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 Nadia Sellami, Julie A. Morris, Sheela Vemu
Lactose intolerance, caused by a lack of persistent lactase enzyme expression, is a trait commonly observed in adult humans, with varying geographic prevalence depending on dietary habits in different cultures. This case study follows a diverse group...
It’s a Crocodile! No, a Fish! No, a Dolphin!
By Andrea Bixler
It is not uncommon to hear creationists argue that evolution is not science because no one saw it happen, or for students to wonder how we can know anything about the physiology or behavior of organisms that went extinct hundreds of millions of years...
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...
By Dongfang Wang
In this flipped case study, students use the scientific method to investigate how changes in a few genes have shaped the evolution of maize plant architecture during domestication. To prepare for the case, students first watch a video developed by HH...
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...
Genetics and a Transcontinental Romance
By Pamela Kalas
Annika is a PhD student from Sweden who spends two years in the Solomon Islands to complete her fieldwork. During her stay in the South Pacific she experiences a few surprises related to the hair color not only of the locals, but also of her own baby...
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...
BSL-4: Authorized Personnel Only
By Nicole M. Anthony
This case study is based on the 2014 Ebola epidemic that spread to multiple highly populated countries in West Africa, making it the largest and most devastating outbreak in the history of the virus. The storyline, inspired by a compilation of factua...
By Gabriel D. McNett
For years whale evolution was characterized by speculation and limited evidence. Evolution critics even focused on whales as a means to criticize evolutionary theory. Now whale evolution represents one of the best examples of "macroevolution." This "...
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...
Selection and the Blond Beach Mouse
By Joan Sharp
This "clicker" case study explores ultimate and proximate explanations for cryptic coloration in animals through the work of Dr. Hopi Hoekstra of Harvard University, who studies Gulf and Atlantic Coast beach populations of oldfield deer mice that hav...
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...
Which Came First, the Mutation or the Antibiotic?
By Suzanne M. Deschênes, Rosemary M. Danaher, Hema Gopalakrishnan
This case study presents the story of Phil, an undergraduate majoring in biology, whose Russian cousin Dimitri has contracted tuberculosis (TB) from inmates at the prison where he works. Phil learns that his cousin's failure to complete his ant...
By J. Phil Gibson
This clicker case addresses several concepts related to the evolutionary ecology of herbivore defenses. A survey of several different studies that investigated chemical defenses in Thymus vulgaris (thyme) gives students the opportunity to develop hyp...
By Troy R. Nash
This directed case study in PowerPoint format focuses on the London Underground Mosquito, Culex molestus, and its potential relationship to the common mosquito, Culex pipiens, in order to explore the topics of evolution, reproductive isolation, and s...
By Matthew P. Rowe
Who wouldn't want to go in search of a creature like Bigfoot, Yeti, or the Loch Ness Monster? Using the science of ecology, students do exactly that in this case study that encompasses a variety of case study teaching formats. Working in ...
By Kyla Flanagan
This case study is based on the game theory developed by John Maynard Smith where two behavioral strategies ("Hawks" and "Doves") compete over a contested resource. During this 50- to 75-minute case, students experience "hands-on"' the change in freq...
By Heather K.L. Harden, Michael L. Foley, Rachel A. Poon, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
During the Paleolithic era, human life expectancy was only 33 years—roughly half of what it is today. We owe our more extended lives in part to better hygiene, medicines, and more plentiful foods. Yet some people aspire to return to that earlier er...
Joel E. Greengiant Learns About Peas
By Merle K. Heidemann (rr), Peter J.T. White, James J. Smith
This case study follows purveyors of peas, Joel E. and Jolene Greengiant, as they learn about the origin, biochemistry, genetics and eventual artificial selection of sweet (wrinkled) peas, all in the context of evolutionary biology. This integrative ...
By J. Phil Gibson
This clicker case addresses several important concepts related to evolution. First, it explores artificial selection and selective breeding. Charles Darwin used artificial selection as an example to support his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selectio...
The Evolution of Color Vision in Monkeys
By Merle K. Heidemann (rr), Peter J.T. White, James J. Smith
This case study examines the evolution color vision in Old World and New World monkeys from multiple biological perspectives. This integrative approach employs both problem-based learning techniques and directed questions as students move through a s...
By Jennifer M. Dechaine, James E. Johnson
This interrupted case study investigates the geographic origin of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). WNS is a devastating fungal disease caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (formerly known as Geomyces de...
By Wayne O. Hatch
This case relates the story of two fictional college students, Kristen and Brent, who discover that they are infected with Staphylococcus aureus. Brent recovers after using an antibiotic, but Kristen does not. It is later confirmed through testing th...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
The discovery of a bacterium capable of substituting arsenic for phosphorus in its DNA was announced with much fanfare in 2010. It was immediately and very publicly critiqued by researchers posting their analyses of the paper on their blogs. The auth...
By Andrew E. Lyman-Buttler
Emerging diseases and potential pandemics make the news nearly every year. Students (and everyone else) may wonder where new infectious diseases come from, how scientists assess the risk of a pandemic, and how we might go about preventing one. This c...
By Geffrey F. Stopper, Andrew G. Lazowski
This interrupted case study teaches probability theory and transmission genetics through their application to the conservation of the endangered Florida panther. An endangered population is unlikely to survive simply due to its small population size....
By Kuei-Chiu Chen
This "clicker case" is based on several articles published in 2010 that determined the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun based on microsatellite DNA analysis. The case begins with a description of the seven royal mummies found in ...
By Maureen Leonard (rr)
Resistance to antibiotics arose very shortly after these "wonder drugs" were first introduced. This case study examines resistance to the most commonly used antibiotics, penicillin and its derivatives. In particular, it examines a recent ...
Reproductive Isolation in Columbines
By J. Phil Gibson
This clicker case uses plant-pollinator interactions in columbines as a biological scenario to teach students about evolution, reproductive isolation, and angiosperm reproduction. The case is based on an approach to evolution education called tree-th...
The Molecular Origin of Life: Replication or Metabolism-First? Introductory Version
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux, Rosalind H. Groenewoud
This case explores both the evidence and inconsistencies in the two major hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth: Replication-First or Metabolism-First....
The Molecular Origin of Life: Replication or Metabolism-First? Advanced Version
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux, Rosalind H. Groenewoud
This case explores both the evidence and inconsistencies in the two major hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth: Replication-First or Metabolism-First. The case has two versions published on this website; one is written at the introductory leve...
By Dustin J. Eno, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
This four-part interrupted case on phage therapy was developed for a freshmen non-majors course in molecular biology. The case begins with a story inspired by real events where Europeans imposed a treatment for cholera on the unwilling population of ...
By Susan Bandoni Muench
In this interrupted case study, students examine the cooperative courtship behavior of long-tailed manakins. Males of the long-tailed form leks, areas in which males display for females in groups. Leks in this species consist of two to 11 males, with...
By Kristy J. Wilson
Sam, a pre-med college student, routinely gets dialysis and develops a urinary tract infection. The infection is from a bacterium that the news media is calling a "superbug" from India. Sam does some internet searches to find out more information abo...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
Cancer is usually thought to be a disease that affects individuals. But could cancer evolve to become infectious? This case follows the research on a form of transmissible cancer that is decimating the Tasmanian devil, the world’s largest carnivoro...
The Evolution of Human Skin Color
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
While the concept of evolution by natural selection is very simple, it is often misunderstood by students. This is partly due to preconceptions they have as well as a lack of understanding or emphasis on the idea that reproductive success (and not su...
By Bruno Borsari
This "clicker case" follows a professor and his students in a study abroad course in Tanzania who are searching for human fossils in an effort to better understand where humans come from. The case story, presented as a PowerPoint presentation, is com...
By Thomas Horvath
This "clicker case" about female mimicry in spawning salmon was developed for an introductory-level, non-majors biology course to help address one of the most common misconceptions that students have about natural selection, namely, that only the "st...