Value of Case-Based Learning within STEM Courses: Is It the Method or Is It the Student?
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This study explores the relationship between the benefits of case-based learning and specific student characteristics such as prior knowledge of subject material and number of college credit hours completed.
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Scaffolding is known to reduce the cognitive load in students; thus, scaffolding of PSL may prevent students from becoming overwhelmed and discouraged by the size and complexity of a PSL article.
“Scaffolding is known to reduce the cognitive load in students; thus, scaffolding of PSL may prevent students from becoming overwhelmed and discouraged by the size and complexity of a PSL article (Rhodes et al., 2020).”
From Reading Primary Scientific Literature: Approaches for Teaching Students in the Undergraduate STEM Classroom (2023) · cites this paper as Rhodes et al., 2020
The Conclusion and Discussion says a simplified, scaffolded format could reduce the cognitive load some students experience when navigating a case study, and describes parts of that case study as potentially overwhelming. It does not establish that scaffolding generally reduces cognitive load, or address PSL articles or students becoming discouraged by them. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Rhodes, A., Wilson, A., & Rozell, T.
- Affiliations
- Kansas State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rhodes, Ashley
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2020-09
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- ar44
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8711838
- OpenAlex
- W3082993428
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 6.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Problem and Project Based Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Teaching Methods
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- case-based learning, case studies, cognitive load theory, extraneous cognitive load, lecture method, STEM education, physiology course, learning gains, ACT scores, academic preparation, credit hours
- MeSH terms
- Educational Measurement, Engineering, Humans, Learning, Mathematics, Students, Technology, Universities
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