BIOL 5347G Fisheries Biology Assignment Brief 2026 | Georgia Southern University

BIOL5347G Assignment Brief

DEVELOPING A TEACHING CASE STUDY FOR FISHERIES BIOLOGY

BIOL 5347G assignment: Create a teaching case study

Teaching case studies (TCSs) enhance student learning.  When students apply disciplinary knowledge to real-world problems, it stimulates inquiry, engagement, and empathy.  Your assignment is to develop a TCS on a novel Fisheries Biology topic of interest to you.  You will then walk the rest of the class through this TCS during the class period assigned to you and prepare a written version of the case to submit to the instructor.  There are three components you will develop for this assignment:

1. Any pre-class reading materials students should read prior to the day you teach (if applicable). Pre-class reading often promotes student engagement, but please keep reading assignments manageable in length.
2. The Case itself, which is the informational “exhibits” you will present (and possibly distribute) to the class on the day you teach. This may contain additional background information, dilemmas, and discussion questions to be accessed by students as they work through the case.  This information could be distributed using physical handouts, digitally-accessible documents, or a Powerpoint presentation, whatever works best for your case.
3. Teaching notes, to be submitted to the instructor only, which includes a summary of the learning objectives of the case, instructions and important considerations for teaching the case, an “answer key” for questions posed by the case, and references. It also includes a final version of the case and background materials.  I will share some examples with you.

Due dates

Pre-class reading material should be submitted to the instructor no less than 1 week prior to your teaching day; he will post the reading to FOLIO.  The case should be complete and transmitted to students on the day you teach.  Teaching notes (which contain final versions of all TCS components) should be submitted to the instructor via email by 4PM on the last day of classes (5/4/2026).

Format

I generally expect the writeup of your case to be 2-4 single-spaced pages of text, plus references and supporting tables and figures as needed.  I generally expect your teaching notes to be another 2-4 pages, plus references and supporting materials as needed.  Longer cases and teaching notes are possible if that better suits your learning objectives.  Both your case and the teaching notes should be done in the format of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science at the University at Buffalo

(https://www.nsta.org/case-studies) or the Journal of Natural Sciences Education

(https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/nse/publication-policies).  I have attached several examples of fisheries-oriented TCSs.  The CSFCM textbook is also full of good examples, and I’m happy to let you peruse my instructor’s edition to see the teaching notes.

Where to find ideas and Materials for Cases

The most captivating cases for students will be (1) based on current, controversial issues in fisheries biology, and (2) issues you yourself are passionate about!  I encourage you to start digging and thinking as soon as possible, and meet with the instructor to discuss your ideas.  For more information on types of TCSs and strategies for their development, check out Herreid’s (1994) article.  You might find appropriate ideas and materials for your case in:

• Your own graduate research or personal experiences
• Current popular media (Fisheries magazine, websites/blogs of agencies, environmental section of the New York Times)
• Current scientific journals such as the AFS lineup of journals, Bulletin of Marine Science, Journal of Fish Biology, or any journal in fisheries or aquatic sciences

Publishing Your Case

My hope is that you will create a TCS that you or others could use in future courses.  For anyone interested, I’m happy to work with you to develop your TCS into shape for submission to be published in the NCCSTS peer-reviewed TCS collection, or another outlet if you prefer (e.g., Natural Sciences Education dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/nse).

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