Toward Even More Authentic Case-Based Learning.

This article focuses on authentic case-based learning. Case studies, or cases, are descriptions of a specific activity, event, or problem, drawn from the real world of professional practice. They provide narrative models of practice to students and other novice practitioners. Cases incorporate vivid background information and personal perspectives to elicit empathy and active participation. They include contingencies, complexities, and often dilemmas to evoke integrative analysis and critical thinking. The paradigmatic case study is a brief but provocative story, sketching a problematic situation, and inviting the reader to elaborate missing or open details of the premise, and to construct possible resolutions. Some of the most impressive case studies are extremely brief, comprising just a half-page of text. Cases can also be quite voluminous, involving 50 or more pages of material, and requiring detailed study and analysis to characterize the problematic situation and its possible resolutions.