Case-based learning is one method that can be used to foster critical thinking and schema construction. Students need to be provided with problem solving lessons in meaningful learning contexts for critical thinking to take place. In order for schema construction to occur, a framework needs to be provided that helps readers to elaborate upon new facts and ideas and to clarify their significance or relevance. A 6-week interdisciplinary project with ninth-grade students enrolled in Gallatin High School (Tennessee), located in a rural community where industry and agriculture are primary sources of revenue, was implemented. Cases were developed to help students reason about multiple major concepts expressed in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and to help students apply these concepts to other contexts and subject areas. Each case was unique because different reading, research, and writing skills were needed to problem solve and complete the tack of the particular case. The teacher and her students became active participants in the learning process by creating an environment that was mutually adaptable rather than arbitrary and teacher dominated. Case-based instruction and learning provides students with a forum for taking an active role in structuring and creating their own meaning. (Fifty-five references and the flyer soliciting material for the cases are attached.) (RS)