The Tired Swimmercase Study

“The Tired Swimmer: A Case Study on the Nervous System”

by

Phil Stephens

Biology Department

Villanova University

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INTRODUCTION / BACKGROUND

Annie is on a college swimming scholarship. Recently she has been feeling tired and her times have been getting slower. She suffers from blurred vision, but she thinks it’s because she has had mid-term exams and papers to type. She feels that she is losing her strength so she goes to her family physician over mid-term break. He sends her to a neurologist who finds that Annie is suffering from something more than just fatigue.

This interrupted case study takes students through a series of stages that describe Annie’s problems and symptoms. Students use their knowledge of nerve and muscle physiology to fit the pieces together and determine what is wrong with Annie.

Objectives

• To understand nerve and muscle function.

• To understand the function of chemical synapses.

• To understand the role of acetylcholine receptors.

• To determine how Annie’s problem can produce a decline in nerve-muscle function.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

The class is divided into groups of five or six students, and the case takes about 75 minutes to fully develop.

Board Management

I use a whiteboard in class to record student answers and ideas. The whiteboard has four panels. I use the first area to list Annie’s signs and symptoms. I use the central two panels to project the flow diagram in Part III that forms the basis for the subsequent diagnosis of Annie’s problems. I project the diagram and students use markers to fill in the blanks with markers. I use the fourth panel to record what students think could be wrong with Annie (possible diagnoses) and the tests suggested by the students. Entries are made on the first and fourth areas of the whiteboard throughout the case as information is provided. If a certain diagnosis loses favor, I ask the original group if it is reasonable to delete their entry. If they...