Making a Case for Cases

Abstract

Four years ago, we undertook a revision of the first year biology course at our school. We did this for two reasons: first, the curriculum we were using was not effective for all our students. For many students not labeled as high-achievers, the content we were teaching was not engaging, and it was a struggle for them to maintain satisfactory grades. While those labeled as high achievers demonstrated adequate performance levels, our guess was that many of them were for the most part programand pedagogy-proof. We also were growing frustrated by the fact that when our students asked questions which went beyond the boundaries of the biology curriculum we were teaching at the time, we felt we had to put their questions aside, telling them that these issues would be dealt with when they took chemistry or physics. At about the same time as our discontent was growing, so was a movement in our state, as well as in the nation, to re-vision the science curriculum with an expanded focus on the diverse audience this curriculum should serve. In Michigan, an article appeared that identified 10 key issues in science education (Education Extension Service 1992) and paralleled the kinds of changes we wanted to see take place. Unfortunately, there were no programs or textbooks that addressed these issues. We had a choice: we could either wait for the textbooks to address these issues, or we could develop a responsive curriculum ourselves. We chose to do the latter, and out of this conviction grew a new full-year integrated science course in which we used two large-scale case studies as vehicles for our students to use their developing understanding of concepts in biology, chemistry and physics in order to solve scientifically-based problems (Richmond & Striley 1994). Here we share with readers the way we used the first of these case studies-the cholera epidemic, present and past-and the ways in which using one of these case studies allowed us to address critical objectives in science curriculum for all students.