The book contains more than thirty case studies, or "science stories". They are usually introduced in parts, in vein with the "interrupted case method" of progressive disclosure of information and evidence. Each part ends with discussion questions. The case studies included in this volume are newspaper articles, university press releases, hypothetical scenarios, and brief non-fiction style stories.
The case studies are cateogorized into five types:
- historical cases: to teach students that accumulated information is non-linear and messy; e.g. story of Hungarian physicist Ignaz Semmelweis who argued that the germ theory of disease was responsible for high maternal mortality rates but was met with skepticism.
- experimental design cases: to teach students about the complexity of the scientific method and about scientists as complex people by working in small groups e.g. PCBs in Alaska lakes.
- unusual claims cases: to teach students the value of skepticism and debunking "pseudocscientific" claims, e.g. ESP, acupuncture, prayer studies.
- science and society cases: to teach students that science is not done in a vaccuum, e.g. space exploration, medical marijuana, vaccination.
- media cases: to teach students about media literacy and how science can be shaped by public response, e.g. MMR vaccine and autism.
- ethical cases: to teach students about the self-correcting nature of science and to prepare for complex problem-solving e.g. racial bias in Tuskegee, human cloning etc.
Besides division into these sub-genres, each case study is accompanied by teaching notes, which have introduction and background, objectives, discussion questions, student misconceptions, and classroom management techniques.
