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 Jasmine D. Edgren, Erica F. Kosal
This case study was written for an introductory course for biology majors who are first learning about embryonic development. The case is composed of several parts and involves a storyline about a team of researchers who find frogs and eggs in bamboo...
By Rivka L. Glaser, Erin L. Zimmer
This directed case study was developed in order to present genomic data to students, allow them to interpret the impact of genetic variations on phenotype, and to explore precision medicine. Students are introduced to "Josie," a college sophomore who...
By Ann T.S. Taylor
The protagonist of this two-day flipped case study, “Maria,” has two problems. She doesn’t like it when the apple slices in her lunch turn brown, and she needs to find a project for her biology class that includes molecular biology, preferably ...
By Rebecca L. Hite
This case study introduces students to the "Red Queen Hypothesis." The hypothesis states that when two species compete for a limited resource or exist in a predator-prey relationship, in order for the antagonists to remain in relative population equi...
By Suzanne R. Carpenter, Richard H. Wallace
Currently there is considerable confusion surrounding the use of the term "organic" as applied to food and other consumer products, but within the agriculture industry the term has a well-defined meaning related to the practices that are allowed in t...
By Anne G. Rosenwald
This case study describes a visit by "Naomi" to her physician, who upon seeing Naomi's bloodwork decides to prescribe her a cholesterol-lowering agent, a statin....
By Tracy J. Terry
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, provides a compelling context for understanding the importance of each of the major classes of chemical reactions: precipitation reactions, acid-base reactions, and oxidation-reduction reactions. Each of these rea...
By Rachael A. Lancor, Brian R. Lancor
The goal of this case study is to make the traditional Atwood's machine problem more interesting for students. Colditz Castle, located in Germany, was used as a Nazi prison camp during World War II. A group of British prisoners hatched a plan to esca...
By Jane P. Sheldon, Diane R. Graves
This directed case study begins with an intentionally ambiguous story: Q suddenly realizes that it is time to relay a message to Z (another inhabitant of their home) to let Z know that it's time to produce some items and send them on to accomplices i...
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 Kathleen A. Nolan, Allen J. Burdowski
This PowerPoint-driven, flipped case study begins with a short video about a woman suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) in the 1970s, a friend of the lead author's, whom she met in college and who died in her twenties....
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...
The Case of the Malfunctioning Neuron
By Kirsten L. Hokeness
This flipped case study tells the story of Joyce, a biology student who notices the development of some unusual symptoms (foot slapping and slurred speech) in her mother. In an effort to understand the cause, Joyce views a documentary-style trigger v...
By Fiona E. Rawle, Marc Dryer, Joan Sharp
In this clicker case study for a flipped classroom, students familiar with the stages of meiosis work in small groups to determine the predicted genetic makeup of the parthenogenetic offspring of a Komodo dragon, based on four different types of part...
By Justin A. Pruneski
This flipped case study begins with a video in which a student reveals a family member's diagnosis with breast cancer and then considers the whirlwind of questions that arise in such a situation. Students are asked to relate to the main character and...
Wiggles Isn’t Wiggling: Apoptosis Edition
By Sigrid A. Carle
This case study tells the story of a family pet that is diagnosed with cancer. Claire learns that her dog Wiggles has lymphoma, and that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) offer a potential treatment. Students integrate material related to ...
Wiggles Isn’t Wiggling: Gene Expression Edition
By Sigrid A. Carle
This case study tells the story of a family pet that is diagnosed with cancer. Claire learns that her dog Wiggles has lymphoma, and that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) offer a potential treatment. Students integrate material related to ...
Vaccines, Social Media, and the Public Health
By Kim R. Finer
While the "vaccine controversy" has made headlines since the late 1990s, the emergence and popularity of social media has created a public opinion space bursting with pseudoscience, debatable claims and anecdotes regarding the value and importance of...
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 Andrew T. Johnson, Anna M. Jähn
This case study is about a German man named Fritz Jähn. Fritz was physically active in his youth and an achievement-striving individual who was academically and professionally accomplished. He distinguished himself as an anesthesiologist and a fathe...
Bioluminescence and 16th-century Caravaggism
By Yunqiu (Daniel) Wang
This case study looks at the probable connection between bioluminescence and Caravaggio's painting style in the 16th century in order to explore the mechanism of bioluminescence and its role in animal evolution and modern medicine. Recent studies hav...
By Jane P. Sheldon, Danielle Balaghi
This case study tells the story of Mo, an individual with social anxiety disorder who seeks mental health treatment. The purpose of this case is not to have students diagnose the central figure, but rather to help students gain insight into one way i...
By Kylee Grenis, Whitley R. Lehto, Shannon M. Murphy, Mayra C. Vidal, Robin M. Tinghitella
This group-based, interrupted case study challenges students' perceptions of "useful" scientific research. We present student groups with the methods used in two scientific studies that have been heavily scrutinized in the popular media. Both researc...
A Colorful Picnic with Photosynthetic Pathways and RuBisCO on the Menu
By David J. Grise
In this interrupted case study developed for use in a flipped classroom, students read about a picnic that takes place in autumn during the peak of fall color and along the way learn about light absorption by photosynthetic pigments, why leaves turn ...
By Chantilly A. Apollon
This case study challenges students to differentiate between anecdotal evidence and science-based evidence related to human health. The case uses a "flipped" approach in which students watch two preparatory videos prior to attending class. The f...
Giant Pandas, Hormones, and the Evolution of a Lazy Bear
By Patricia J. Moore
This clicker case study looks at the role of hormone cascades in homeostatic control of metabolism in a charismatic organism, the Giant Panda. The case explores how Giant Pandas have adapted to a nutritionally poor food resource, bamboo, throug...
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...
A Botched Botox Party in the Hamptons
By Adam J. Kleinschmit
This flipped case study explores how the topics of membrane structure, transport, and signaling via membrane-bound receptors are intimately associated with the paralysis of muscle targeted by botulinum neurotoxin. The case scenario revolves around a ...
By Dan Johnson
This flipped case was designed to introduce students in a general introductory biology course to basic protein structure. The two videos and interrupted case use keratins in hair as model proteins. From the videos students learn how amino acids regul...
By Jennifer Jackson, Karen M. Aguirre
This flipped case study is suited for general education undergraduate level biology. Students prepare ahead of time for class by viewing a video created by the authors that reviews the basics of nutrition and digestion; in class, students then engage...
By Abigail R. Wilson, Ashley E. Rhodes, Timothy G. Rozell
This case study explores the topics of diffusion, osmosis, membrane transport, and the physiological significance of glucose and insulin in the human body. The story begins with a high school athlete, Timmy, who is incredibly efficient at metabolizin...
By Joan-Beth Gow, Lisa A. Carpino
This case study introduces Megi, an active teenager who has recovered from anorexia nervosa. The method of progressive disclosure is used to take students back in time as Megi recalls the physical and psychological aspects of her illness and th...
By Grace A. Farber, Amy T. Hark
This directed case study was developed to introduce students to the CRISPR-Cas9 system for genome editing. CRISPR-Cas9 has made numerous headlines in both the scientific and popular press, and thus serves as an excellent model for learning current bi...
By Michelle M. Homan
This case study presents a realistic example of drinking water contamination within a fictional local community and leads students through an abbreviated human health risk assessment. Students are provided background information about the extent of t...
What Should the Victor Do with the Vanquished?
By Justin A. Pruneski
Smallpox, the worst infectious disease mankind has known, represents a major triumph as the first disease to be intentionally and completely removed from the human population. Although the disease was eradicated in 1980, the variola virus remains pre...
Antibiotic Resistance in a Russian Prison
By Christian Angeles, Isabella Villano, Andrea C. Nicholas
In this case study, students will have the opportunity to model the spread of tuberculosis and development of antibiotic resistance in a hypothetical prison environment. After reading a brief handout and viewing a short video, students play a simulat...
By Giovanni Casotti
This case study describes the daily osmotic struggle for survival faced by hummingbirds. The narrative is written from the viewpoint of a human observer who sees an Anna's hummingbird feeding on flowers outside of her window. She notices that t...
By Conrad Toepfer
A common misconception is that Darwin suggested that something as complex as the eye could not have evolved through natural selection. While the misunderstanding often comes from an incomplete reading of his argument, we have long known that intermed...
By Joan-Beth Gow
This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom introduces the human microbiome from the perspective of one of its occupants, Heidi Helicobacter (Helicobacter pylori). Heidi lives in the gut of Kristen, a college student, and discusses he...