Case-Based Instruction in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: Does It Work?

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 32, Issue 2, 2011, p. 118-134.

The current study compared the child development content knowledge gains of two classes of undergraduate preservice early childhood teachers.
Some of the preservice teachers taught child development with case-based instruction and some of them taught the same content with traditional didactic instruction.

The study also sought to determine if students' level of prior knowledge interacted with the type of instruction they received.

Results indicated that students with strong prior knowledge out-performed classmates regardless of instructional method (i.e., case-based or didactic instruction).

Students at all levels of prior knowledge had similar knowledge gains across both case-based and didactic instruction.
However, data trends suggest students with the least prior knowledge gained the most knowledge with case-based instruction.