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The Case Method
A proven approach to developing critical thinking — through rigorous engagement with real historical decisions.
What the case method is
Students confront real historical decisions — and decide for themselves what should be done.
The case method is a structured form of discussion-based learning. As Professor Moss has put it, it boils down to three things: case, questions, and chalk — a rigorous case document, challenging questions, and a blackboard for capturing the strongest points in real time.
Case
A factually rich narrative built on primary and secondary sources, centered on a pivotal decision point in American history. The case provides the context, the evidence, and the competing pressures — but not the answer. Students must weigh the facts and reach their own position before the outcome is revealed.
Questions
Each case comes with a detailed Teaching Plan — a carefully sequenced set of questions designed to structure discussion and build toward the decision point. The questions challenge students to think critically, pushing them deeper into the material through Socratic give-and-take with the instructor.
Chalk
During discussion, the instructor provides live feedback by physically organizing the strongest student contributions on the board, following a scheme defined in the Teaching Plan. This real-time capture validates student thinking and makes the structure of each argument visible to the entire class.
The case
History experienced in the present tense.
Unlike cases typically taught in business schools or law schools, the cases offered by CMI address political decisions — often representing a pivotal moment in American history. Though a CMI case may contain context spanning decades or even centuries, it builds to a moment where real people faced a tough but consequential decision.
The case provides the context, the evidence, and the competing pressures. What it does not provide is the answer. A case does not aim to advance an argument or promote any particular interpretive framework. Students must interpret the situation, weigh the facts, and consider competing perspectives. And crucially, they must reach and defend their own position before they learn what actually happened.
This structure is what makes the case method fundamentally different from standard approaches to teaching history, which present events retrospectively as settled narratives. In a case method classroom, history is experienced in the present tense — with all the uncertainty that the historical actors themselves faced.
Students don't just discuss; they practice decision-making. They make choices, cite evidence, and respond to challenges from their peers and from the instructor. The intellectual demands are real, and students feel them.
“We just finished the Madison case. It took 5 days and it has been the most rewarding experience so far in my 22 year career!”
— CMI partner teacher, 2024
The role of the instructor
A Socratic questioner — with a plan.
In some discussion-based approaches, the instructor steps back and lets students talk to each other, letting the conversation flow whichever way the strongest personalities in the room dictate. The case method is different. The instructor has specific teaching objectives and is deeply involved — asking challenging questions, probing reasoning, pushing back on weak arguments, and building on the strongest points a student raises.
To guide discussion, every case comes with a detailed teaching plan, which outlines the main questions as well as anticipated student responses and follow-up questions to push students to think more deeply about the material.
This back-and-forth between the instructor and individual students is at the heart of the case method. It is what Christopher Langdell introduced to Harvard in 1870 and what has remained central to case method teaching ever since. Socratic questioning helps students sharpen their thinking in real time — learning not just what to think, but how to think through complex problems more carefully and effectively.
Student-to-student discussion is also encouraged and plays a vital role. But it complements Socratic questioning — it doesn't replace it. The combination of rigorous instructor questioning and vibrant peer discussion is what gives the case method classroom its distinctive intellectual energy.
Why the case method matters now
The traditional playbook for developing critical thinking is being disrupted.
For decades, teachers have relied on essays, research assignments, and written homework to develop and assess students' critical thinking. These methods are being undermined as students can increasingly outsource the cognitive work to AI tools.
The case method develops genuine critical thinking in ways that can't be shortcut. It is live, it is Socratic, and it happens in real time. When a student is speaking in front of peers defending a position under rigorous questioning from the instructor, there is no substitute for actually thinking.
Defining Critical Thinking
The Delphi Report, 1990
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Defining Critical Thinking
The Delphi Report, 1990
“We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one's personal and civic life. While not synonymous with good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon. The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. Thus, educating good critical thinkers means working toward this ideal. It combines developing CT skills with nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society.”
— Facione, P. A. (1990). Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. California Academic Press.
Over the years, we have asked hundreds of our partner teachers to define critical thinking. Everyone has a slightly different answer, but nearly every seasoned educator agrees that they know it when they see it. When you teach with the case method, you can see it during class time.
Engaging with real disagreement
A structure for productive engagement with hard questions.
The case method gives students a way to engage seriously with political controversies and genuine disagreements — not to avoid them. Because the instructor uses Socratic questioning to push back equally on every comment, regardless of political valence, the classroom becomes a space where every position is examined on its merits.
Students practice respectful but rigorous debate. They learn to argue from evidence, to listen carefully to opposing views, and to refine their own thinking in response to challenge. These are the skills of democratic citizenship — practiced, in the classroom, at the same time students are studying the history of democratic governance.
“I think it's very worthwhile to go really deep on history from the angle of citizenship and actually give kids practice, in the classroom, in the same skills of democratic citizenship as they are studying through the cases.”
— CMI partner teacher, 2024
The student experience
Students thinking hard — about problems that matter.
Teachers describe a distinctive energy in case method classrooms. Students arrive prepared. Discussions generate the intensity of a real debate. Students who rarely speak up in other settings find themselves engaged and contributing, because the problems are compelling and the stakes feel real.
Over the course of a semester, teachers see students improve their ability to make sense of complex problems, build arguments from evidence, listen to opposing views, and express their own ideas with greater clarity and confidence. These gains are visible across every type of student and every type of school.
“The Case Method gave my kids confidence and belief in their ability to complete academically challenging material.”
— CMI partner teacher, 2022
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