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 Brett C. Couch
Why are chilies so hot? This case study begins with a story about an undergraduate student who is inspired to learn about capsaicin production in chilies after losing a spicy chicken wing eating contest. The case was developed as an initial activity ...
The Polar Bear of the Salt Marsh?
By Beth A. Lawrence, Christopher R. Field
Polar bears are an iconic symbol of climate change, but regionally relevant examples of susceptible biota are needed to highlight how global forces impact local environments. In this interrupted case study, students follow a young naturalist as she e...
By Amber J. Raven, Jessica Williamson, Raelynn D. Haynes
This case study was developed for an upper-level undergraduate evolution course in order to provide an example of natural selection in hominids and encourage critical thinking and understanding of the subject. The case focuses on the cognitive evolut...
Selection on a Case by Case Basis
By Adam R. Irvine, Eva S. Horna-Lowell, Mathew J. Driscoll, Emily D. Broder
This "clicker case" gives students an opportunity to apply their understanding of three different types of selection (directional, stabilizing, and disruptive) to a variety of model systems. The case describes each type of selection in detail, presen...
By David E. Gammon
In this case study, students participate in a game in which they assume the roles of various stakeholders in a proposed oil and gas project in southeastern Peru at a meeting that takes place in 1998 in Cusco, Peru. Ultimately one ...
By Sarah A. Orlofske
This case study follows two beginning undergraduate researchers on a quest for a summer research project related to food web ecology. While writing their research proposal, the students receive feedback indicating that they have neglected an entire g...
Life Tables, Darwin’s Finches, and the Dynamics of Small Island Populations
By Whitley R. Lehto, Shannon M. Murphy, Mayra C. Vidal, Robin M. Tinghitella
This case study uses Darwin’s finches to teach students about life tables. Life tables are tables of statistics that relate to life expectancy and reproductive output for a population of organisms. Students are asked to tabulate traditional life ta...
The Demise of the Forest People
By Katherine A. Kurth, Tomika M. Haller, Annalisa L. Sharkey
In this case study, the complexity of the Malaysian palm oil industry is examined through the perspective of various stakeholders, namely, villagers, corporations, orangutans, smallholders, conservationists, and an average consumer. Students learn ab...
Animals Can Run Away, but Plants Must Stay
By Nicole D. Tunbridge, Carol Pollock, Joan Sharp
In this PowerPoint-driven case study, students consider the many challenges faced by plants and discuss which of these might induce a morphological response. Examples of phenotypic variation within a plant species are presented and students discuss i...
Could Grazing Be Dangerous? Ask the Cows!
By Kevin Pyatt, Michelle C. Pyatt, Michael I. Rule
This case study introduces important issues related to invasive species and noxious weeds that have particular ecological and agricultural importance. The realistic storyline follows a rancher, Elmer, who has recently purchased a 180-acre parcel of l...
Unsustainable Use of the High Plains Aquifer
By Christine M. Carson, Casey A. Pennock
This case spotlights Great Plains water shortages by focusing on the High Plains Aquifer. This groundwater reservoir provides nearly a third of groundwater used for irrigation in the heartland of the United States and is linked to surface flows (e.g....
By Clyde Freeman Herreid
This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom examines the interaction of plants and their mycorrhizal partners. The latter is one of the most widespread and vital symbiotic relationships in the world and can be seen in the videos that studen...
Testing for Grazer Adaptation to Toxic Algae
By Michael B. Finiguerra, Hans G. Dam, David E. Avery
The intent of this interrupted case study is to present a clear example of both the scientific method and evolutionary adaptation in a model system consisting of marine grazers (copepods) and toxic prey (phytoplankton). Briefly, a certain toxic phyto...
Responding to a Changing Climate
By Christopher J. Javornik, Akasha M. Faist
This case study uses a jigsaw activity to introduce students to four specific plant responses to climate change: elevational range shifts, phenology shifts, community shifts, and changes in biodiversity. Students become "experts" on one of these resp...
Indigenous Knowledge and the Search for Medicine
By Angela C. Oviedo, Patrick R. Field, Daniela J. Shebitz
This case study is based on a real scenario in which a high-profile ethnobotanical study in Chiapas, Mexico, ended when local and international organizations accused the managing researchers of biopiracy. Students will explore how the Maya Internatio...
Kudz-who? and Other Questions of Invasive Species
By Parks Collins
It is now well known that non-native species have the potential to be harmful to an ecosystem, but that wasn't always the case, and getting rid of non-native invasive species is usually a difficult task. This brief, interrupted case study tells the s...
By Mayra C. Vidal, Kylee Grenis, Whitley R. Lehto, Robin M. Tinghitella, Shannon M. Murphy
This case study uses an interactive activity to illustrate density dependence in ecology classes. We developed a "hunt" using paper butterflies with warning signals on the upper side of the wings and symbols that indicate if a butterfly is noxious un...
By Celeste A. Leander, Pamela Kalas
This case study focuses on the intersection of defining a scientific species and defining a legal species. The compelling story of Lolita, an orca whale in captivity, is used to highlight the legal significance of species declaration. Students will w...
Why Can’t We Build a Biosphere?
By Kathy Gallucci
This case study is designed to help students learn about the ecosystem services of Earth (Biosphere 1) by examining the challenges faced by the designers who tried to replicate its components in Biosphere 2. In 1991, four men and four women entered B...
By Sandra J. Connelly
This flipped case study is formatted as a PowerPoint presentation that uses group experimentation to encourage active learning in a large science classroom. There are options for using either wet bench experimentation or an online simulation, dependi...
By Orianna Carter
This case study addresses several concepts related to water hypoxia including physical laws governing dissolved oxygen levels and impacts to living systems during hypoxia. A survey of different factors causing reduced oxygen saturation levels on smal...
By Mariela Cruz Calderón, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
Why is the North American population of monarch butterflies declining? In 1999, a study published in the journal Nature suggested that a variety of genetically modified corn was killing these iconic butterflies. While it was later shown that the cond...
By Tracie M. Addy, Catherine E. LePrevost, Courtney L. McGinnis
This case study was inspired by a real-life scenario, and follows the story of Roberto, a migrant farmworker whose health is impacted by the usage of pesticides on a farm. With the help of a health care provider, Roberto becomes aware of the ef...
By Teresa C. Weglarz
This interrupted case study tells the story of Miles, a freshman in college, who volunteers to help with the composting program on campus. Miles is excited about composting but his mother is hesitant to try it at home. Miles learns about the key ingr...
Why Did the Snake Cross the Road?
By Milton T. Drott, Mark A. Sarvary
Although Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a fundamental part of introductory biology classes, students often have difficulty understanding its implications. This interrupted case study places students in the role of small teams who are conducting prelim...
By Amanda J. Chunco, Jennifer K. Uno
This case study focuses on the relationship between the microbiome (the suite of species that live in or on the human body) and autoimmune and allergic diseases. At the center of the case is Amelia, a young woman living with Crohn's disease. As the c...
Mini Cases on Choosing Appropriate Statistical Tests for Ecological Data
By Alyssa M. Gleichsner, Elizabeth A. Flaherty
This set of mini cases on the ecology of eastern cottontail rabbits is designed to give students practical experience using statistics in a scientific context. Given a dataset and experimental design, groups of students are asked to play the part of ...
The Mystery of the Missing Martens
By Elizabeth A. Flaherty, Carolyn A. Eckrich, Merav Ben-David
This interrupted case study introduces basic modeling to investigate a decline in an American marten population on an island in Southeast Alaska. Two summer field technicians working on a long-term field ecology project for one of their professors no...
By Claudia Stein, Eleanor A. Pardini
In this case study students are provided with information for piecing together the story of how forest fragmentation and biodiversity loss can affect the risk of Lyme disease transmission to humans. The case introduces the dilution effect, a widely a...
By Susan E. Gass, Laurie S. Eberhardt
This interrupted case study, designed for an introductory biology or environmental science course, introduces students to the complexity of ecosystems by examining changes in trophic interactions and abiotic factors in a freshwater ecosystem as a res...
By Akasha M. Faist
This case study in restoration ecology utilizes two peer reviewed articles that ask a similar question about the effects of grazing in temporary wetlands, yet the articles have different conclusions about these effects. Students are challenged ...
Unintended Consequences of Plant Domestication on Plant-Insect Interactions
By Glenna M. Malcolm, Yolanda H. Chen
This case study investigates how plant domestication sometimes produces unintended consequences for plant-insect interactions. The narrative follows a boy in middle school, Podrick, who goes on a class field trip and notices that there are no caterpi...
Seeing the Forest for the Trees
By Elizabeth A. Flaherty, Carolyn A. Eckrich, Merav Ben-David
This case study has for its central theme the importance of tree size in both ecology and natural resource management and is designed to introduce components of forest management and policy, the importance of ecological relationships, and the challen...
Evolution and Plasticity in Guppies
By E. Dale Broder, Corey A. Handelsman, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Lisa M. Angeloni
This case study focuses on the relationship between evolution and plasticity using a hands-on, inquiry-based approach. Students view examples from the literature that illustrate the difference between nature and nurture, or the relative contributions...
By Scott Turner
This case study explores the controversy surrounding Yellowstone bison (Bison bison) and the relationship between wildlife management and pluralist democracy. In the late 1960s Yellowstone National Park suspended the policy of strictly managing bison...
By Merle K. Heidemann (rr), Peter J.T. White, James J. Smith
This case study is based on Dr. Richard Lenski’s ongoing studies of evolution in E. coli. Students are introduced to prokaryotic biology and to Lenski’s studies based on serial broth cultures of E. coli, which have been monitored for genotypic an...
By Ashley E. Rhodes
Loss of species richness is often due to anthropogenic activity. The global decline of amphibians is one such example. This case study examines the impact of road deicing agents on amphibians living near bridges and roads treated heavily with salt du...
By Kylee Grenis, Laurel C. Cepero, Mayra C. Vidal
This group-based case study is based on research by Dr. Martha Weiss using silver-spotted skipper caterpillars (Epargyreus clarus (Lepidoptera)). These insects perform the unusual behavior of flinging their frass (excrement) great distances away from...
En Garde! Animal Structures and What They Mean
By Parks Collins
In most animals, the drive to breed and produce offspring is strong. However, most males live their whole lives without having the chance to breed. The events leading up to mating can be very dangerous and also very costly to an individual. Some male...
The Perilous Plight of the Pika
By Fleur M. Ferro
This interrupted case study addresses several concepts related to climate change and its effect on the American pika. Often called an indicator species for climate change, the pika has a unique set of variables specific to its environment. Factors su...