Case-Based Instruction in STEM: Analysis of Student Confidence

Abstract

The use of case-based instruction in professional fields, such as law has been around since the late 1800s; however, the use of cases in engineering has only been around since the 1950s with their earliest implementation in Civil and Chemical engineering. Research on the implementation of case studies in engineering has mainly focused on student perception at the end of a course. There is limited research on students' perceptions of case studies as compared to traditional lecture approach. This paper presents results from a study that examined this relationship between students' perceptions and actual learning performance for lecture and case-based instruction. Specifically, we addressed the following research question: To what extent do students differ in their perceptions of their learning confidence and engagement connections across lecture and case-based instruction? We found that overall students found cases to be more engaging as compared to traditional lecture; however, in one case students found lecture to increase their learning more than cases.