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
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...
By Sarah A. Wojiski
This clicker case was designed to teach students about basic enzyme structure, mechanisms of enzyme inhibition, and mechanisms of drug resistance. The story follows Oliver Casey, a patient afflicted with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). CML is cau...
By Karen S. Huffman
Protein folding and trafficking is essential for normal cell function, and when it goes awry it can lead to various chronic conditions, including fatty liver disease, diabetes, and Parkinson's. The narrative of this case study follows two undergradua...
By Reinaldo Perez, Andres Arango, Kathleen S. Rein
This case study involves the structure elucidation of the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone or THG by the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. This steroid was allegedly synthesized by BALCO organic chemist Patrick Arnold and was allegedly used by...
By Helen S. Joyner
In this case study students assume the role of quality assurance personnel at a small artisan cheese company. They are given a flowchart of the cheesemaking process and a set of process data. They must develop control charts to monitor process qualit...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
Three experiments carried out by the Mars Viking landers in 1976 remain, to this day, our only attempt to detect life on another planet. All other efforts have looked for the presence of elements or conditions thought to be necessary for life rather ...
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 Kristine A. Garner, Brandy C. Ree
This interrupted case study was developed for an undergraduate class in human cardiac physiology. The story follows a patient whose heart attack damaged a papillary muscle in the left ventricle of the heart. This caused valve dysfunction and mitral v...
Flowing Fine: Moving Fluids on an Industrial Scale
By Helen S. Joyner
In this case study, students assume the role of a process engineer for a pilot plant. Students are tasked with selecting a piping arrangement from a list of available options, creating a diagram of the flow system, determining the terms needed in the...
By Jamie S. Hughes
This case study challenges students to understand and apply a set of concepts from the domain of social psychology to an inflammatory article that was published in The Guardian. Students prepare by reading a chapter on prejudice and stereotyping and ...
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...
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...
By Helen S. Joyner
In this case study, students assume the role of process engineers in an orange juice production facility. They determine modes of heat transfer to and from the orange juice, develop equations for the heat transfer scenario they have identified, and d...
By Celeste A. Leander
This case study follows a drama that unfolded around a stand of Sitka spruce trees (Picea sitchensis) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The stand held significant historical and cultural significance, particularly to the local first-nations band...
By Eric Ribbens
This clicker case is an adaptation of a case by Loren Byrne that told the true story of a Texas man who killed a cat that was killing piping plovers (see "Complexity in Conservation: The Legal and Ethical Case of a Bird-Eating Cat and its Human Kille...
By Helen S. Joyner, Michael L. Allen
If you were limited to choosing only three crops to sustainably farm in an arid, inhospitable environment, what would they be and how would you decide? This interrupted case study places students in the role of a proposed self-sufficient Martian colo...
By Daniel R. Albert
This case study involves analysis of data collected as part of the National Football League's investigation into the New England Patriots allegedly deflating footballs to gain a competitive advantage in a 2015 playoff game. The scandal and subsequent...
Sweet Beets: Making Sugar Out of Thin Air
By Sarah R. Sletten
This directed case study introduces students to photosynthesis and illustrates how biology plays a vital role in the carbon cycle and the conversion of energy. Set in North Dakota along the Red River of the North, the case uses the sugar beet (Beta v...