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Case teaching is powerfully effective for learning analytical skills because
students are engaged in evaluation and problem-solving.
Relevance
and
real-world applications make cases compelling and revealing - and a critical
key to
civic literacy.
Read more about the High
School Case Teaching Initiative...
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At
NCSS in Texas,
the
CALIS team presented three conference sessions to a total of over one
hundred teachers from around the country:
For Government, Damian Goodman initiated a proposal on Democracy?
Challenge Students to Evaluate Roles & Functions of Government.
From the U.S. Patriot Act to China’s one-child policy, using a framework
with three functions of government enables
students to analyze inevitable tensions between policy and democratic
principles.
For Economics & Government, International
Political-Economy for Today’s Teenager provided
provocative (scaffolded, systematic, substantive) case-based lessons that
elaborate basic market principles
and political perspectives, allowing
students to analyze and evaluate governance and fair trade in a global
economy.
For US & World History, materials and strategies on the changing
nature of security enable students to compare and contrast
the Cold War Era with the post 1990 era. Using a classic international
relations tool, students determine causes of
war according to three levels of analysis
- human, national, and international.
Project
History
Phase
1 began in Spring 2006
Using cases from USC, Georgetown, and Harvard's case collections, a group
of social studies teachers participated in a seminar with Professor Steven
Lamy to experience the case teaching method.
Through the months that followed, teachers who took the Initiative
continued to work collaboratively with CALIS to develop case teaching
at the high school level.
In Summer
2006, we received permission from National Public
Radio to pilot 'case customized NPR transcripts' as short,
accessible, provocative high school case readings. Cases were combined
with analytical tools and strategies
for students to identify, infer, apply, and evaluate basic concepts and
central issues in the core courses of Economics, Government, World and
US History.
In March
2007, five teachers were supported by their schools and by CALIS to present
at the California Council
for the Social Studies conference in Oakland. They shared how their
students were responding to case strategies and materials. These pioneers
were then joined by others who made presentations for the National
Council for the Social Studies convention in San Diego in November
2007 and at the International
Studies Schools Association in Chicago in February 2008.
We hope this first group of CALIS Teacher Associates will be joined in
presenting at future professional events by new teachers who will be taking
the Initiative at the next
training in Summer 2009.
Workshop
Sessions at conferences included:
The
Market is Completely Amoral! Got Responsibility?
-The “free market” and globalization are not about villains
and victims. Teachers present case lessons where students apply market
principles, analyze policy options, and evaluate who can respond.
The
Threat Matrix: Making Sense of Security Priorities in the 21st Century
-Participate in a powerful, simple activity that frames security issues
from terrorism to global warming. Students compare cold war and post cold
war worlds to analyze and evaluate security policy criteria.
Content-Rich
Tools for Tracing the Logic of Multiple Perspectives
-Political perspectives are based on competing values, not right and wrong
opinions. To deliberate and problem-solve, students need tools to dissect
the nature of conflict and negotiate competing priorities.
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