KBLOG 63. I Love Case Studies

The Challenge:

Teaching new science concepts and ideas and reinforcing those ideas is an essential part of what teachers and parents do for their students/children. New concepts and their reinforcement have a greater and longer impact if those concepts are learned through real-life, practical examples compared to learning about them in a vacuum without any accompanying real-world examples.

A Solution:

One solution is using case studies, which has been shown to improve performance on learning assessments, help improve oral and written communication and connecting scientific topics with real-world applications (Reference). The Nation Science Teaching Association has a great collection of case studies that educators can draw upon. The site is beautifully organized and you can search by keyword or browse the almost 100 case study subject areas. For example, I searched using the term DNA. I found over 50 case studies including studies about diseases, evolution and animal extinction. The educational level for each case is clearly identified, there are many illustrations and questions to guide students. Access to the detailed case studies is free but there is at $30 annual subscription fee to get access to teaching notes and answer keys.

Resource:

https://www.nsta.org/case-studies - NSTA Case Study Repository

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4416499/ - Research study on case studies and student performance

https://www.edutopia.org/article/making-learning-relevant-case-studies - Making Learning Relevant with Case Studies