Case Studies With Children

Case studies can be used with younger students to help develop a sense of ethics and to promote their ability to consider other people's opinions.
Best case studies that have no clear right or wrong answer and which are not highly emotionally charged (don't use abortion, public smoking, "evolution"...) are best suited for developing students' ability to acknowledge other points of view as being viable.
If you use studies that are emotionally charged, many younger students will not focus on the reasons for other people's opinions, they will just focus on the "fact" that the other people think differently than they do and are therefore clearly "wrong".

Major Types Of Case Studies In Relation To Difficulty

1. Situations which involve routine problem solving. Solutions can be found through the use of standard methods and tools. Well-structured tasks and complete information are prerequisites for this type of situation.

2. Situations in which problem solving can be accomplished by applying reason and logic. The tasks are more complicated and require students to arrive at independent decisions with only incomplete information.

3. Situations which call for heuristically (methodologically) fuzzy problem-solving methods. The task is very complex and the solution must be found on the basis of a few key facts.

4. Situations which require intuitive, creative solutions based on very little or vague information.

Any case study can be fit into one of these four categories. For example,

ethics based case studies can be simple right and wrong decisions, or they can be much more difficult to resolve.
business based cases can be routine handling of paperwork or they can involve complex poorly defined problems with difficult and elusive solutions.

Volz, H. (1994). Information Verstehen. Wiesbaden : Vieweg Verlag (German)

Case Studies With Children

Case studies can be used with younger students to help develop a sense of ethics and to promote their ability to consider other people's opinions.

Best case studies that have no clear right or wrong answer and which are not highly emotionally charged (don't use abortion, public smoking, "evolution"...) are best suited for developing students' ability to acknowledge other points of view as being viable.

If you use studies that are emotionally charged, many younger students will not focus on the reasons for other people's opinions, they will just focus on the "fact" that the other people think differently than they do and are therefore clearly "wrong".

Major Types Of Case Studies In Relation To Difficulty

1. Situations which involve routine problem solving. Solutions can be found through the use of standard methods and tools. Well-structured tasks and complete information are prerequisites for this type of situation.

2. Situations in which problem solving can be accomplished by applying reason and logic. The tasks are more complicated and require students to arrive at independent decisions with only incomplete information.

3. Situations which call for heuristically (methodologically) fuzzy problem-solving methods. The task is very complex and the solution must be found on the basis of a few key facts.

4. Situations which require intuitive, creative solutions based on very little or vague information.

Any case study can be fit into one of these four categories. For example,

ethics based case studies can be simple right and wrong decisions, or they can be much more difficult to resolve.

business based cases can be routine handling of paperwork or they can involve complex poorly defined problems with difficult and elusive solutions.

Volz, H. (1994). Information Verstehen. Wiesbaden : Vieweg Verlag (German)