Case-Based Learning and Reflection

Reflection and Case-Based Learning. A Systematization of Types of CaseBased Formats of Teaching and Learning and Their Aim of Reflection

Abstract

Case-based formats of teaching and learning are increasingly situating themselves as a ‘method’ of professionalization regarding teacher education. Such formats widely vary in terms of their structure, wherefore a multiplicity of objectives are associated with them at different locations. Even though research has shown distinctions between case-based teaching-formats, their objectives, procedures and the notions of ‘case’ embedded within them, such formats have not been systematized sufficiently. A common point of reference of these varying discourses is a notion of case-based teacher education as a method of habituating reflexivity, as well as a method of relating theory and practice in teacher education programs through transferring cases of learning and teaching into a ‘setting of reflexivity’ regarding the practice of teaching. This article explicitly theorizes reconstructive case methods as a format of teaching and learning with cases. It systematizes its notions of reflection and reflexivity as well as their initiation in teacher education. Regarding this purpose, we propose three dimensions as objectives of habitualized reflexivity: reflexivity of the self, reflexivity of practice, and meta-reflexivity of practice. Concluding thereof, the article evaluates a possible relation between casebased learning and reflection on the one hand and pedagogical professionalization on the other hand.