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 Nora S. Green
This case study places students in the role of forensic chemists at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center. They are tasked with determining the biological age of skeletal remains found in a recently purchased home. With no hits in t...
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 Nora S. Green
In this interrupted case, students take on the role of a trainee forensic chemist completing their final performance test in a toxicology laboratory. The trainee’s performance test involves a healthy man who was found dead in his apartment. Numerou...
Chirality, Amino Acid Racemization, and the Authenticity of the Buyid Silks
By Suzanne R. Carpenter
This case study is designed to walk biochemistry majors through the science behind a journal article about an investigation of potential fraud hinging on the analysis of a non-natural enantiomer of aspartic acid (“Buyid Silk and the Tale of Bibi Sh...
How Failing in Science Helped Solve the Coho Salmon Mystery
By Meghan Ward, Krystal Nunes, Nicole Laliberté, Fiona Rawle
This PowerPoint case study examines a series of coho salmon die-offs in the Pacific Northwest to introduce students to the importance of learning through failure in science. Such failures are an important part of the scientific process as they lead t...
A Bioinformatic Investigation of a Mysterious Meningoencephalitis
By Sari Matar, Dyan Anore, Basma Galal, Shawn Xiong
This case study gives students an opportunity to use basic bioinformatic tools to develop the skills of data interpretation and analysis. Based on an actual clinical case of a boy who contracted meningoencephalitis, students try to determine the caus...
The Name’s Bond, Chemical Bond
By Katie McShea, Kari Fleuriet, Fatmah Alamoudi, Deana Jaber
This case study is designed to help students better understand chemical bonds by introducing them to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as “forever chemicals.” The unique structure of these substances renders ...
By Michèle I. Shuster, Joann Mudge, Meghan Hill, Katelynn James, Gabriella A. DeFrancesco, Maria P. Chadiarakou, Anitha Sundararajan
This PowerPoint-driven case study with supporting supplemental materials is designed for students to learn about the protein p53 (the “guardian of the genome”) and how characteristic mutations in the protein were used to establish that smoking ca...
By Megan Lee, Anna K.S. Jozwick
This interrupted case study follows the story of “Miriam,” a first-year biology student who draws inspiration from her favorite detective show to help her study for class. Students take on the role of “chemical detective,” learning to use str...
By Winyoo Chowanadisai, Bryant H. Keirns
Selenocysteine is commonly referred to as the 21st amino acid and is incorporated into selenoproteins through exceptional yet logical and systematic circumstances. This case study is designed for students to get hands-on experience working with a bio...
By Geoffrey M. Lippa, Heather Zimbler-DeLorenzo, Jean A. Cardinale
This directed case study with laboratory components is an adaptation of a “clicker case” by Terry Platt that reviews basic chemistry to explain pH and buffers (see “Acids, pH and Buffers: Some Basic Chemistry for Biological Science” published...
Seq’ ing the Cure: Standard Edition
By Heather B. Miller, Sabrina D. Robertson, Melissa C. Srougi
This directed, interrupted case study is designed to introduce students to high-throughput sequencing technologies and cutting-edge methods of gene editing. The case offers students relevant, hands-on experience in manipulating large sequencing data ...
Seq’ ing the Cure: Neuroscience Edition
By Heather B. Miller, Sabrina D. Robertson, Melissa C. Srougi
This directed, interrupted case study is designed to introduce students to high-throughput sequencing technologies and cutting-edge methods of gene editing. The case offers students relevant, hands-on experience in manipulating large sequencing data ...
By Carlos C. Goller, Stefanie H. Chen, Melissa C. Srougi
This case study is designed to raise awareness of the use of high-throughput screening (HTS), the resources available at PubChem, and the potential for discovery of promising therapeutics in collections of existing drugs. Students prepare for the cas...
Intravenous Error Precipitates Legal Problems
By Marsha A. Grimminger
In this directed case study, students are presented with a legal case about a patient who died after an infusion containing the solid precipitate calcium phosphate. The lawsuit was filed to determine if the pharmacist, physician, or nurse was at faul...
By Ghizlane Bendriss, Ali Chaari, Kuei-Chiu Chen
This directed case study with a lab component tells the story of “Sara,” a college sophomore majoring in biological science. Sara has been awarded an internship in a lab focusing on sequencing gene markers for species identification. On her first...
By Hollie L. Leavitt
This case study introduces the reader to “Jason,” a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) who is just beginning his career in nursing, and Jason’s grandmother who worked as a nurse in labor and delivery in the 1960s...
By Daniel B. Stovall
This directed case study introduces students to “Kay,” a 10-month-old baby whose symptoms suggest to her pediatrician that she has a tumor of the eye called retinoblastoma. Students learn about the genetics of this cancer by following the convers...
The World’s Worst Industrial Disaster
By Roshan Lamichhane, Betsy B. Ratcliff, Mark W. Schraf, Anitha S.L. Gowda
In this directed case study, students first watch a brief video and then read a short passage about the 1984 Bhopal, India, disaster in which a Union Carbide pesticide plant released 30 metric tons of poisonous gas throughout the city....
By Melissa R. Eslinger, Carl E. Lundell, Ryan E. Rodriguez
This directed case study provides an opportunity to apply stoichiometry to combustion reactions of commonly used explosive materials. Initially, students apply modified Kistiakowsky-Wilson (K-W) rules, developed during World War II, to predict the re...
By Stefanie H. Chen, Carlos C. Goller, Melissa C. Srougi
In this directed case study, students assume the role of investigators for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as they examine and compare different DNA sequences from human patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that cau...
By Amy C. Groth
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, was first detected in China in late 2019 and rapidly spread throughout the globe in the first few months of 2020. Efforts to slow the spread of the virus in the ...
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 ...
Social Distancing in the Midst of COVID-19
By Jason C. Cochrane
This directed case study is intended to give students insight into why social distancing is used to minimize the spread of infectious diseases. Students are provided with data from the state of Washington to determine whether there is a trend in tran...
By Tracy J. Terry
This laboratory-based case study is designed to train students in using the scientific method to explore chemical equilibrium in the context of ocean acidification. Students are given information, based on which they are asked to develop hypotheses, ...
Breaking Bad: Real Science or Hollywood Science?
By Catherine S. Haslag
This two-part case study with a laboratory component uses a pop-cultural reference to engage students and takes the study of electrochemistry from the lecture hall into the lab....
By Adela M. Acosta
In this case study, “Tatiana,” a college student, introduces psychrometry to her younger brother as she explains the physical phenomenon of dew. This everyday scenario is used to demonstrate the relationship between moisture content in the air an...
By Melissa R. Eslinger, Ryan E. Rodriguez, Jonathan W. Roginski
This case study centers on “Tom,” a 43-year-old male patient, and his recent genetic sequencing results and diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2A). Tom has a heterozygous mutation within the RET gene, a proto-oncogene, which con...
By Julia A. Emerson, Andrew E. Emerson
In this interrupted case study, students examine the fundamental connections between genotype, 3-D protein structure and phenotype by exploring possible underlying causes of the human genetic disorder, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SEDC), a...
Solving a Medical Mystery with Bioinformatics
By Kelly L. Brackett, Gareth R. Howell, Charles G. Wray, Sarah A. Wojiski
This computer-based case study guides students through publically available bioinformatics databases to solve a medical mystery. The case relates the real-life story of Dr. James Lupski, a renowned geneticist, who has a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Too...
By Parks Collins, Jason Macrander
This interrupted case study tells the true story of Karl P. Schmidt, a herpetologist and museum curator who was bitten by a venomous snake in 1957. Like a true scientist, Schmidt recorded notes about his symptoms until the very end when he died. Stud...
Diabetes and Acid/Base Chemistry
By Eric J. Herrera, Linda M. Roberts
This case study focuses on a teenage patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) who presents with severe acidosis, becomes combative and loses consciousness, and is subsequently treated and released. The scenario is used to teach the topics of meta...
By Betty Jo Chitester, Weslene T. Tallmadge
This directed case study uses a fictionalized story about a family that has recently moved to the Washington DC area and is confronted with a situation involving lead contamination of the municipal water supply. Students learn how basic chemical prin...
By Annette W. Neuman
This interrupted case study is designed to teach students about chirality and the pH scale in the context of medicinal chemistry. Students read about a college student who wakes in the middle of the night with chest pains. Upon examination in the eme...
By Kimberly S. Farah
This directed case study was written to help students understand both organic and inorganic analysis of forensic evidence. It tells the story of a fire at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Daisy who are found deceased on the property, both with gunshot wounds...
The Biochemistry of Curly and Straight Hair
By Willietta Gibson
This interrupted case study examines basic concepts of chemical bonding by telling the story of “Madison,” who is learning about the texture of her hair and how it can transition between its natural curly state to a smooth, straight texture. The ...
Electric Cars and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
By Jack F. Eichler
This “clicker case” provides students with an overview of batteries and fuel cells and the oxidation-reduction reactions used in these devices. The context for this overview is a comparison of battery-electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehi...
By Jacqueline C. Ruiz Harewood
This case study was written to help students understand metal reactivity and metal incompatibility before they start learning about redox reactions. The storyline is based on a real-life situation in which two children are interrupted by a power fail...
By Mackenzie A. Hahn, Hannah C. Schake, Ryan T. Schalles, Sarah R. Shioji, Breanna N. Harris
Was the "Brooklyn Butcher" of 1926 a cold-blooded killer or was something less sinister at play? This interrupted case study introduces students to hemoglobin binding and carbon monoxide poisoning by working through the details of a fictionalized acc...
By Ying Guo
This case study explores how intermolecular forces affect the solubility of substances. The story line presents a scenario in which specialists in a marketing department are investigating three types of makeup removers. They want to generate a short ...