Mar 26 2018

Decades of research make it clear that family engagement benefits children and youth in multiple ways. Yet educators often find engaging families the most difficult part of their work, and are rarely prepared to do so. The case method is an exciting and valuable teaching technique to prepare educators to effectively engage with families.

Global Family Research Project has designed interactive family cases to help you analyze and reflect upon a difficult situation, without the explicit input of a case facilitator or course instructor. Our cases are hosted in the form of a Medium publication to make them accessible and easy to use for both groups and individuals.

 Explore Family Cases

Throughout each family case, you’ll have the opportunity to read a summary of the case, get a sense of the learning objectives, and understand the context in which the case takes place. You’ll also see some general directions for completing the case, which include reading through individual profiles and responding to targeted questions via an embedded Google form/survey.

We currently have three cases available that cover different transitional periods in children’s development: 

• Bridging Worlds Interactive Family Case: Transition to Kindergarten
• Staying on the Path Toward College Interactive Case
• Making a Decision About College Interactive Case

If you are new to navigating Medium or want to preview how family cases work, check out the short video tutorial below, created to help you maximize your professional learning experience.

Global Family Research Project is committed to providing effective, research-based professional learning materials for educators, librarians, families, and anyone invested in family engagement. 

If you have suggestions for how to improve these family cases, or ideas for topics that you’d like to see our next family case focus on, we’d love to hear from you!