The first thing that indicates Mr. Timothy Lengel’s U.S. History* class is not a typical teaching space is the chairs, all arranged in a circle. For several years, Mr. Lengel has been using Harvard’s U.S. History Case Method to teach his U.S. History classes. But what is the Case Method and how is it different from a traditional class at Haverford?
In 2013, Harvard Business School Professor David Moss developed a case method class called History of American Democracy, where students were presented with a series of stories about pivotal moments in U.S. History. That class became one of the highest-rated classes at Harvard.
Professor Moss was soon approached by high school teachers wanting a way to use his cases in high school history classes. From this, The Case Method Project initiative was formed.
The goal of the Case Method Project is to facilitate case-method teaching in high schools around the country. The project trains high school teachers in the use of the case method and provides access to 22 cases that explore key decisions in U.S. history.
Mr. Lengel became aware of the Case Method Project through a former Haverford classmate who had attended Harvard Business School. Mr. Lengel was an early adopter and is currently one of only 40 teachers in Pennsylvania trained to teach Harvard’s U.S. History case method.
Cases range in subject matter and complexity. One case explores the period between the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention when the country’s early leaders were debating the idea of a Federal Negative and how problems with the Articles of Confederation impacted the development of the U.S. Constitution.
Another case presents the question of a national bank and explores the debate around Congressional powers that are not explicitly defined in the Constitution. For each case, students must complete the reading before class and then be prepared to discuss the case in depth during class.
The Case Method Project website describes the process: “Each case reflects the information available to decision-makers at the time, and builds to a particular decision point, but without revealing what decision was actually made. For each class, students are asked to read the case and to put themselves in the shoes of the actual decision-makers to consider what they themselves would have done given the information available at the time.”
Mr. Lengel believes that the cases help students explore history in the present.
“[The cases] do a good job of helping students experience history in the present tense,” Mr. Lengel said.
Unlike a textbook, which looks back on history, the case method is different.
“What I like about the case method is that the cases are specifically written to let the story unfold, they don’t tell you the outcome of the dispute. That is valuable to students of history because it makes them wrestle with facts in the moment as opposed to looking back,” Mr. Lengel said.
Fifth Formers Michael Crutchlow and Milan Varma agree.
“Instead of going to class and taking notes, like most other history classes, we spend class time discussing. The cases make us form opinions, which I really like,” Crutchlow said.
“The discussions are geared towards student understanding,” Varma said. “It prioritizes our learning.”
According to Mr. Lengel, the discussion is the point. The case method approach “makes you think actively about history in a way that goes beyond memorizing facts—although you must have those facts memorized—it goes beyond that.”
“The way we sit in a circle and have a student-led discussion creates a room where it becomes a team effort,” Mr. Lengel said. “It involves students in an active way on the intellectual journey.”
In an era where history class curriculum is highly controversial and debated and several states have or are trying to dictate the content of history curriculum, the Case Method approach may be a way forward. The class is not about debate or polarized sides; it is about discussion of the past, how decisions were made and the impact of those decisions.
“The value of a discussion-based class is, in part, that it is not debate, it is the free exchange of ideas,” Mr. Lengel said. “How to disagree, kindly, firmly, but respectfully is a skill, a skill that we as a school work on with students, in large part because of the way debate has devolved in our culture.”