JoinAll Case Studies
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In keyword search, list the criteria you would like to find cases. Multiple criteria can be listed separated by commas (i.e. directed, high school)
Educational levels are defined as follows: Elementary, Middle, High School, College
Types of cases are defined as follows: Analysis/Issues, Clicker, Debate, Intimate Debate, Demonstration, Dilemma/Decision, Directed, Discussion, Interrupted, Jig-saw, Journal Article, Laboratory, Student Presentations, Mini-case, Problem-Based Learning, Public Hearing, Role-Play, Trial, Flipped, Game
By Bruce C. Palmquist
This case study explores the relationship between science and religion through a hypothetical discussion between four students in a general education introductory astronomy course. One student questions the scientifically accepted age of the universe...
A Challenging Case of Data Analysis
By Connar G. Franklin
This case study uses data from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster to help students explore and discuss the importance of thorough data collection and analysis. In Part I of the case, students are provided with data from the Rogers Report that was ...
By Kendra L. Bourne, Bruce C. Palmquist, Grace L. Haddick
This case study introduces the concept of orbital energetics and the use of the Hohmann transfer orbit for an introductory college-level or high school physics course. Students use energy conservation to determine the work needed to move from Earth�...
By Bruce C. Palmquist, Megan L. Rivard
Saturn is not the only solar system object with rings. In 2014, astronomers used stellar occultation to discover two rings around Chariklo, a minor planet called a centaur found between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. This case study turns the disco...
By Lior M. Burko
This case study takes the form of a dialogue between three students searching for a definition of life. The characters are very loosely based on Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. The three students are a physics student (Da...
By Lior M. Burko
This case study tells the story of a hypothetical future manned lunar mission threatened by exposure to extreme space weather. The protagonist struggles to find a course of action that will save the spacecraft and the lives of her crew. The case is u...
By Joel Hernandez, Canan Karaalioglu
Jane, a freshman in college, is chatting with her neighbor, a retired physics college professor, when she suddenly sees a flying hammer thrown by her grandfather. Jane is puzzled by her observation that as the hammer rotates in the air, there appears...
By Elaine B. Bohórquez
This case study explores the progression of COVID-19 from initial flu-like symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It details the story of a 32-year-old emergency department nurse who begins ...
By Melanie R. Nilsson
This discussion-based, modular case study provides students an opportunity to examine historical, political, and social issues that impact scientists and the publics they serve. It was designed with flexibility in mind, and can be easily tailored dep...
By Anthony J. Creaco, David A. Krauss
Most students have witnessed the refraction of light when viewing a partially submerged object—a spoon in a glass of water appears to bend—but they have little understanding of the phenomenon. The purpose of this case study is to elucidate the un...
By Michael L. Allen
The overall goal of this interrupted case study is for students to practice confirmation/disconfirmation reasoning while learning the basics of solar system and Moon formation. Students will compare predictions corresponding to various Moon formation...
By Rachael A. Lancor, Brian R. Lancor
The goal of this case study is to make the traditional Atwood's machine problem more interesting for students. Colditz Castle, located in Germany, was used as a Nazi prison camp during World War II. A group of British prisoners hatched a plan to esca...
The Never-Ending Contamination
By Lior M. Burko
This case study discusses a possible national security crisis of a terrorist group stealing radioactive materials in an attempt to build and detonate a dirty bomb over a densely populated metropolitan area. Specifically, this case discusses radioacti...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
Three experiments carried out by the Mars Viking landers in 1976 remain, to this day, our only attempt to detect life on another planet. All other efforts have looked for the presence of elements or conditions thought to be necessary for life rather ...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux, Nicole F. Magill, Tatiana N. Bliss
In biology classes, students are typically taught that spontaneous generation does not take place. And yet, at the origin of life, life had to arise without parents from abiotic processes. What were those processes that gave rise to the first life?&n...
By Helen S. Joyner, Michael L. Allen
If you were limited to choosing only three crops to sustainably farm in an arid, inhospitable environment, what would they be and how would you decide? This interrupted case study places students in the role of a proposed self-sufficient Martian colo...
By Daniel R. Albert
This case study involves analysis of data collected as part of the National Football League's investigation into the New England Patriots allegedly deflating footballs to gain a competitive advantage in a 2015 playoff game. The scandal and subsequent...
By Bruce C. Palmquist
The evolution of physiological characteristics can be strongly influenced by physics. Animals whose physiology allows them to better escape predators will live longer, on average, and be more likely to pass on the genes that led to these favorable tr...
Sorting Trash with Static Electricity
By Bruce C. Palmquist
Recycling plastic is an effective way to reduce waste in landfills. However, in order to effectively reuse recycled plastic, different types of plastics must be separated from one another. This is a time intensive task. Engineers in Japan have tested...
Applying Newton’s Third Law of Motion in the Gravitron Ride
By Anthony J. Creaco, Owen A. Meyers, David A. Krauss
A trip to an amusement park is the setting for this introduction to the concept of centripetal force in terms of Newton's laws of motion and vector quantities. A student who is a physics major helps his friend understand the action-reaction for...
By Claudia Bode, Alan Gleue, Carolyn Pearson
This case study follows a family’s dilemma about how to save money on gasoline. Should they keep their SUV and trade in their Corolla for a hybrid sedan? Going from 28 (Corolla) to 48 (Hybrid) miles per gallon (MPG) should really save money on gas....
By Frank Bowman, Brian Tande
At Thanksgiving dinner, Uncle Bubba and Uncle Bill are arguing over whose house is more expensive to heat or cool: Bubba's Georgia home in the summer or Bill’s North Dakota home in winter. Student teams play the role of Bubba and Bill's niece or ne...
By Rachael A. Lancor
This case study of Hurricane Katrina chronicles a college student's adventures with the Hurricane Hunters, a group of people from the Air Force Reserve who fly into the middle of hurricanes to collect atmospheric data for the National Oceanic and Atm...
By Li-hsuan Yang
Does an ice cube melt more quickly in salt water or in freshwater? The answer surprises the group of student science teachers portrayed in this case study. To explain the phenomenon they must figure out the interactions between two clusters of concep...
By Teresa M. Schulz
On the night of March 26, 2003, a brilliant fireball exploded and fragmented over south suburban Chicago, hammering houses and sidewalks with meteorites. Many people witnessed the event and collected the precious stones. This is the story about the m...
By Teresa M. Schulz
One Navajo legend attributes the creation of the primary stars and constellations to "Black God." Today, a famous star cluster, the Pleiades, often appears on the traditional mask worn by chanters impersonating Black God during special ceremonies. In...
A Classic Case of Serial Murder
By Karen Altendorf, Alan Cheville
In this case study, a newly appointed medical examiner uncovers an unusual trend in drowning cases, which she suspects may be the work of a serial murderer. To prove that she is right, she must rely on instrumentation designed and tested by a team of...
By Teresa M. Schulz
This dilemma case, developed for a general astronomy course, provides an introduction to our solar system by highlighting the peculiarities of Pluto. The main character, Dr. Maria Ocasio, is the chair of the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of th...
By Stephen J. Shawl
What is a googol? Invented by Edward Kasner, an American mathematician who popularized the number in his 1940 book, Mathematics and the Imagination, it is a 1 followed by a hundred zeros. This directed case in estimation and very large numbers ...
By Traci E. Morris, Susannah Gal
In this case study, designed to help break down stereotypes about scientists and engineers, students research the personal and professional lives of researchers in their field. The case was designed for use in high school to graduate courses in a var...
An Electrical Storm on the Horizon
By Alan Cheville
In this fictional case study, the state of Oklahoma has profited by giving incentives for companies to build power plants in rural areas of the state. The "scrubbing" systems used to minimize air pollution create potentially hazardous solid waste.&nb...
By Alan Cheville, Misa Scepanovic
A motion picture company (circa 1950) is having problems with antiquated equipment. The director, actors, and crew all want the CEO of the company, who is notorious for being tight with money, to invest in a newly developed zoom lens. Students are as...
Is a Mars Sample Return Mission Too Risky?
By Troy D. Wood
Following a public hearing format, this case study allows students to explore the scientific and public policy issues surrounding the advisability of a return mission to Mars for further sampling and, more generally, the question of whether or not th...
The Cheerleader and the Football Player
By Malati M. Patil
As the result of a wager between the school football team and its cheerleading squad, one of the cheerleaders has to lift a 300-pound football player off the ground. In this directed case study, students learn about the mechanical principle of the pu...
By Lok C. Lew Yan Voon
This case analyzes the principles of thermodynamics and the operating cycle of an adiabatic demagnetizing refrigerator (ADR), a piece of equipment NASA uses to keep x-ray detectors cold enough to work. A synthesis of all the basic principles of...
By Graham F. Peaslee, Juliette Lantz, Mary Walczak
In this dilemma case study, the executives of a popular restaurant chain must decide whether to use irradiated meat, in this case, beef, to protect its customers from the bacteria, E. coli. Students learn about food irradiation and discuss issues rel...
By Richard T. Brundage
This case study presents students with the challenge of working together in teams to win a photography contest. Some team members believe in aperture priority: pictures should be taken with as large an f-number as possible. The other members advocate...