Case studies are a great way to get students to think about real-life situations, and practice making ethical decisions in a safe environment. Case students provide us time to think about the impact and consequences of our decisions so that when we face difficult decisions in real-time we have already worked through some of the ethical questions in a given scenario.
The links below offer numerous case studies that may be applicable to your classroom. While the links are separated by grade level, you may find that many of the middle school case studies are just as applicable to high school students. As your students work through these ethical dilemmas, here a few questions that may guide their discussion:
- If the situation were reversed, is this how I would want to be treated?
- Is this fair to everybody involved in and affected by my actions?
- Does this represent the whole truth – no distortions, omissions, or spin?
- Would I want to live in a world where everybody did this?
Case studies for high school students
Case studies for middle school students
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