Although commonly used to teach business, medicine, and law, case studies are less commonly used to teach science. Case studies are recognized as a high-impact educational practice because they allow students to appreciate the relevance of the concepts being discussed, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, and to practice critical thinking skills while collaborating with peers.  These aspects of case studies make them well suited to teach ecology. This participant-driven workshop will bring together people who are using case studies in their classes and who would like to use case studies in their class to share ideas of how to make case studies a successful aspect of their classes.

After becoming familiar with case studies from both student and instructor perspectives, participants will get into small groups and discuss:

• Would cases be presented differently depending on the size of the class?
• What work would you have the students produce?
• To what extent would students work together to produce the finished product?
• Which topics in your class could effectively be taught in case studies?
• How would you evaluate understanding of the topic that occurred as a result of the case study?

Finally, with assistance from their group, participants will develop an outline for a case study to use in their class.  The goal is for participants and the presenters to assist in the development of these case studies before and after they are used in classes.