Today’s educators face a growing challenge: how do you make entrepreneurship more engaging for students? Learners increasingly seek interactive experiences, and traditional methods such as case study in education have, for years, been a cornerstone of business education. They can offer a peek at the real world to encourage discussion and challenge students to think critically about complex scenarios, but with the current demand for more experiential learning they may not be enough. Because of this, business simulations have stepped into the spotlight to offer strong learning outcomes.
Now, how do these two educational tools compare? More importantly, which is right for your classroom? This guide breaks down the strengths and limitations of case studies and how simulations compare so you can make the most informed decision for your students.
📝 What Is a Case Study in Education?
A case study in education presents a narrative of a business story, itself often centered around a problem or exciting turning point in a company’s or a founder’s history. Students then analyze the situation and debate possible options and solutions.
Why educators use them:
- Encourage critical thinking and reflection
- Introduce students to situations that happen to real people and organizations
- Adapted for class discussion or written analysis
Where they fall short:
- The learning experience is retrospective and static
- Students often act as observers, not decision-makers
- There’s no way to “test” a solution or see consequences in action
Example: A case study about a startup’s funding dilemma might generate rich debate, but students won’t know if their solution would actually work.
For tips on keeping discussions honest and on-task, see our post 5 Effective Ways to Prevent Cheating in School Classroom.
💡 What Is Simulation-Based Learning in Business Education?
I invite you to check out our previous guide if you want to learn about business simulations, but in a nutshell, business simulations are educational tools that allow students to be the doers and take action. Instead of analyzing a founder’s decisions, students become the founders themselves, and make their own decisions by adjusting strategies, testing ideas and, more importantly, facing the consequences, good or bad, of their choices in real time. Educators use them because they:
- Promote active learning and decision-making
- Note: Startup Wars uses Kolb’s experiential learning cycle as a basis for learning through failure
- Offer instant feedback within the simulation itself
- Help students practice real-world skills
Example: In a simulation like Startup Wars, students launch a virtual startup, one of which can be a food truck, for example, in which students manage marketing, pricing, hiring, stocking up on ingredients and even event management, just like real founders would.
🔍 Side-by-Side Comparison: Case Study vs Simulation
While a case study in education lets students dissect past decisions, simulations thrust them into real-time challenges, turning dry theory into hands-on learning. Dive into our article How Business Simulations Bridge Theory and Practice for real classroom examples and insights.
🕒 When to Use Case Studies vs Simulations
Both case studies and simulations hold real value in entrepreneurship education. Choosing when to use them depends not only on the topic you’re teaching, but also on the skills you want your students to develop and the format of your class.
Instead of viewing case studies and simulations as either/or, consider them complementary classroom tools. Here’s how to decide which to use and when:
Use Case Studies When You Want To:
- Analyze ethical dilemmas or leadership decisions
- Case studies are ideal for open-ended discussions where there isn’t one clear “right” answer. These can involve conflicts between founders, hiring dilemmas, culture shifts, or public backlash. Students can debate topics like leadership ethics or crisis communication in a setting where their ideas can be heard.
- Example: “What should the CEO of Blockbuster have done when their product eventually failed in the market?”
- Introduce business frameworks or models
- Use case studies to apply theoretical tools like SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces or Business Model Generation.
- Example: Have students apply Porter’s Five Forces to a case about Netflix entering streaming.
Use Simulations Softwares When You Want To:
- Teach decision-making under uncertainty
- Simulation-based learning places students in time-sensitive scenarios, where their stakes are high and where they must weigh pros and cons when making business decisions without all the answers, just like in real life. This approach mirrors the real experience of entrepreneurship more than static cases, making it one of the best teaching methods out there.
- Example: In Startup Wars, students must decide how to invest in marketing campaigns, the best way to implement them and then actually launch them.
- Let students apply what they’ve learned in a practical setting
- Simulations reinforce classroom concepts through trial, error, and iteration.
- Example: In Startup Wars, Students must launch an MVP. After launching it, they can focus on improving it, develop products, or do both by hiring employees.
Simulations aren’t just for strategic planning, they’re also perfect for honing sales expertise. Check out 3 Essential Sales Skills for Entrepreneurs: Teaching Strategies for Simulation-Based Learning to find interactive exercises that sharpen pitching, negotiation, and revenue-management skills in a risk-free, gamified setting.
🌟 Why Simulations Are Gaining Traction
While a case study in education remains as a valuable tool, simulations are becoming increasingly popular to help close the gap between theory and practice as they allow for:
- Engagement: It skyrockets when students actively learn, build and adapt their own strategies.
- Retention: It improves as students learn through trial, error and feedback.
- Assessment: It becomes easier with trackable decisions, outcomes, and progress.
In a 2019 Harvard study, students who participated in active learning scored significantly higher on tests than those who only attended traditional lectures. The funny part? They felt like they learned more through traditional methods despite the opposite happening. As doers, students can look forward to more effective retention.
Platforms like Startup Wars are making it easier than ever to integrate simulations into the classroom. You can bring simulation-based learning as an add-on to your course, without replacing the curriculum.
“Startup Wars allowed me to understand everything that goes into starting a business in 90 days” Charlotte Kane, The Ohio State University
🛠 Choosing the Best Tool for Your Classroom
Case studies and simulations aren’t necessarily rivals, and in fact, they can complement each other in your teaching toolbox. Case studies help students think critically about the past. Simulations prepare them to act in the future. If your goal is to teach entrepreneurship or business, not just as concepts, but as engaging experiences, simulations offer a powerful way to make that happen, so be sure to schedule a live demo with our instructional design team to get your complimentary instructor account and access the simulations to try them out.
Ready to try a simulation-based approach? Explore how Startup Wars helps students learn by doing 👇
Schedule a live demo with our instructional design team to get your instructor account and access the simulations, as well as other supplementary resources to make the most out of your learning environment.
