Abstract:

Case study teaching strategy offers students opportunities to apply their knowledge with real-world examples, to deepen their understanding through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Today, the case study method of instruction is used in a broad range of subjects as a tool for student learning. The intention is to provide students an opportunity to explore realistic scenarios that they may face in their future endeavors. The purpose of this study was to measure student perceptions of the impact of the case study teaching method in the deepening of understanding of critical and creative thinking skills, improved communication skills, and effective cooperative learning strategies within an educational program at a public research university located in the Western regions of the United States. Additionally, the study sought to determine the differences in male and female graduate students’ perceptions of the impact of the case study teaching method in the deepening of understanding of the above-stated aspects of learning. The associational and comparative approaches were used, and the statistics used for this study were the correlation, Mann- Whitney, and a two way-ANOVA. The results of the study indicate that there is a positive correlation between the usefulness of CMI and the CMI score. The CMI score is defined as the average of the three variables that were considered in the study, which are communication skills, critical thinking, and cooperative learning. Also, the results indicate that there is a significant difference between females and males in critical thinking, cooperative learning, and communication skills. As a result, females find the case method instruction more beneficial than males do.

Keywords:

Case Study Method, Critical thinking, Graduate Students.