JoinAll Case Studies
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Suggested Keywords, to help with your search (besides selecting subjects): clicker cases, directed cases, interrupted cases, discussion cases, intimate debate cases. As a reminder, all cases may be adjusted to meet the needs of your student level. See our case use guidelines.
Grade level filtering: enter desired grade levels in the Keywords box and click Apply.
By Lynn Diener
In this interrupted case study, good friends Sara and Mallory discuss Sara's recent healthy weight loss and her difficulty in maintaining her desired weight. Sara recently heard about a hormone, ghrelin, and wonders if that chemical may have somethin...
The Case of the Jamaican Fisherman
By Joyce A. Shaw
Designed for a first- or second-semester Anatomy & Physiology course, this directed case study involves a 48-year-old Jamaican fisherman who suffered a cerebrovascular accident. He was taken to a hospital, where he stayed for three days bef...
By Tonya Laakko Train
This case centers on a fictional group of young adults who studied abroad together in Scotland as college students. A number of them develop disease symptoms and die a few years after the trip. The cause of death is determined to be a prion disease. ...
It's All Greek to Me: Physiology Edition
By Leslie G. Wooten
Stephania and Nikolaus Stamos are concerned about their baby daughter. They take her to her pediatrician, who immediately notices that the once bright and active child is small for her age, pale, lethargic, and has a swollen abdomen. Students ex...
The Soccer Mom: Hebrew Translation
By Jennifer Bolognese, Misti Coronel, Anita Intorre, Philip J. Stephens
In this case study, translated from the original English into Hebrew, students read and interpret the signs and symptoms of a woman suffering from a neurological disorder and make a diagnosis. The case was developed for use in a one-semester animal p...
I've Fallen Over and I Can't Get Up
By Ashley L. Madern, Michael D. Hood, Jeffrey C. Paul, Jr., Philip J. Stephens
Greg Myron is playing the last football game of his career as the high school’s star running back. As the clock counts down the final seconds, Greg rushes 70 yards down field until he is tackled out of bounds. When the kicking team comes out to try...
By David F. Dean (rr)
The pancreas is the source of the bulk of digestive enzymes that act upon the contents of the small intestine. The normal function of the pancreas can be studied in the context of acute pancreatitis, an inflammatory disease with a sudden onset. In th...
By Keith K. Schillo
This case is designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of negative feedback regulation. Basic principles of negative feedback systems are illustrated by focusing on the effects of anabolic steroids on the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicu...
Newsflash! Transport Proteins on Strike!
By Dianne W. York
This role-play case study teaches students about plasma membrane transport and the functions of transport proteins in the phospholipid bilayer. Students act out the parts of molecules and structures in a fantastical cellular world where the unionized...
An Unusual Case of Animal Reproduction
By Joann B. Powell, Elethia W. Tillman
This case study in human reproduction follows Andrea, a college biology student who discovers she is pregnant with twins, but is not sure who the father is. Students are presented with a variety of signs, symptoms, and physiological information that ...
Lost in the Desert! Hebrew Translation
By David L. Evans
In this directed case study, translated from the original English into Hebrew, students read about a man who sets out on a three-hour drive across the Arizona desert to meet his fiancee in California but never shows up at his final destination. ...
Diagnosis of a Congenital Disorder
By Patrick R. Field, Paula Cobos, Cheylena Williams
This progressive disclosure case study explores the medically-related issues of a female infant born with the congenital disorder Sirenomelia, more commonly known as "Mermaid Syndrome." The case starts with a high-risk mother participating in prenata...
By Keith K. Schillo
This case explores the question of whether gender identity is determined strictly by genetics (nature) or social variables (nurture). It is based on a true story about a man who was raised as a girl and later rejected the female gender identity...
By Karin Grimnes (rr)
This interrupted case study is a story about Carrie and her infant daughter Hayden who share similar symptoms: weight loss, metabolic abnormalities, and endocrine glands that just won't quit - as well as autoimmune complications. Students will eventu...
Mini Cases in Psychoactive Drugs and Their Effects on the Brain
By Darlene A. Mitrano
Designed for an upper-level psychology class titled Brain & Behavior, this series of mini-cases can be used in any undergraduate course that covers the major classes of commonly abused legal and illicit psychoactive drugs from a biological standp...
By Tamar L. Goulet
This clicker case introduces the human menstrual cycle and its associated misconceptions by following the story of Ann, a newlywed college student. Ann worries that she is pregnant and confides in her friend, Karen, a biology major. By following thei...
Resistance Is Futile, Or is It? The Clicker Version
By Steven L. Telleen
This clicker case is an adaptation of a case by Annie Prud'homme-Généreux that was originally published by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science titled "Resistance Is Futile ... or Is It? The Immunity System and HIV Infection." It ...
Osmosis is Serious Business! Hebrew Translation
By Troy R. Nash
This directed case study, translated from the original English into Hebrew, involves two “stories,” each concerned with some aspect of osmosis in living cells. Part I is centered around the effects of a hypertonic environment on plant cells, whil...
By Kathleen G. Brown, Sharon S. Ellerton
This case study is designed to integrate important aspects of the nervous and muscular system portions of an anatomy and physiology course. Students follow the story of “Kathy,” whose symptoms involve both sensory and motor components of the nerv...
By Sheri L. Boyce
In this case, students assume the role of a fictitious space explorer captured by aliens. To win their release, they must correctly explain the neurophysiology underlying some of the punishments used by the aliens to deter attempts at escape. The pur...
A Case of Respiratory Distress
By Brahmadeo Dewprashad, Geraldine S. Vaz, Sharon A. Vaz (rr)
This clinical case study was developed to engage students by making connections between core concepts in chemistry and physiological processes in the body. The case pertains to medication-induced methemoglobinemia, its etiology, diagnosis, and treatm...
Girl Pulled Alive from Ruins, 15 Days after Earthquake
By Susan B. Chaplin
This case examines the integrated physiological response to dehydration and starvation from the real-life report of a girl discovered 15 days after an earthquake devastated Port Au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010. From the meager scientifically releva...
The Mystery of the Seven Deaths
By Michaela Gazdik Stofer
In this interrupted case study, students learn about the function of cellular respiration and the electron transport chain and what happens when that function is impaired. The case is loosely based on the real-life 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders where ...
A Perfect Storm in the Operating Room
By Kelley W. Grorud
In this interrupted case study, a high school biology student shadows her uncle, an anesthesiologist, at a hospital for a school assignment. She witnesses a patient who has an unusual reaction to his anesthesia and nearly dies. As they try to d...
Resistance is Futile - Or Is It?
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
While the majority of people are prone to HIV infection, some individuals remain uninfected despite repeated exposure. This case study is based on the landmark paper by Paxton et al. (1996) that uncovered some of the mechanisms of protection against ...
By Kristina Hannam
This "clicker case" is based on the General Biology edition of James Hewlett’s “Bad Fish” case in our collection. The case follows the story of biologist Dr. Westwood, who is accidentally poisoned, first while traveling in Asia and then in the ...
By Sheri L. Boyce
An Amish infant suddenly dies and law enforcement officials suspect the parents of child abuse. But experts who advocate for the parents argue that an underlying genetic disorder common among the Amish may have resulted in the baby’s death. Student...
By Sheri L. Boyce
Ellie is a struggling college student on the brink of failing her physiology course; not surprisingly, she exhibits many classic signs of stress. However, a visit to the health clinic reveals that she may be suffering from more than just stress. In t...
Chemical Eric - The Clicker Version
By Eric Ribbens
This “clicker case” is a modified version of a case originally published in the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science case collection in 2006, “Chemical Eric: Dealing with the Disintegration of Central Control,” by the same autho...
By Cheryl D. Davis, Nancy A. Rice
This case is a “clicker” adaptation of a similarly titled case by Merle Heidemann and Gerald Urquhart of Michigan State University, “A Can of Bull?” The story introduces students to basic principles of metabolism and energy through a biochemi...
One Headache After Another: Physiology Edition
By Ann T.S. Taylor, William H. Cliff
Topamax®, developed to treat epilepsy, is also used as a preventative for migraine. In this case study, students read about a woman experiencing a side-effect of Topamax and from there move to a review of acid-base balance in the human body. The cas...
By William D. Rogers
This “clicker case” explores the biological basis for the temporary euphoria that accompanies drug use as well as certain aspects of the biological basis of drug dependency. The case is called a clicker case because it is designed for use with pe...
By Elaine S. Chapman (rr)
Based on a real incident, this case features an older woman who has been injured on a ski slope. Her classic knee injury, often referred to as the “Terrible Triad of O’Donahue,” is complicated by her age, the altitude, and possible hypothermia....
By Ryan Doyle, Matthew Heslin, Michael Keller, Philip J. Stephens
This interrupted case study in cardiovascular and nerve physiology focuses on Lynn, a married woman with a young child whose husband is often away from home traveling on business. Lynn is anxious and short-tempered. She is also overweight and appears...
By Karen E. Bledsoe
When Mitchell reveals that he is going on a low-carb diet, Janine tries to talk him out of it, telling him that he’s too thin as it is and doesn’t need to loose any weight. Designed to accompany a nonmajors unit on human anatomy and physiology, t...
By Antoinette Miller
This series of mini cases focuses on language deficits (aphasias) and their likely organic causes (problems in specific brain areas). Students read one of the six cases, which are based on actual cases reported in the literature, and connect the symp...
The Physiology of a Neurodegenerative Disease
By Christine M. Fleet
In this case, a young woman learns that her uncle has been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. She talks with her fellow graduate students to try to better understand the physiology of the disorder, along with the medical and personal implications...
The Case of the Sexually Arrested Orangutans
By Susan B. Chaplin, Laura J. Baumgartner
This case examines the hormonal control of the development and maturation to adulthood and the role of stress hormones in that developmental process. The case was adapted from results summarized in Maggioncalda and Sapolsky’s (2002) article in Scie...
Driving Can Be Dangerous to Your Health
By Philip J. Stephens
In this interrupted case study, students read about an older woman named Barbara who becomes ill after driving with her husband 19 hours from Florida to visit their son’s family. Barbara experiences an asthma attack and then more serious breathing ...
By Troy R. Nash
This directed case study involves two “stories,” each one concerned with some aspect of osmosis in living cells. Part I is centered around the effects of a hypertonic environment on plant cells, while Part II focuses on the effects of a hypotonic...