TITLE:
Improving Graduate STEM Education through Increased Use of the Case Study Method
AUTHORS:
Erik A. Zavrel
KEYWORDS:
STEM, Graduate Student Education, International Student Education, Case Study Method, Policymaking
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.6 No.12,
July
6,
2015
ABSTRACT: The challenges confronting the United States and the world are increasingly scientific and technological in nature with corresponding solutions rooted in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Policymakers are increasingly soliciting input and advice from experts in the STEM disciplines. To be successful in a future advisory role requires that current graduate students become more than just authorities in their respective fields. To serve in a capacity to influence national policy and help craft solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges requires universities instill other qualities and attributes in their graduate students. This can be accomplished through greater adoption and more frequent use of the case study method. The case study approach to teaching, rarely used in STEM at the undergraduate level and even less frequently utilized at the graduate level, has the potential to help students thrive in graduate school and prepare them to later work with policymakers to address national and global challenges.