Streamlining Case Studies for Education

Recent results of cognitive psychology seem to confirm that post secondary education in civil engineering can be conceived as introduction to the world of models, and to the model selection and application skills. From this perspective, case study analysis turns to be one of the most efficient approaches used worldwide by educators teaching geotechnics. BSc and MSc levels of knowledge and competency are easy to distinguish and characterize plausibly in this conceptual framework. Significance of the MSc level thinking in geotechnics proves to be a consequence. Plenty of case studies, in principle, can be selected to meet the educational purposes, since conference proceedings and periodicals contain a treasury of informative, instructive and illuminating case studies. Nevertheless, there are faults and shortcomings hindering the educators from using these publications effectively. There is some room to improve this situation. Priority aspects can be defined and offered to case study authors ready for considering educational points. Case study treasuries can be evaluated a posteriori with regard to the same priority list. Pilot selection results and informal discussions with prolific case study authors show that it is worth putting some effort into this work