Case studies’ effect on undergraduates’ achievement, attitudes, and team shared mental models in educational psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of case studies on learning outcomes, attitudes toward instructions, and team shared mental models (SMM) in a team-based learning environment in an undergraduate educational psychology course. Approximately 105 students who participated in this study were randomly assigned to either a case-study method or a knowledge-representation method. Students in the case-study treatment group received a case study after instruction, while students in the knowledge-representation treatment group engaged in an activity that did not involve problem solving. It was hypothesized that students in the case-study group would have higher learning outcomes scores, higher attitudes scores, and greater team SMM than students in the knowledge-representation group. Overall, the case-study method was effective as indicated by generally higher learning outcomes and more positive attitudes for the case-study treatment group as compared to the knowledge-representation group. It might be important to consider the order in which each of the instructional methods is given.