The article analyzes the transformation of the methodological toolkit for teaching humanities and sciences in the Russian Federation. The method of case study, being widely spread in modern higher education research, is used as an example to illustrate the attempts to implement the best practices of foreign educational technology into tertiary academic process in Russia. The authors provide some historical aspects of introducing case studies in modern teaching practice. The article features peculiarities of the Soviet approach to the structure of cases. Content analysis helps to identify similarities and differences in Soviet/post-Soviet approaches to case study construction and brings into focus the problem points which reveal misinterpretation and/or misuse of didactic materials designated as cases. The approach suggested in the article implies presenting the content of a case study as a collection of documents related to a certain topic. The case study "Istanbul in the life and work of the artist Martiros Saryan" demonstrates that a case can have invariable and variable parts to reflect the specificity of the didactic task within the discipline. Such approach is expected to support students' cognitive activity, develop creativity in searching additional sources and missing materials, improve efficiency of students' autonomous work on solving complex problem solution.