above is used with PBL; the main difference being that cases are presented in pieces, with increasing amounts of specific detail provided in each layer of the case (e.g., part one of the case may simply be a patient admission form, part two may provide a summary of patient examination notes, part three may contain specific medical test results, and so on).

The problem-based learning approach encourages student-directed learning and allows the instructor to serve as a facilitator. Students frame and identify problems and continually identify and test hypotheses. During group tutorials, case-related questions arise that students are unable to answer. These questions form the basis for learning issues that students will study independently between sessions. This method requires an alert and actively involved instructor to facilitate.

Guide to Teaching with Technology Copyright © 2019 by Centre for Pedagogical Innovation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The case method is a teaching approach that uses cases to place students in the role of people who were faced with difficult decisions at some point in the past. Below are some resources that may be helpful to instructors who are using the case method.

• The HBS Case Method Brief overview of the HBS case method.
• How They Teach The Case Method At Harvard Business School From the September 29, 2015 issue of Poets & Quants. Provides detailed background on how the case method is taught at Harvard Business School.
• Teaching by the Case Method: Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning Harvard Business School Explores the case method in practice and provides tip sheets for effective case method teaching.
• Teaching with Case Studies: Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence ( PennState) Describes how to use case studies as strategies to provide active learning experiences for students.
• Using Case Studies to Teach: BU Center for Teaching & Learning Provides a brief overview of how to most effectively use cases in Boston University classes.

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• URL: https://library.bu.edu/business-case-studies

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Case Study in Education Research

Introduction, general overview and foundational texts of the late 20th century.

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Case Study in Education Research by Lorna Hamilton LAST REVIEWED: 27 June 2018 LAST MODIFIED: 27 June 2018 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0201

It is important to distinguish between case study as a teaching methodology and case study as an approach, genre, or method in educational research. The use of case study as teaching method highlights the ways in which the essential qualities of the case—richness of real-world data and lived experiences—can help learners gain insights into a different world and can bring learning to life. The use of case study in this way has been around for about a hundred years or more. Case study use in educational research, meanwhile, emerged particularly strongly in the 1970s and 1980s in the United Kingdom and the United States as a means of harnessing the richness and depth of understanding of individuals, groups, and institutions; their beliefs and perceptions; their interactions; and their challenges and issues. Writers, such as Lawrence Stenhouse, advocated the use of case study as a form that teacher-researchers could use as they focused on the richness and intensity of their own practices. In addition, academic writers and postgraduate students embraced case study as a means of providing structure and depth to educational projects. However, as educational research has developed, so has debate on the quality and usefulness of case study as well as the problems surrounding the lack of generalizability when dealing with single or even multiple cases. The question of how to define and support case study work has formed the basis for innumerable books and discursive articles, starting with Robert Yin’s original book on case study ( Yin 1984 , cited under General Overview and Foundational Texts of the Late 20th Century ) to the myriad authors who attempt to bring something new to the realm of case study in educational research in the 21st century.

This section briefly considers the ways in which case study research has developed over the last forty to fifty years in educational research usage and reflects on whether the field has finally come of age, respected by creators and consumers of research. Case study has its roots in anthropological studies in which a strong ethnographic approach to the study of peoples and culture encouraged researchers to identify and investigate key individuals and groups by trying to understand the lived world of such people from their points of view. Although ethnography has emphasized the role of researcher as immersive and engaged with the lived world of participants via participant observation, evolving approaches to case study in education has been about the richness and depth of understanding that can be gained through involvement in the case by drawing on diverse perspectives and diverse forms of data collection. Embracing case study as a means of entering these lived worlds in educational research projects, was encouraged in the 1970s and 1980s by researchers, such as Lawrence Stenhouse, who provided a helpful impetus for case study work in education ( Stenhouse 1980 ). Stenhouse wrestled with the use of case study as ethnography because ethnographers traditionally had been unfamiliar with the peoples they were investigating, whereas educational researchers often worked in situations that were inherently familiar. Stenhouse also emphasized the need for evidence of rigorous processes and decisions in order to encourage robust practice and accountability to the wider field by allowing others to judge the quality of work through transparency of processes. Yin 1984 , the first book focused wholly on case study in research, gave a brief and basic outline of case study and associated practices. Various authors followed this approach, striving to engage more deeply in the significance of case study in the social sciences. Key among these are Merriam 1988 and Stake 1995 , along with Yin 1984 , who established powerful groundings for case study work. Additionally, evidence of the increasing popularity of case study can be found in a broad range of generic research methods texts, but these often do not have much scope for the extensive discussion of case study found in case study–specific books. Yin’s books and numerous editions provide a developing or evolving notion of case study with more detailed accounts of the possible purposes of case study, followed by Merriam 1988 and Stake 1995 who wrestled with alternative ways of looking at purposes and the positioning of case study within potential disciplinary modes. The authors referenced in this section are often characterized as the foundational authors on this subject and may have published various editions of their work, cited elsewhere in this article, based on their shifting ideas or emphases.

Merriam, S. B. 1988. Case study research in education: A qualitative approach . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

This is Merriam’s initial text on case study and is eminently accessible. The author establishes and reinforces various key features of case study; demonstrates support for positioning the case within a subject domain, e.g., psychology, sociology, etc.; and further shapes the case according to its purpose or intent.

Stake, R. E. 1995. The art of case study research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Stake is a very readable author, accessible and yet engaging with complex topics. The author establishes his key forms of case study: intrinsic, instrumental, and collective. Stake brings the reader through the process of conceptualizing the case, carrying it out, and analyzing the data. The author uses authentic examples to help readers understand and appreciate the nuances of an interpretive approach to case study.

Stenhouse, L. 1980. The study of samples and the study of cases. British Educational Research Journal 6:1–6.

DOI: 10.1080/0141192800060101

A key article in which Stenhouse sets out his stand on case study work. Those interested in the evolution of case study use in educational research should consider this article and the insights given.

Yin, R. K. 1984. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . Beverley Hills, CA: SAGE.

This preliminary text from Yin was very basic. However, it may be of interest in comparison with later books because Yin shows the ways in which case study as an approach or method in research has evolved in relation to detailed discussions of purpose, as well as the practicalities of working through the research process.

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Implementing Research-Based Teaching Methodology, a Multi-disciplinary Case Study

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• Karla Miriam Reyes Leiva   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3269-0830 7 , 8 , 8 ,
• María Elena Perdomo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6059-0650 7 &
• José Luis Ordoñez-Avila   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3537-1739 7  

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Research-based teaching methods are applied to increase student learning and engagement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This methodology promotes active participation, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This article presents the case of study of applying this methodology in five different lectures in biomedical, mechatronics, and industrial engineering majors, showing how research-based teaching creates a dynamic environment. The methodologies include the development of literature reviews, scientific article writing, state-of-the-art writing, posters, and oral presentations. These assessments foster research skills and improve students’ scientific communication. To implement these methodologies, criteria aligned with curricular objectives and standards were adapted in the different lectures. The case reports the implementation results, including increased participation, mastery of topics, and development of scientific communication skills. Research-based teaching transforms the learning experience by focusing on stimulating curiosity, critical thinking, reading comprehension, and the ability to research, and problem solve and discuss.

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Leiva, K.M.R., Perdomo, M.E., Ordoñez-Avila, J.L. (2024). Implementing Research-Based Teaching Methodology, a Multi-disciplinary Case Study. In: Hong, JC. (eds) New Technology in Education and Training. AEIT 2024. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3883-0_25

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Case Method Teaching and Learning

What is the case method? How can the case method be used to engage learners? What are some strategies for getting started? This guide helps instructors answer these questions by providing an overview of the case method while highlighting learner-centered and digitally-enhanced approaches to teaching with the case method. The guide also offers tips to instructors as they get started with the case method and additional references and resources.

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Case method 1 teaching is an active form of instruction that focuses on a case and involves students learning by doing 2 3 . Cases are real or invented stories 4  that include “an educational message” or recount events, problems, dilemmas, theoretical or conceptual issue that requires analysis and/or decision-making.

Case-based teaching simulates real world situations and asks students to actively grapple with complex problems 5 6 This method of instruction is used across disciplines to promote learning, and is common in law, business, medicine, among other fields. See Table 1 below for a few types of cases and the learning they promote.

Table 1: Types of cases and the learning they promote.

For a more complete list, see Case Types & Teaching Methods: A Classification Scheme from the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science.

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Case Method Teaching and Learning at Columbia

The case method is actively used in classrooms across Columbia, at the Morningside campus in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the School of Business, Arts and Sciences, among others, and at Columbia University Irving Medical campus.

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Professor Mary Ann Price on Using Case Study Method to Place Pre-Med Students in Real-Life Scenarios

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Professor De Pinho on Using the Case Method in the Mailman Core

Case method teaching has been found to improve student learning, to increase students’ perception of learning gains, and to meet learning objectives 8 9 . Faculty have noted the instructional benefits of cases including greater student engagement in their learning 10 , deeper student understanding of concepts, stronger critical thinking skills, and an ability to make connections across content areas and view an issue from multiple perspectives 11 . 

Through case-based learning, students are the ones asking questions about the case, doing the problem-solving, interacting with and learning from their peers, “unpacking” the case, analyzing the case, and summarizing the case. They learn how to work with limited information and ambiguity, think in professional or disciplinary ways, and ask themselves “what would I do if I were in this specific situation?”

The case method bridges theory to practice, and promotes the development of skills including: communication, active listening, critical thinking, decision-making, and metacognitive skills 12 , as students apply course content knowledge, reflect on what they know and their approach to analyzing, and make sense of a case. 

Though the case method has historical roots as an instructor-centered approach that uses the Socratic dialogue and cold-calling, it is possible to take a more learner-centered approach in which students take on roles and tasks traditionally left to the instructor. 

Cases are often used as “vehicles for classroom discussion” 13 . Students should be encouraged to take ownership of their learning from a case. Discussion-based approaches engage students in thinking and communicating about a case. Instructors can set up a case activity in which students are the ones doing the work of “asking questions, summarizing content, generating hypotheses, proposing theories, or offering critical analyses” 14 . 

The role of the instructor is to share a case or ask students to share or create a case to use in class, set expectations, provide instructions, and assign students roles in the discussion. Student roles in a case discussion can include: 

• discussion “starters” get the conversation started with a question or posing the questions that their peers came up with; 
• facilitators listen actively, validate the contributions of peers, ask follow-up questions, draw connections, refocus the conversation as needed; 
• recorders take-notes of the main points of the discussion, record on the board, upload to CourseWorks, or type and project on the screen; and 
• discussion “wrappers” lead a summary of the main points of the discussion. 

Prior to the case discussion, instructors can model case analysis and the types of questions students should ask, co-create discussion guidelines with students, and ask for students to submit discussion questions. During the discussion, the instructor can keep time, intervene as necessary (however the students should be doing the talking), and pause the discussion for a debrief and to ask students to reflect on what and how they learned from the case activity. 

Note: case discussions can be enhanced using technology. Live discussions can occur via video-conferencing (e.g., using Zoom ) or asynchronous discussions can occur using the Discussions tool in CourseWorks (Canvas) .

Table 2 includes a few interactive case method approaches. Regardless of the approach selected, it is important to create a learning environment in which students feel comfortable participating in a case activity and learning from one another. See below for tips on supporting student in how to learn from a case in the “getting started” section and how to create a supportive learning environment in the Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia . 

Table 2. Strategies for Engaging Students in Case-Based Learning

Approaches to case teaching should be informed by course learning objectives, and can be adapted for small, large, hybrid, and online classes. Instructional technology can be used in various ways to deliver, facilitate, and assess the case method. For instance, an online module can be created in CourseWorks (Canvas) to structure the delivery of the case, allow students to work at their own pace, engage all learners, even those reluctant to speak up in class, and assess understanding of a case and student learning. Modules can include text, embedded media (e.g., using Panopto or Mediathread ) curated by the instructor, online discussion, and assessments. Students can be asked to read a case and/or watch a short video, respond to quiz questions and receive immediate feedback, post questions to a discussion, and share resources. 

For more information about options for incorporating educational technology to your course, please contact your Learning Designer .

To ensure that students are learning from the case approach, ask them to pause and reflect on what and how they learned from the case. Time to reflect  builds your students’ metacognition, and when these reflections are collected they provides you with insights about the effectiveness of your approach in promoting student learning.

Well designed case-based learning experiences: 1) motivate student involvement, 2) have students doing the work, 3) help students develop knowledge and skills, and 4) have students learning from each other.  

Designing a case-based learning experience should center around the learning objectives for a course. The following points focus on intentional design. 

Identify learning objectives, determine scope, and anticipate challenges. 

• Why use the case method in your course? How will it promote student learning differently than other approaches? 
• What are the learning objectives that need to be met by the case method? What knowledge should students apply and skills should they practice? 
• What is the scope of the case? (a brief activity in a single class session to a semester-long case-based course; if new to case method, start small with a single case). 
• What challenges do you anticipate (e.g., student preparation and prior experiences with case learning, discomfort with discussion, peer-to-peer learning, managing discussion) and how will you plan for these in your design? 
• If you are asking students to use transferable skills for the case method (e.g., teamwork, digital literacy) make them explicit. 

Determine how you will know if the learning objectives were met and develop a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the case method to inform future case teaching. 

• What assessments and criteria will you use to evaluate student work or participation in case discussion? 
• How will you evaluate the effectiveness of the case method? What feedback will you collect from students? 
• How might you leverage technology for assessment purposes? For example, could you quiz students about the case online before class, accept assignment submissions online, use audience response systems (e.g., PollEverywhere) for formative assessment during class? 

Select an existing case, create your own, or encourage students to bring course-relevant cases, and prepare for its delivery

• Where will the case method fit into the course learning sequence? 
• Is the case at the appropriate level of complexity? Is it inclusive, culturally relevant, and relatable to students? 
• What materials and preparation will be needed to present the case to students? (e.g., readings, audiovisual materials, set up a module in CourseWorks). 

Plan for the case discussion and an active role for students

• What will your role be in facilitating case-based learning? How will you model case analysis for your students? (e.g., present a short case and demo your approach and the process of case learning) (Davis, 2009). 
• What discussion guidelines will you use that include your students’ input? 
• How will you encourage students to ask and answer questions, summarize their work, take notes, and debrief the case? 
• If students will be working in groups, how will groups form? What size will the groups be? What instructions will they be given? How will you ensure that everyone participates? What will they need to submit? Can technology be leveraged for any of these areas? 
• Have you considered students of varied cognitive and physical abilities and how they might participate in the activities/discussions, including those that involve technology? 

Student preparation and expectations

• How will you communicate about the case method approach to your students? When will you articulate the purpose of case-based learning and expectations of student engagement? What information about case-based learning and expectations will be included in the syllabus?
• What preparation and/or assignment(s) will students complete in order to learn from the case? (e.g., read the case prior to class, watch a case video prior to class, post to a CourseWorks discussion, submit a brief memo, complete a short writing assignment to check students’ understanding of a case, take on a specific role, prepare to present a critique during in-class discussion).

Andersen, E. and Schiano, B. (2014). Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide . Harvard Business Press. 

Bonney, K. M. (2015). Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains†. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education , 16 (1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.846

Davis, B.G. (2009). Chapter 24: Case Studies. In Tools for Teaching. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Garvin, D.A. (2003). Making the Case: Professional Education for the world of practice. Harvard Magazine. September-October 2003, Volume 106, Number 1, 56-107.

Golich, V.L. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. International Studies Perspectives. 1, 11-29. 

Golich, V.L.; Boyer, M; Franko, P.; and Lamy, S. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. Pew Case Studies in International Affairs. Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. 

Heath, J. (2015). Teaching & Writing Cases: A Practical Guide. The Case Center, UK. 

Herreid, C.F. (2011). Case Study Teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. No. 128, Winder 2011, 31 – 40. 

Herreid, C.F. (2007). Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science . National Science Teachers Association. Available as an ebook through Columbia Libraries. 

Herreid, C.F. (2006). “Clicker” Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching Into Large Classrooms. Journal of College Science Teaching. Oct 2006, 36(2). https://search.proquest.com/docview/200323718?pq-origsite=gscholar  

Krain, M. (2016). Putting the Learning in Case Learning? The Effects of Case-Based Approaches on Student Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 27(2), 131-153. 

Lundberg, K.O. (Ed.). (2011). Our Digital Future: Boardrooms and Newsrooms. Knight Case Studies Initiative. 

Popil, I. (2011). Promotion of critical thinking by using case studies as teaching method. Nurse Education Today, 31(2), 204–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2010.06.002

Schiano, B. and Andersen, E. (2017). Teaching with Cases Online . Harvard Business Publishing. 

Thistlethwaite, JE; Davies, D.; Ekeocha, S.; Kidd, J.M.; MacDougall, C.; Matthews, P.; Purkis, J.; Clay D. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education: A BEME systematic review . Medical Teacher. 2012; 34(6): e421-44. 

Yadav, A.; Lundeberg, M.; DeSchryver, M.; Dirkin, K.; Schiller, N.A.; Maier, K. and Herreid, C.F. (2007). Teaching Science with Case Studies: A National Survey of Faculty Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges of Using Cases. Journal of College Science Teaching; Sept/Oct 2007; 37(1). 

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass.

Additional resources 

Teaching with Cases , Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

Features “what is a teaching case?” video that defines a teaching case, and provides documents to help students prepare for case learning, Common case teaching challenges and solutions, tips for teaching with cases. 

Promoting excellence and innovation in case method teaching: Teaching by the Case Method , Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning. Harvard Business School. 

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science . University of Buffalo. 

A collection of peer-reviewed STEM cases to teach scientific concepts and content, promote process skills and critical thinking. The Center welcomes case submissions. Case classification scheme of case types and teaching methods:

• Different types of cases: analysis case, dilemma/decision case, directed case, interrupted case, clicker case, a flipped case, a laboratory case. 
• Different types of teaching methods: problem-based learning, discussion, debate, intimate debate, public hearing, trial, jigsaw, role-play. 

Columbia Resources

Resources available to support your use of case method: The University hosts a number of case collections including: the Case Consortium (a collection of free cases in the fields of journalism, public policy, public health, and other disciplines that include teaching and learning resources; SIPA’s Picker Case Collection (audiovisual case studies on public sector innovation, filmed around the world and involving SIPA student teams in producing the cases); and Columbia Business School CaseWorks , which develops teaching cases and materials for use in Columbia Business School classrooms.

Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers a variety of programs and services for instructors at Columbia. The CTL can provide customized support as you plan to use the case method approach through implementation. Schedule a one-on-one consultation. 

Office of the Provost

The Hybrid Learning Course Redesign grant program from the Office of the Provost provides support for faculty who are developing innovative and technology-enhanced pedagogy and learning strategies in the classroom. In addition to funding, faculty awardees receive support from CTL staff as they redesign, deliver, and evaluate their hybrid courses.

The Start Small! Mini-Grant provides support to faculty who are interested in experimenting with one new pedagogical strategy or tool. Faculty awardees receive funds and CTL support for a one-semester period.

Explore our teaching resources.

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• The origins of this method can be traced to Harvard University where in 1870 the Law School began using cases to teach students how to think like lawyers using real court decisions. This was followed by the Business School in 1920 (Garvin, 2003). These professional schools recognized that lecture mode of instruction was insufficient to teach critical professional skills, and that active learning would better prepare learners for their professional lives. ↩
• Golich, V.L. (2000). The ABCs of Case Teaching. International Studies Perspectives. 1, 11-29. ↩
• Herreid, C.F. (2007). Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science . National Science Teachers Association. Available as an ebook through Columbia Libraries. ↩
• Davis, B.G. (2009). Chapter 24: Case Studies. In Tools for Teaching. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. ↩
• Andersen, E. and Schiano, B. (2014). Teaching with Cases: A Practical Guide . Harvard Business Press. ↩
• Lundberg, K.O. (Ed.). (2011). Our Digital Future: Boardrooms and Newsrooms. Knight Case Studies Initiative. ↩
• Heath, J. (2015). Teaching & Writing Cases: A Practical Guide. The Case Center, UK. ↩
• Bonney, K. M. (2015). Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains†. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education , 16 (1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.846 ↩
• Krain, M. (2016). Putting the Learning in Case Learning? The Effects of Case-Based Approaches on Student Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 27(2), 131-153. ↩
• Thistlethwaite, JE; Davies, D.; Ekeocha, S.; Kidd, J.M.; MacDougall, C.; Matthews, P.; Purkis, J.; Clay D. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education: A BEME systematic review . Medical Teacher. 2012; 34(6): e421-44. ↩
• Yadav, A.; Lundeberg, M.; DeSchryver, M.; Dirkin, K.; Schiller, N.A.; Maier, K. and Herreid, C.F. (2007). Teaching Science with Case Studies: A National Survey of Faculty Perceptions of the Benefits and Challenges of Using Cases. Journal of College Science Teaching; Sept/Oct 2007; 37(1). ↩
• Popil, I. (2011). Promotion of critical thinking by using case studies as teaching method. Nurse Education Today, 31(2), 204–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2010.06.002 ↩
• Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. ↩
• Herreid, C.F. (2006). “Clicker” Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching Into Large Classrooms. Journal of College Science Teaching. Oct 2006, 36(2). https://search.proquest.com/docview/200323718?pq-origsite=gscholar ↩

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• Published: 12 August 2024

Evaluation of didactic units on historical thinking and active methods

• Pedro Miralles-Sánchez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2436-3012 1 ,
• Jairo Rodríguez-Medina   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6466-5525 2 &
• Raquel Sánchez-Ibáñez 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  1032 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of an implementation of eight didactic units on historical thinking and active methods as part of a teacher training programme. All this with four specific objectives that try to find out changes in the methodology, motivation, satisfaction and learning of the students. To this end, the research is carried out by means of a mixed method using quantitative data, obtained from a pretest/posttest, and qualitative data, obtained from a focus group and interviews. The target groups of the teaching units are secondary and high school students aged between 13 and 18 years. A total of 114 students of these students participated in the data collection with a pretest/posttest, six master students in the focus group, and three teachers and three secondary and high school students were interviewed. The results obtained indicated that significant differences of medium effect were found in the pre and post phase factor in learning and satisfaction, and of large effect in methodology and motivation. As for the gender factor, significant differences of small effect were found in motivation and satisfaction, with higher values for women. The positive statements of both master’s students and high school students and teachers were quite striking, although the limitations and difficulties must be highlighted. It is concluded that the design of this type of didactic units has meant a significant improvement, achieving that the students have developed a notorious improvement in their perception of the objectives studied.

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Introduction.

Research in history didactics has distinguished two types of historical content. On the one hand, substantive or first-order content. These are those which refer both to concepts or principles and to specific historical dates and events. On the other hand, strategic, second-order content or historical meta-concepts as methodological concepts. These are related to the historian’s skills, the search for, selection and treatment of historical sources, empathy or historical perspective, related to the definition of historical thinking (Sáiz and Gómez, 2016 ). This didactic approach aims for students to learn to think historically by deploying different strategies and competences to analyse and respond to different historical questions and to understand the past in a more complex way. These competences and strategies are related to the search for, selection and treatment of historical sources, empathy, multi-causal explanation, or historical perspective; in short, the functions of a historian (Peck and Seixas, 2008 ; Seixas and Morton, 2013 ). These concepts are variable and do not form a closed and invariable list, but each author gives greater importance to certain aspects (Gómez Carrasco et al., ( 2017 )).

Since the late 1980s, an effort has been made in the British field to analyse second-order concepts in students’ argumentation. Here the Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches project (Lee et al. 1996 ) stands out, which investigated the historical concepts that students should acquire. At the same time, in the USA, through Wineburg ( 2001 ), work began with cognitive psychology techniques (experts and novices) to investigate the skills that students should acquire, with the well-known historical thinking and its competences finally being developed by mainly Canadian and American authors (Ercikan and Seixas, 2015 ; Seixas and Morton, 2013 ; VanSledright, 2014 ; Wineburg et al., 2013 ). For their part, the work of Chapman ( 2011 ) and the Constructing History 11–19 project (Cooper and Chapman, 2009 ) delve deeper into this line of reasoning in the use of sources, a thematic field also addressed in other countries such as the Netherlands (Van Drie and Van Boxtel, 2008 ) and Chile (Henríquez and Ruíz, 2014 ).

The importance of teaching historical thinking in the classroom lies in the fact that historical thinking does not develop naturally, but needs explicit teaching (Wineburg, 2001 ). To develop these competences, the introduction of the historian’s method and techniques and historical awareness are key elements, with appropriate techniques and instruments to assess them (Domínguez, 2015 ). To develop them, a methodological change in the classroom is necessary, as is already being proposed and discussed in countries such as Portugal (Gago, 2018 ), Spain (Navarro and De Alba, 2015 ) or the United Kingdom (Smith, 2019 ). This change implies moving from the current dominance of expository teaching strategies to a greater presence of enquiry strategies that help to promote the development of independence, critical thinking, and autonomous learning in students.

Working with historical sources, which can begin even earlier, is valued positively by students in upper secondary education, as it promotes a research experience in which students construct their knowledge about the past (Prieto, Gómez and Miralles, 2013 ), however, this type of experience is not usually abundant in classrooms at this stage in Spain. The abuse of the lecture and the passive role reserved for students ends up making them, for the most part, limit themselves to studying what is offered in class by not seeking information from other sources and memorising the information they receive (Sáiz and López-Facal, 2015 ). Consequently, it is very difficult to create critical citizenship in students, as they may believe everything the teacher tells them, as they are not familiar with enquiry (Guirao, 2013 ).

When it comes to identifying teaching models, it is worth highlighting the line of research developed by Trigwell and Prosser ( 2004 ) based on interviews with teachers and a questionnaire called Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) (Trigwell et al., 2005 ). They identified four different conceptions of teaching and three methodologies, establishing five approaches which can be grouped into three broad models or ways of teaching. In the first model, the role of the teacher is greater, since the importance lies in the transmission of content, students assume a passive role, limiting themselves to receiving and memorising the knowledge transmitted by teachers, thus establishing a unidirectional relationship, without considering their experience, previous knowledge, characteristics or context. The most used methodological strategy is the master class and the main resources used are the textbook and class notes. In addition, a final examination of the learning contents is usually established (Hernández et al., 2012 ; Guerrero-Romera et al., 2022 ).

On the other hand, there is learner-centred teaching which differs from the previous one in that the teacher’s intention is to provoke conceptual change and intellectual growth in the learner. Thus, the teacher acts as a guide, guiding students in the process of constructing their own knowledge, encouraging their conceptions, and providing them with opportunities to interact, debate, investigate and reflect. The aim of this model is for students to learn content by questioning and reflecting on it. The strategies employed are active and inquiry based. In contrast to the previous model, which encourages competitiveness and individualism, this approach favours interaction and cooperation between the individuals involved in the teaching and learning process and prioritises continuous assessment (Vermunt and Verloop, 1999 ; Kember and Kwan, 2000 ; Trigwell et al., 2005 ; Henze and van Driel, 2011 ). Finally, there is a third, intermediate model based on teacher-student interaction, although it should be noted that there is a hierarchical relationship between the different approaches, with each including elements of the previous one (Guerrero-Romera et al., 2022 ).

Evaluative studies of formative processes such as this one are seeing an increase in the field of history education especially in terms of changing the conceptual model of history teaching (Carretero et al., 2017 ; Metzger and Harris, 2018 ). Some work, such as that being carried out in the Netherlands, focuses on evaluative research that is more focused on teaching practice (De Groot-Reuvekamp et al., 2018 ; Van Straaten et al., 2018 ). Regarding the evaluation of historical thinking effects, we can recently highlight Tirado-Olivares et al. ( 2024 ) relating it to academic performance, or Bartelds et al. ( 2020 ) highlighting the importance of historical empathy. It is also worth highlighting the research carried out by the University of Murcia (Gómez et al., 2021a ; Gómez et al., 2021b ; Rodríguez et al., 2020 ), which implemented training units focused on historical thinking skills and changes in the way of teaching. This research therefore seeks to be a significant improvement compared to traditional methods used in the teaching of social sciences, as it seeks to develop essential skills for critical thinking and citizenship training, and to evaluate its effectiveness through rigorous methods and a scientific approach. All this to encourage a critical spirit and autonomous learning and therefore the formation of critical and independent citizens who know how to judge for themselves the vicissitudes that civic life in democracy demands of them.

The main objective of this article is to detect if there are significant changes in students after the design and implementation of eight didactic units (DU from now on) to promote the learning of historical thinking skills through active teaching methods. To achieve the objective, it has been divided into the following specific objectives:

O1. To analyse whether there are differences in the students’ perception of the methodology of teaching history, after the implementation of the DU that promotes historical thinking through active methods Table 1 .

O2. To identify if there are differences in the students’ perception of motivation during the teaching process, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods Table 2 .

O3. To find out if there are differences in the students’ perception in relation to the level of satisfaction with the teaching process, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods Table 3 .

O4. To find out if there are differences in the students’ perception in relation to the level of effectiveness and transfer of the learning achieved, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods.

Research design

This is an evaluative type of DU research of historical thinking and active methods with a mixed explanatory approach and a quasi-experimental A-B design. The research method is therefore mixed, qualitative, and quantitative data have been collected and analysed in a rigorous way in response to the research objective, organising them into specific research objectives and integrating the two forms of data and their results into conclusions framed in the theory and scientific production studied (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2017 ). The selection of the eight DU was made at random, as we have worked with the students who have been tutored by us during the internship period. On one hand, a quantitative analysis of the data obtained by means of a Likert-type questionnaire (1–5) was carried out. Questionnaire designs are extremely common in the field of education, as they can be applied to a multitude of problems and allow data to be collected on many variables and outcomes to be measured (Sapsford & Jupp, 2006 ). On the other hand, the decision was to apply a qualitative exploratory method through a focus group with master’s students who applied the DU and interviews with practising teachers and students who witnessed these units (supplementary material, Figs. 1 – 3 ). Interviews are useful when you want subjects to describe complex phenomena and facts that are the object of study (Pérez-Juste et al., 2012 ), as well as focus groups. The focus group was recorded via an online Zoom meeting (Archibald et al., 2019 ) and then transcribed using artificial intelligence (Notta AI), while the interviews were answered on the spot individually in writing.

The quantitative analysis (R Core Team, 2023 ), a repeated measures mixed factorial design with one within-subjects factor (the time of assessment) and one between-subjects factor (gender) was used. The within-subject factor has two levels (pretest and posttest) and the between-subject factor has three levels (female and male). The dependent variables were the scores obtained in each of the subscales of the questionnaires Secondary school students’ assessment of History teaching and Secondary school students’ opinion of the implementation of the History training unit (supplementary material Figs. 4 and 5 ). For the qualitative analysis, a descriptive analysis was carried out using the qualitative research software Atlas.Ti 23, which is widely used in research in the field of Social Science Didactics (Rüssen, 1997 ; Sánchez-Ibáñez, Martínez-Nieto ( 2015 )). As a complement to this software, the ChatGPT tool has also been used to improve the accuracy of the codes and data analysis, as an aid both in designing the codes of the transcripts, organising the main conclusions obtained from the coding of the participants’ responses (Lopezosa & Codina, 2023 ), and finding out the percentage of occurrence of words. All codes are open and non-exclusive, so that the same response can be associated with more than one code.

Participants

This is a non-probabilistic convenience sample composed in the quantitative analysis of 114 young people aged between 12 and 20 years (M = 15.63, SD = 1.54). Fifty-one males (44%) and 65 females (56%) participated in the pre-test. In the post-test 50 males (44%) and 64 females (56%) participated. Of these, 14 men and 10 women were from the first year of high school, 5 men and 18 women were from the second year of high school, 11 men and 8 women were from the second year of ESO, 14 men and 21 women from the third year of ESO and 7 men and 10 women from the fourth year of ESO (Fig. 1 ). As for the focus group, 6 students of the master’s degree in teaching, 2 men and 4 women aged between 22–45 years, participated. The interviews were conducted with 3 secondary school teachers, 2 men and 1 woman aged 40–60 and 3 pupils aged 13–17 respectively.

Distribution by Gender and Grade.

Instruments

For the collection of quantitative data, two closed-response questionnaires based on a Likert-type scale (1–5) were used. The questionnaires given to pupils were entitled Assessment of Secondary School pupils on the teaching of History (pretest) and Opinion of Secondary School pupils on the implementation of the History unit (posttest). The questionnaires have 37 items divided into four categories corresponding to each of the specific research objectives: Assessment of the implementation of the DU in the teaching/learning process; Assessment of student motivation in an innovative DU; Analysis of student satisfaction with an innovative DU; Analysis of student learning and its results to check whether the DU has been effective (supplementary material Figs. 4 and 5 ). For its part, the qualitative analysis was used to complement the quantitative research by relating its questions to the objectives and thus elucidating the impact of the OD. It consists of both a focus group with trainee teachers consisting of nine questions and interviews with classroom tutors and students with a total of sixteen questions (supplementary material Figs. 1 – 3 ).

Validation of these instruments has been essential to ensure that the data collected are accurate and reliable, through peer review and pilot testing on a small group of participants to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the questions and observation procedures (Gómez et al., 2021 a; Rodríguez et al., 2020 ; Miralles-Sánchez et al., 2023 ).

This research is based on a research project consisting of four phases: prior observation of the classroom (December 2022-February 2023), design of training units (March-April 2023), implementation of training units (May-July 2023) and evaluation of results (September 2023-July 2024). The design of the DU and the data collection were thanks to a training programme implemented during the academic year 2022/23 in a Spanish university for students of the Master’s degree in teacher training in the speciality of Geography, History and History of Art. Held from 10 January to 17 March 2023, the duration of the activity involved a total of 18 face-to-face hours where students attended a series of lectures given by expert lecturers in Didactics of Social Sciences with the aim of helping students to carry out a Master’s Final Project (MFP) based on the implementation and evaluation of a didactic DU on historical thinking and active methods during the internship period of the Master’s. The activity consisted of 6 sessions: presentation and approach of the MFP, concepts of historical thinking, teaching methods and active evaluation processes, quantitative and qualitative analysis of data in educational research, and guidelines for the presentation and bibliography of the MFP.

O1. To analyse whether there are differences in the students’ perception of the methodology of teaching history, after the implementation of the DU that promotes historical thinking through active methods

In relation to this objective, the data obtained from the quantitative instruments show an approximately normal distribution of methodology scores. No significant differences were observed between sexes (MH = 35.93, SD = 5.60; MM = 36.43, SD = 5.83) in the initial (pre) assessment (F (1,112 = 5.83). 83) at baseline (pre) assessment (F (1,112) = 0.21, p = 0.64) and no gender differences between groups (MH = 43.32, SD = 6.91; MM = 44.53, SD = 7.58) were observed at posttest (F (1,112) = 0.77, p = 0.38).

The repeated measures analysis of variance did not produce a significant interaction effect result between sex (Female, Male) and phase (Pre vs Post) (F (1,108) = 0.08, p = 0.77). However, a significant effect of the phase (Pre vs Post) factor was observed (F (1,108) = 91.88, p < 0.01) with a large effect size (partial η2 = 0.26). Figure 2 shows the result graphically.

Differences in Methodology Scores by Gender and Phase.

The master’s students emphasise that none of them were previously familiar with the theory of historical thinking, having recently learned it in class, although some had experience of teaching with active methods. They emphasise the importance of interactive and participatory methods, as well as the crucial role of the teacher in the educational experience, recognising positive changes in current teaching, although with divergent opinions on the influence of students on methodology. The positive experience with students and the inclusion of relevant points in teaching are highlighted, but the persistence of traditional methods that are not very active and the resistance of some students to participatory methods are criticised, representing a challenge in contemporary teaching Fig. 3 .

Changes and improvements in DU according to master’s students.

Significant statements

“So I think that the figure of the teacher will always be…. All that helps, all the technique, everything we learn and all that, but I think that the figure of the teacher is fundamental, it is important.” - He emphasises the importance of the role of the teacher and the relationship that the teacher establishes with the students.

“I think it’s changing a lot because before you went to class and the teacher would give you a lecture or whatever and the students were very dispersed, but I think that is changing now, and as we bring in new generations, I think it’s going to change a bit more.” - He sees a positive change in the way history teaching is approached.

“No, I think so, in a certain sense it has changed, because it is true that at secondary school, when you are a teenager you see two types of teachers, a teacher who practically limits himself to lecturing you and that’s it, and others who question you more.” - He expresses that teaching has not changed completely, suggesting that there are still teachers who adopt fewer interactive approaches.

“I’ve had bad history teachers all my life, you know, the kind that came in and talked to me unfunnily about things that had happened and that was it.” - Reflects a past negative experience with less committed history teachers.

“So, it’s true that when I was a student, I felt that sometimes history classes were very theoretical and so on, but it’s true that when I came to class as a non-student, I saw that sometimes teachers have to adopt this methodology because otherwise it’s impossible.” - She acknowledges that sometimes teachers are forced to adopt fewer interactive methods due to student resistance.

“My internship tutor said that students are not used to any of this and that in reality many are comfortable in this role of going to the institute like someone who goes to the cinema, to see the teacher or tell the story and then I’ll study and do the exam and that’s it.” - He points to the resistance of some students to more participatory methods as a challenge in today’s teaching.

On the other hand, they stress the crucial role of an active and engaging methodology to enhance the learning experience, with the consideration that there is no single methodology effective for all groups. However, they also mention the importance of dosing or reducing content to avoid information overload, as well as the need for continuous observation and analysis to determine the most effective methods, with a willingness to adapt according to the results. While some participants emphasise the relevance of methodology over content, others argue that both are crucial and should be tailored to each group. In general, there is convergence on the difficulty in achieving active student participation, attributing this to a lack of empathy or resistance towards interactive activities, recognising the importance of adapting methodologies to the needs of each group and constantly evaluating their effectiveness. The need to simplify teaching and focus on relevant aspects of the curriculum is mentioned, as well as the need to face technological challenges with alternative plans. Their commitment to quality teaching, willingness to learn and adapt is also highlighted, although areas for improvement such as more detailed planning, time and classroom management are mentioned.

Literal and derived mentions of relevant words in the code “Changes and improvements in interventions”: Methodology: 34 times (5.53%), Activities: 21 times (3.43%), Technology: 21 times (3.43%), Content: 18 times (2.94%), Plan: 10 times (1.63%), Topic: 6 times (0.98%), Participate: 6 times (0.98%), Exam: 5 times (0.82%), Adapt: 5 times (0.82%).

As far as secondary school students are concerned, in general, there is a diversity of opinions among students regarding the methodology of teaching history. Some prefer more dynamic and visual approaches, while others are happy with the traditional way of teaching. The perception of motivation also highlights the importance of active participation and discussion in the learning process. This variability may be attributable to personal experiences, levels of interest in the subject or perceptions about the purpose of history education. To gain a deeper understanding, it would be useful to further explore the reasons behind students’ responses. Students’ ratings of the current teacher’s experience suggest that teaching experience and ability are considered important factors in teaching effectiveness.

While Teacher 1 and Teacher 3 recognise aspects of the competence-based approach to historical thinking in teaching practice, Teacher 2 is not familiar with the specific term. Regarding the development of historical competences in pupils, Teacher 1 highlights the importance of adapting materials to children’s understanding from an early age, while Teacher 2 suggests interdepartmental collaboration and family involvement to improve outcomes. Teacher 3 recognises the need for continuous improvement and stresses the importance of learning from mistakes. In relation to teaching perspectives and approaches, Teacher 3 emphasises the connection between historical events and social, economic and political contexts over time, highlighting the importance of ‘historical empathy’. Finally, teachers agree on the challenges and complexities of teaching historical competences, highlighting the need to make them understandable for students and to avoid reducing them to mere memorisation.

Regarding active learning methodologies such as project or problem-based learning, there are differences in its implementation between Teacher 1, who uses it more in lower grades due to exam preparation, and Teacher 2, who offers a short answer. Teacher 3 shows experience in educational innovation projects, indicating a predisposition towards more innovative approaches. The commitment and dedication required is highlighted, as well as the lack of detail on implementation by Teacher 1, which may limit its wider application due to the associated stress and workload. Several challenges and limitations in the implementation of active teaching methodologies are highlighted. These challenges include existing workload, loneliness among colleagues, lack of digital resources both at school and at home for students, limited time in the classroom, language barrier in understanding concepts, lack of teacher training, distrust of new methodologies, and the complexity of catering for diversity in the classroom. In addition, it is stressed that the impact of the methodology on student learning requires adequate assessment and collaborative work to generate significant changes.

Finally, it should be noted that the three teachers agree that active methodologies and historical thinking are not widespread in secondary classrooms. The reasons mainly point to lack of training, time constraints, lack of resources and mistrust on the part of teachers. Inertia in the education system, resistance to changing traditional pedagogical practices and a preference for safe and rote approaches are also mentioned. We can see that resistance to change seems to be a significant barrier. Lack of training and institutional support is highlighted as a key problem. The importance of satisfying studious learners through traditional methods is mentioned as a potential barrier to adopting more creative and reflective approaches.

O2. To identify if there are differences in the students’ perception of motivation during the teaching process, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods

In relation to this objective, the data obtained from the quantitative instruments show an approximately normal distribution of the motivation scores. No significant differences were observed between sexes (MH = 22.45, SD = 4.86; MM = 23.33 SD = 5.40) in the initial (pre) assessment (F (1,112) = 0.82, p  = 0.36). However, significant differences were observed at the posttest as a function of gender (MH = 25.94, SD = 5.85; MM = 28.33, SD = 5.27) (F (1,112) = 5.26, p  < 0.05) with a small effect size (partial η2 = . Significant differences were observed in the posttest as a function of gender (MH = 23.94, SD = 3.95; MM = 25.75, SD = 3.24) (F (1,112) = 7.23, p  < 0.05) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.06).

Repeated measures analysis of variance did not produce a significant interaction effect result between sex (Female, Male) and phase (Pre vs Post) (F (1,108) = 1.08, p  = 0.30). However, a significant effect of the phase (Pre vs Post) factor was observed (F (1,108) = 48.83, p < 0.01) with a large effect size (η2 = 0.144). Similarly, a significant effect of the Sex factor (F (1,108) = 4.63, p  = 0.30) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.026) was observed. Figure 4 shows the result graphically. Therefore, motivation increased in both groups after the intervention, but especially in the female group.

Differences in Motivation Scores by Gender and Phase.

Master students highlight a higher motivation (8 positive occurrences in the code “Improvements and difficulties in the DU” 1.23%) and satisfaction (4 positive occurrences in this code 0.61%) among students despite facing difficulties. Some participants noted an improvement in their teaching skills after applying the DU, highlighting the importance of practical experience and the application of theoretical concepts in lesson planning and execution. The implementation of gamification and flipped classroom was mentioned to make teaching more attractive, showing the ability to adapt to challenging situations and look for alternative solutions. The importance of the teacher in the learning experience was highlighted and difficulties related to the implementation of technology in the classroom and the resistance of some students to participate in interactive activities were pointed out.

“Overall it did increase a lot of satisfaction and their motivation regarding the subject.”

“In general what I planned worked and it worked more than anything else in the time I had planned.”

“Well, I think that yes, it worked for them, that it was something they had never given before and it was totally different and they liked it.”

“I mean, yes there are digital whiteboards, yes there are projectors, but it’s complicated, especially to apply, in this case, a didactic unit.”

“So, the cooperative work part is fine, the inverted classroom, fatal.”

“But I also think that it was more or less the same as what they were doing with their teacher.”

“But yes, on the days when they were in the classroom, it was more or less the same as what they were doing with their teacher.”

“But yes, on the days when it was two hours, it was noticeable because just before break time I was already tired”.

On the other hand, in general, the perception of the secondary school students interviewed on the effectiveness of the trainee teachers’ teaching method is ambiguous and could benefit from more specific details on the perceived changes. As an analysis we can indicate that the introduction of these DU seems to have had a positive impact on students’ attention and motivation, the use of audio-visual methods and interactivity are prominent aspects of the new methodology that students appreciate. The relationship between the way of teaching and the retention of information for exams is highlighted as an important point for student satisfaction, and resources such as slides, and short videos are specific elements that students find useful. Therefore, the new way of working of the trainee teacher seems to have generated a positive experience for the students, improving participation, motivation, and information retention.

Teachers in this regard highlight positive results, such as improved motivation and reduced student boredom, as well as increased class participation. However, they recognise that the effectiveness of techniques may vary and that training in new active learning methodologies is needed to address student diversity and to keep up to date. In addition, they highlight a shift towards a more active and participatory approach to learning, which can benefit the development of critical skills and student engagement. The importance of adaptability of methodologies is emphasised, as their effectiveness depends on factors such as the subject matter, the group of learners and the resources available. It is pointed out that student motivation can influence their adaptation to the methodologies, and the use of visual and playful techniques to engage less motivated students is suggested. In addition, it is emphasised that the aim of teaching history is to enable students to interpret the world today, thus encouraging critical thinking. The effectiveness of diversity intervention programmes is acknowledged, highlighting the importance of making the content relevant to each learner.

O3. To find out if there are differences in the students’ perception in relation to the level of satisfaction with the teaching process, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods

An approximately normal distribution of satisfaction scores is observed. No significant differences were observed between sexes (MH = 21.98, SD = 3.72; MM = 22.13 SD = 3.43) in the initial (pre) assessment (F (1,112) = 0.05, p  = 0.83). However, significant differences were observed at the posttest as a function of gender (MH = 23.94, SD = 3.95; MM = 25.75, SD = 3.24) (F (1,112) = 7.23, p  < 0.05) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.06).

The repeated measures analysis of variance did not produce a significant interaction effect result between sex (Female, Male) and phase (Pre vs Post) (F (1,108) = 3.04, p  = 0.08). However, a significant effect of the phase (Pre vs Post) factor was observed (F (1,108) = 51.6, p  < 0.01) with a medium effect size (η2 = 0.13). That is, the intervention had a significant effect on students’ satisfaction with the subject. Figure 5 shows the result graphically.

Differences in Satisfaction Scores by Gender and Stage.

As a general observation we can indicate that all three secondary school pupils interviewed have positive perceptions of the usefulness of history. The definitions of history are varied, but they share the central idea of past events, and the pupils’ responses show a basic understanding of the importance of history in understanding the present and developing critical skills. Their interest in learning about the past is highlighted and it is noted that the content of lessons and the amount of work for exams are important considerations for some students. Students’ comments suggest that there are aspects of history teaching that could be improved, such as the presentation of information, the length of language and the possible lack of connection between memorisation and understanding of content. Diversifying teaching methods and incorporating more dynamic approaches could help to address these concerns and improve student motivation. It would be beneficial to delve deeper into the responses to better understand the underlying reasons behind their perceptions and to gain a more complete picture of their experience with the subject.

O4. To find out if there are differences in the students’ perception in relation to the level of effectiveness and transfer of the learning achieved, after the implementation of the DU that promote historical thinking through active methods

An approximately normal distribution of perceived learning scores is observed. Table 4 presents the results for perceived learning on a scale of 13 to 65. No significant gender differences were observed (MH = 40.27, SD = 5.40; MM = 40.67, SD = 5.14) at the initial (pre) assessment (F (1,112) = 0.16, p  = 0.69). There were also no significant sex differences at posttest (MH = 43.94, SD = 6.32; MM = 45.39, SD = 6.38) (F (1,112) = 1.46, p  = 0.23).

The repeated measures analysis of variance did not produce a significant interaction effect result between sex (Female, Male) and phase (Pre vs Post) (F (1,108) = 0.82, p  = 0.37). However, a significant effect of the phase (Pre vs Post) factor was observed (F (1,108) = 52.71 p  < 0.01) with a medium effect size (η2 = 0.12). That is, the intervention had a significant effect on students’ perception of learning. Fig. 6 shows the result graphically.

Differences in Perceived Learning Scores by Gender and Stage.

Master’s students recognise the usefulness of the theory of historical thinking in the planning and execution of classes, as well as the importance of the ethical dimension of history and the need to connect history with citizenship education. The use of primary sources and active methodology to involve students in historical analysis is highlighted. Furthermore, the importance of contextualising history teaching in the immediate environment and addressing social, cultural, and political issues to develop critical thinking in students is emphasised. However, there are divergences among the participants in terms of the perceived novelty of the theory of historical thinking, the depth of ethical exploration in the historical context and the inclusion of themes. Finally, the importance of connecting history with current affairs is mentioned, although this may present challenges in the handling of sensitivities and emotions during the teaching of certain historical topics.

For their part, teachers seem to agree that history teaching should not be limited to the transmission of historical facts, but should also encourage critical thinking, reflection and active participation in social problems. Citizenship education is seen as a process that goes beyond the acquisition of knowledge, including the development of analytical skills and the ability to question and criticise social and political reality.

Discussion and conclusions

If we look at the first objective, we can see that a significant effect of the phase factor (Pre vs Post) was observed in the methodology (F (1,108) = 91.88, p  < 0.01) with a large effect size (partial η2 = 0.26). In turn, we can see corroboration of this change as master’s students highlight in their statements the importance of interactive and participatory methods, as well as the role of the teacher in the educational experience. They recognise positive changes in current teaching, highlighting the positive experience with children and the inclusion of relevant points, but they criticise the persistence of traditional methods that are not very active and the resistance of some students to participatory methods. This represents a challenge in contemporary teaching, with difficulties in achieving active student participation attributed to a lack of empathy or resistance to interactive activities. The importance of adapting methodologies to the needs of each group and constantly evaluating their effectiveness is therefore highlighted, although some also point out the need to dose the content and adapt according to the results.

For their part, high school students emphasise the importance of visual resources, discussions and the connection between past and present in history teaching, as well as teaching experience and skill, reflecting diversity in preferences and learning styles. The effectiveness of the trainee teachers’ teaching methods is ambiguously perceived and may need more specific details on perceived changes. On the other hand, high school teachers recognise the need for training in new methodologies to address student diversity and to keep up to date, highlighting a shift towards a more active and participatory approach to learning. This coincides with the results of Sánchez et al. ( 2020 ) where they note an advance in teachers’ perception of a methodology oriented towards fostering historical and critical thinking in students. However, these teachers face various difficulties and limitations in the implementation of these methodologies, such as workload, lack of digital resources and the language barrier. The impact of the methodologies on learning requires adequate assessment and collaborative work to generate significant changes, being one of the main challenges for education in the future. Consequently, we believe it is crucial that educational administrations encourage the motivation and training of both new and old teachers in order to achieve the necessary methodological improvement in the teaching of history. Teachers suggested that the use of visual and playful techniques engage less motivated students, and the aim of fostering critical thinking through history teaching is highlighted, so the effectiveness of the intervention programmes for diversity is recognised, emphasising the relevance of the content for each student.

This may lead us to see that the generalised perception of students in the pre-test denotes the persistence of the traditional teaching model with the absence of active methods, digital resources, and historical thinking skills. Monteagudo-Fernández et al. ( 2020 ) obtain similar results in a study with secondary education and baccalaureate students, confirming the existence of a traditional model in the teaching of history that excludes cooperative and inquiry-based methodologies. This reality must point towards a didactic model that prioritises competence learning and student activism in their learning process, highlighting advocates such as Carretero et al., ( 2017 ) or Metzger & Harris, ( 2018 ), who are committed to a methodological change that moves away from the predominant conceptual model for teaching history.

In terms of motivation, we can see that a significant effect of the phase factor (Pre vs Post) was observed (F (1,108) = 48.83, p  < 0.01) with a large effect size (η2 = 0.144). Similarly, a significant effect of the Sex factor (F (1,108) = 4.63, p  = 0.30) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.026) was observed. Thus, motivation increased in both groups after the intervention, but especially in the female group. The master’s students corroborate this by highlighting a higher motivation and satisfaction among students despite facing difficulties, while for high school students, in general, the new way of working of the trainee teacher seems to have generated a positive experience, improving participation, motivation and retention of information. The importance of active participation and discussion in the learning process is particularly emphasised by the high school students. Teachers highlight positive results, such as improved motivation and reduced student boredom, as well as increased participation in class. However, there is no significant statement regarding a difference in motivation with respect to gender, which may suggest that this is a change that is little perceived by teachers and students, but which is present and should be considered when applying these active and historical thinking methods.

These results are similar to those presented by several authors (Gómez et al., 2021a ; Gómez et al., 2021b ; Rodríguez et al., 2020 ), who also highlight as the most important factor that motivation is due to the use of resources other than the school textbook, which is very good news for continuing to take steps towards methodological complementarity, so that the students themselves are aware that by using all kinds of resources to learn, they can and should be more motivated. In these studies (Gómez et al., 2021a ; Gómez et al., 2021b ), they also found that the item with the lowest score in their pretest is the one that states that students are motivated because they can contribute their points of view and knowledge, something that clearly does not occur in traditional classes where the students’ role as receivers predominates. For his part, Singer ( 1996 ) considers gender to be one of the most significant predictors in relation to teaching approaches. In this sense, Maquilón, Sánchez and Cuesta ( 2016 ), in their study of active Primary School teachers, point out that men tend to opt for an approach based on the transmission and reproduction of information, while women are inclined towards a more student-centred approach.

In satisfaction, significant differences were also observed in the posttest as a function of gender (MH = 23.94, SD = 3.95; MM = 25.75, SD = 3.24) (F (1,112) = 7.23, p  < 0.05) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.06), as for motivation (MH = 25.94, SD = 5.85; MM = 28.33, SD = 5.27) (F (1,112) = 5.26, p  < 0.05) (partial η2 = 0.04). However, repeated measures analysis of variance did not produce a significant result of interaction effect between sex and phase (F (1,108) = 3.04, p  = 0.08). A significant effect of the phase factor (Pre vs Post) was observed (F (1,108) = 51.6, p  < 0.01) with a medium effect size (η2 = 0.13). In other words, the intervention had a significant effect on students’ satisfaction with the subject, in agreement with what was stated by the master’s students and teaching staff on the improvement of student motivation and satisfaction. They highlight the relationship between the way of teaching and the retention of information for the exams as an important point for their satisfaction. High school students highlight that there are aspects of history teaching that could be improved, such as the presentation of information, the length of language and the possible lack of connection between memorisation and comprehension of content. Diversifying teaching methods and incorporating more dynamic approaches could help to address these concerns and improve pupils’ motivation.

Finally, on learning, a significant effect of the phase factor (Pre vs Post) was observed (F (1,108) = 52.71 p  < 0.01) with a medium effect size (η2 = 0.12). That is, the intervention had a significant effect on students’ perception of learning. Master’s students highlight the importance of the teacher in the learning experience and difficulties related to the implementation of technology in the classroom and the reluctance of some students to participate in interactive activities were noted, although the crucial role of this methodology in enhancing the learning experience is highlighted, with the consideration that there is no single methodology effective for all groups. Students suggest that there are aspects of history teaching that could be improved, such as the presentation of information, the length of language and the possible lack of connection between memorisation and understanding of content. Diversifying teaching methods and incorporating more dynamic approaches could help to address these concerns. Teachers for their part highlight the shift towards a more active and participatory approach to learning, which can benefit the development of critical skills and student engagement. However, this requires adequate assessments and collaborative work to generate significant changes, as well as continuous training in active learning methodologies and strategies, considered essential nowadays.

There is still an overuse of textbooks and the expository strategy by teachers who teach History (Carretero and Van Alphen, 2014 ; Colomer et al., 2018 ). However, more and more teachers in Spain are in favour of a teaching model in which the student acquires a greater role through the implementation of innovative resources (heritage, written and oral sources, new technologies) and educational strategies that encourage the active participation of students in the teaching and learning process (project-based learning, gamification, flipped classroom) (Gómez et al., 2018 ; Gómez et al., 2021a ; Sánchez et al., 2020 ). It is therefore important to be aware of developments in the incorporation of competence-based social sciences teaching and a learner-centred model at all levels of education.

We can conclude from the above that the programme was quite effective in the objectives studied. In the quantitative data we observed an improvement in the students’ perception of all the variables studied after the intervention, especially the change in methodology and the improvement in motivation had a large effect size. Moreover, it can be noted that the DOMs applied most of the methods, techniques, and resources we proposed in the training programme (supplementary material Fig. 6 ). On the other hand, we found quite positive statements about the programme from both master’s students and high school students and teachers as we have seen in the different points. However, it is important to point out the limitations and difficulties reported by teachers and students when implementing this type of unit, as well as the fact that there were some weaknesses in this study, such as the small quantitative and qualitative sample group. As a possible future improvement when carrying out the interviews and organising the focus group, it is possible to point out that it could be organised with more time and written commitment from the participants, as the initial intention was for 8 teachers, secondary school students and Master’s students to participate, respectively, one for each unit applied. The limitations of their availability played a negative role in the collection of more qualitative data, as participation was voluntary and, in the case of high school students, parental approval was required.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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RSI and JR-M: conceived and designed the project and doctoral thesis of which this study is part. PMS and JR-M.: have made methodology, data collection and formal analysis. PM-S and JR-M have co-written the manuscript and RSI contributed to revisions, having read and approved the submitted manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pedro Miralles-Sánchez .

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Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. It is part of grant PRE2021-097619, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ESF + . It is part of the research project “La enseñanza y el aprendizaje de competencias históricas en bachillerato: un reto para lograr una ciudadanía crítica y democrática” (PID2020-113453RB-I00), funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI/10.13039/501100011033). This project was granted favourable by Ethics Research Committee of the University of Murcia 8/03/2021.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants and/or their legal guardians during data collection (April–May 2023). Participants were informed about the objectives and procedures of the study and how their rights were going to be protected. Participation in the research was voluntary and anonymous.

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Cualitative data students, cualitative data focus group, cualitative data teachers, student interview 1, student interview 2, student interview 3, teacher interview 1, transcription of focal group, teacher interview 2, teacher interview 3, cuantitative data, instruments and du, rights and permissions.

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Miralles-Sánchez, P., Rodríguez-Medina, J. & Sánchez-Ibáñez, R. Evaluation of didactic units on historical thinking and active methods. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 1032 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03546-9

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Received : 19 April 2024

Accepted : 31 July 2024

Published : 12 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03546-9

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