All Journal of College Science Teaching resources

Journal Article

What accounts for our citizens' apparent lack of interest in scientific careers? The National Science Foundation (NSF) and other agencies have pumped tens of billions into science education improvement at all levels, and while there is still much ro...

Journal Article

Laboratory Based Case Studies: Closer to the Real World

Case-based laboratories offer students the chance to approximate real science. Based on interesting stories that pose problems requiring experimental solutions, they avoid the cookbook approach characteristic of traditional undergraduate laboratory i...

Journal Article

PCBs in the Last Frontier: A Case Study on the Scientific Method

This interrupted case study is based on current research involving the global transport of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Students are asked to propose several hypotheses and experiments in an attempt to determine how PCBs are transferred globally...

Journal Article

Editorial: October Salute

This special issue of JCST once again features a set of articles on the use of case studies in science assembled by Clyde (Kipp) Herreid, Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. As a result of Kip...

Journal Article

The Case of the Druid Dracula: A Directed "Clicker" Case Study on DNA Fingerprinting

This article describes how case studies have been successfully implemented in an introductory biology course of 300+ students using available technologies ranging from WebCT, used to assign students to permanent small groups (as well as assign groups...

Journal Article

A Killer Lake

In 1986, Lake Nyos, a volcanic lake in Cameroon, released a huge amount of carbon dioxide gas, killing over 1,700 people in the surrounding area. This case study, developed for use in a limnology or aquatic biology course, explores that event, introd...

Journal Article

Artificial Sanity: A Case Study for a Class in Introductory Psychology

Using the story of death row inmate Charles Singleton, who developed paranoid schizophrenia while in prison awaiting execution, this case study explores the relationship between a society’s concept of mental illness and its treatment of people who ...

Journal Article

A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed: A Case Study on Human Respiratory Physiology

The dynamics of oxygen transport by the blood can be a particularly difficult topic for students to grasp. A directed case study about carbon monoxide poisoning was designed to help deepen student understanding of the solution chemistry of the oxygen...

Journal Article

Mask of Black God: The Pleiades in Navajo Cosmology

One Navajo legend attributes the creation of the primary stars and constellations to Black God. Today, a famous star cluster—the Pleiades—often appears on the traditional mask worn by chanters impersonating Black God during special ceremonies. In...