Engaging Students with Real-Life Case Studies: A Practical Approach (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Presenting abstract concepts in a compelling way can be a real challenge. Students are more likely to connect with course content when it feels relevant to their real lives. Here's an engaging technique that can help bring conceptual principles and theories to life. With case studies, student teams review a real-life case or problem scenario. To do so, they apply course concepts to identify and evaluate alternative approaches to solving it. Case studies are inherently appealing to students because they have a true-to-life feel that helps bridge the gap between theory and practice. Here's how it works. First, you'll need to craft your case. When writing or selecting cases, consider that good cases tell a real story with an interesting plot, focus on a thought-provoking issue, often contain elements of conflict, promote empathy with the central characters, lack an obvious or clear-cut right answer, encourage students to think and take a position, demand a decision, and are relatively concise. Examples of cases are available in our free downloads. To implement the case study, form groups and distribute the case to each team to review the issues. Ask students to sort out factual data, applying analytic tools, articulating issues, and drawing conclusions about the case. Invite students to share their assessment of the case, potential decision options, and their recommendations. Finally, allow time for students to discuss the case with the full class and close the activity by summarizing the key points and principles. When facilitating the whole-class discussion, prompt students with questions but avoid telling them the right answers. Consider presenting complex cases in several stages, asking teams to make decisions based on the limited information they have at each stage. I use case studies often in my classes because they're a great way to pull together multiple issues related to content and put them into a real-life context. Education research has shown that case studies help students develop analysis, synthesis, and decision-making skills. Here at the Kate Patricia Cross Academy, we encourage you to try case studies with your class. Visit our free support materials and step-by-step instructions to get started.