An investigation of case-based instructional strategies on learning, retention, and ethical decision-making

CASE-BASED INSTRUCTION HAS BEEN successfully employed by educators across various fields; however, little is known about how individuals work with cases during the learning process. We examined two well-established instructional strategies: elaboration and self-development of narratives. Participants were randomly assigned to (1) elaborate on a given case, (2) develop their own case, (3) elaborate on a self-developed case, or (4) a control condition. Findings indicated that those who elaborated on a given case and the control group outperformed the other treatment groups in terms of case-based knowledge acquisition, execution of sensemaking processes, utilization of ethical decisionmaking (EDM) strategies, and performance on two EDM measures. Implications for use of instructional strategies in ethics training programs are discussed.