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.
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By Patrick R. Field, Kelsey L. Logan
This interrupted case study traces the football career of Anthony "Tony Tonka Truck" Williams, and the types of brain trauma that he suffers from youth league through high school, college and his draft into the pros. In order to be successful d...
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 ...
By Christine R. Dahlin
This case study was developed to teach students the importance of understanding the behavior of wildlife, explore the difficulty in making management decisions when the public is invested in a species, and to help students develop critical thinking a...
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 Kendra S. Mell, Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study students follow a nurse practitioner and work with a diagnostics team to determine what is wrong with Tristan, an infant who comes to the clinic with multiple bruises. Students are given background and patient history, and...
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...
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 Karobi Moitra
This case study examines the molecular methods that were used to reverse engineer the 1918 influenza virus strain in order to try and solve the mystery of why it was so deadly. The story starts in the 1950s with the unsuccessful attempts to culture t...
By Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study, students shadow Dr. Lee in diagnosing two patients with osteoporosis. The students are given patient history and an initial panel of test results, which they discuss in small groups. After diagnosis, they are asked specif...
By Helen S. Joyner
In this case study, students assume the role of a quality assurance (QA) technician who is working on finding the root cause of customer complaints for apple cider. Students will critically examine the sampling practices for the apples used for...
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...
Why Is He Different from Both Parents?
By Jun Liang, William J. Rice
This case study was developed to teach the topic of human ABO blood type and genetic inheritance in biology courses at the lower undergraduate level or upper high school level. It is suitable for entry level biology, genetics, and physiology courses....
Cancer Cluster or Coincidence?
By Jaclyn E. McLean, Ram S. Veerapaneni
In this interrupted case study students analyze the complexities surrounding identification and confirmation of cancer clusters. The case challenges students to consider the evidence from two different perspectives; a local family physician represent...
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 ...
By Kristen H. Short
This clicker case study follows a dialogue between two college students, Lucy and Dan, as they discover how alternative splicing of mRNA molecules can allow a single gene to code for multiple proteins. Dan is participating in a clinical trial for a d...
Unlucky Chucky and Toxins of the Neuromuscular Junction
By Andrew M. Petzold, Jennifer Wollschlager, Robert L. Dunbar
Signaling at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a complex process that is required for many actions that sustain life within humans. Toxins that act upon the NMJ, both natural and synthetic, act in a variety of ways to inhibit this function. This ca...
By Ann T.S. Taylor
Taylor must write a report about a natural toxin while she is home from college on break. After a family dinner conversation about the latest attempt to poison a politician via a letter, Taylor decides to explore how ricin acts as a poison....
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...
By Kathryn M. Burleson
Kasey is a busy undergraduate student who is struggling with her body image and wants to lose weight. To aid in this process, Kasey keeps a food and activity journal. Students review Kasey's food and exercise choices, calculate Kasey's daily caloric ...
By Lalitha S. Jayant, Christine Priano, Sarah N. Salm, Lauren N. Goodwyn
When covering the process of cellular respiration, advanced high school and undergraduate biology classes present fermentation as a means of anaerobic energy production in certain organisms and in muscle metabolism. Although most biology textbooks co...
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
By Justin A. Pruneski
This interrupted case study introduces the topic of bacterial sporulation and cannibalism in Bacillus subtilis. The storyline follows Susan and her lab mates who are presenting research at a lab meeting when Susan falls asleep and dreams they are str...
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 Breanna N. Harris
In this directed case study, students help “Dr. Gupta” diagnose three patients in an endocrinology clinic who are having problems with blood glucose regulation. In Part I, students are given patient backgrounds and results from laboratory tests g...
By Cheryld L. Emmons
This interrupted case study examines molecular genetic evidence reported in scientific literature to determine the fate of Louis-Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette of France. Controversy and rumors surrounding the death of Louis-Charles s...
By Marcia Harrison-Pitaniello, Jessica L. Shiltz, Robert E. Hughes, Roger L. Estep, Anna B. Mummert
This PowerPoint-driven case study follows the progress of three undergraduate students as they attempt to model the rapid spread of an influenza outbreak to determine whether their local newspaper's claim that "40% of the campus has the flu" is accur...
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 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...
One Tablet a Day May Keep Cancer Away
By Adam J. Kleinschmit
This dilemma/decision case study is intended to demonstrate how knowledge of signal transduction pathways can be applied to the pharmaceutical industry and within a medical setting. The case scenario revolves around a physician scientist's analysis o...
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 Kathleen S. Rein, Jeneissy Comas
This case study examines the chemistry of nail polish. Traditional nail polish is made from nitrocellulose whereas the new process of shellac manicure involves acrylic polymer. The "polish" is actually a mixture of methylmethacrylate and oligomers. T...
By Vandana A. Gudi
This case study presents the fictional tale of two neighboring towns that have recently experienced a growth boom and are now suffering the environmental consequences. The case provides an opportunity to explore a wide variety of anthropogenic causes...
The Ebola Wars: Advanced Edition
By Derek Dube, Linda M. Iadarola, Tracie M. Addy
This case study was written for upper level undergraduate and graduate students to review foundational aspects of virology and to examine Ebola virus infection in detail. Terry is a college student who travels to a West African clinic for the summer ...
The Ebola Wars: General Edition
By Tracie M. Addy, Linda M. Iadarola, Derek Dube
This case study introduces students to viruses and is suitable for a general biology course. Terry is a college student who travels to a West African clinic for the summer as a volunteer. While abroad, Terry comes into contact with a patient infected...
By Marlee B. Marsh
The purpose of this case is to teach introductory college biology students the basic process of mitosis, focusing on the fundamental cellular processes that occur during each of the stages-prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase and cy...