I use case-based teaching because it brings the relevance of the material to the forefront. Case-based teaching is an inductive method whereby students learn and apply what they know to solve a complex real-world problem, bringing the material’s relevance to the forefront in ways that encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In my case-based teaching, students examine a real or hypothetical scenario they would likely face in a professional biology or ecology practice and even wrestle with ethical and moral issues. Case studies include readings, supplementary information, and specific questions to be addressed. Students often work in groups to use the information provided in the case and learn to solve the problem or propose a solution. Since they often mimic real scenarios encountered by professionals in the discipline, case studies help my students’ ‘think like a scientist’ and envision how theory is applied. Using these authentic, real-world tasks connected to students’ interests is vital for motivation and retention of content. I have written and published three case studies, which have been downloaded over 46,000 times to date.

The first case study, “Using Game Theory to understand animal behaviour,” is based on the famous game theory game developed by John Maynard Smith where two behavioural strategies (“Hawks” and “Doves”) compete over a contested resource. During this case, students experience “hands-on” the change in frequency of the behavioural strategies by playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to fight over resources with other students as either a hawk or a dove. As a class, we document the frequency of hawks and doves over time using ‘clicker’ responses. Through this simulation, students explore natural selection, evolution, evolutionarily stable states, the coexistence of behavioural strategies, and frequency-dependent selection. Often through this case, students confront misconceptions about evolution and are surprised by the possibility of coexistence between aggressive and non-aggressive phenotypes. For the full case, please see my contribution here: http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/detail.asp?case_id=763&id=763.

The second case study explores a current conservation issue in Northern Alberta. In this case, students tackle the task of advising the Environment Minister on whether a proposed wolf cull should be carried out to conserve threatened caribou populations in the Northern Alberta oilsands region. The Alberta oilsands are an internationally important economic region, but also contain critical habitat for the woodland caribou. Since caribou are endangered, the government is legally obligated to act. To help determine whether a wolf cull is a viable strategy, students examine four aspects of this problem: (1) caribou biology, (2) wolf biology, (3) the oilsands landscape, and (4) species interactions. Students use a jig-saw method to share and process knowledge gained from readings about these four topics. The implications of the management strategy are then analyzed and discussed. This case provides opportunities for students to evaluate a real-life management plan through integrating their knowledge of ecological concepts with primary research and government reports and to discuss alternative ideas for the management of an endangered species. For the full case, please see my contribution here.

In the third case, students work through a case study titled “Zombie Attack!” where they assume the role of Center for Disease Control (CDC) researchers who must determine how to most effectively stop an impending Zombie apocalypse. The story line leads students to develop a mathematical model of a Zombie outbreak, which they then use to evaluate different “management” strategies to ensure human survival. Students are introduced to a flow diagram, learn how to derive equations from this, and evaluate predictions derived from the model. Comparisons to the spread of invasive species, infectious disease outbreaks, and predator-prey relationships help students see how important biological processes can be modelled quantitatively. Since the focal species (zombies) is fictitious, this case is an ideal way to introduce students to the process of mathematical modelling without having to be concerned with system-specific details of any particular organism. For the full case, please see my contribution here. This case study was featured in a UToday article here.