AEA Committee on Economic Education Poster Session
Poster Session
Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Hyatt Regency Chicago, Toronto
- Chair: Steve Cobb, University of North Texas
Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to Teach Economics Concepts
Abstract
TBDIn Search of Best Classroom Practices
Abstract
The concentration of wealth and power in the United States has reached a level not seen previously. Particularly, the financialization of the economy and of politics seems to be limiting the ability of countervailing powers to reign in the excesses of the vested interests. The extreme form of duality that the United States is presently experiencing is partly due to the technological advancement that took off in the last 50 years or so. In this presentation, without undermining the importance of technological advancement, I argue that low-tech method can also be an equally effective teaching tool.Oxford-Style Inspired Academic Competitive Debates With a Twist on Hot Topics of International Economics and Finance
Abstract
The poster presents a very successful series of twelve in-class debates with a specific protocol of conducting them; I designed, to complement my graduate course in International Economics and Finance. They provided students with a distinguishable enriching experience from similar courses offered, covering the course contents in a comprehensive fashion. Moreover, the debates achieved many learning outcomes of the course while providing enjoyable experience for students.Industrial Design at the Service of Teaching Economics: 3D-Printed Prototypes and Materialized Demonstrations of Utility and Production Functions
Abstract
Many economics students, even at the graduate level, have difficulty in deeply understanding the complex nature of utility and production functions. Admittedly, dealing with this intrinsic complexity has always been difficult in the classroom for both instructors in teaching as well as students in learning. As these functions are somehow fundamental building blocks of economics as a science, it is crucial for economics students to grasp the nature and essence of these functions. Therefore, effectively teaching and completely learning the essence, nature, forms, and properties of these functions are crucial for economics students to thrive academically and professionally in the discipline. This paper introduces a novel, innovative way to teach these functions, in which economics instructors provide their students with actual, “realized demonstrations” of utility and production functions, enabling their students to actually “observe” what they usually try to describe verbally or at best graphically. This way, students can actually “see” and even “touch” the functions, and get a hands-on experience with utility and production functions. Thus, they can use even the sense of touch in learning such a highly theoretical science, i.e. economics. Throughout the paper, advantages and applications of this approach are discussed from a pedagogical point of view. These innovative, pedagogical tools can highly enhance the quality of teaching and the level of learning in the classroom. By using these tools, economics students get a chance to “see” and “touch” a set of actual, colorfully-designed, 3D-printed prototypes and models of multiple essential utility and production functions that have the capability to illustrate delicate subtleties and desired properties of utility and production functions.An Atlas of Economics: Teaching Tools for Navigating the “Big Picture”
Abstract
The plurality and variety of concepts, variables, diagrams, and models involved in economics can be a source of confusion for many economics students. However, the existing literature on the importance of providing visual “big pictures” during the learning process suggests that furnishing students with a visual “big picture” that illustrates the ways through which those numerous, diverse concepts are connected to each other could be an effective solution for clearing up the mental chaos. With four practical examples, this poster introduces several visual “big picture” that can be used as teaching tools in intermediate macroeconomics and advanced microeconomics classes. These four visual aids represent the “big pictures” of general equilibrium in the IS/LM/AS/AD models in macroeconomics, as well as the wheel of duality in consumer theory and wheel of relationships in production theory. In her book called “Teaching at Its Best”, Nilson (2010) states that “structure is so key to how people learn and has such far-reaching implications for teaching.” She mentions “without structure there is no knowledge.” She believes “information” is nowadays available everywhere; however, what it is not so available everywhere is organized bodies of “knowledge”. In a sense, the present poster is an attempt to take the latter approach to the teaching of economics in order to teach economic “knowledge”, as opposed to economic “information”, so that students can readily grasp the logical order of the concepts and the underlying complex structure of the theoretical material being discussed in the aforementioned courses. There is enormous potential with visualization to improve the quality of teaching and learning in economics which has not yet been fully employed. The present poster attempts to fill the mentioned gap to some extent by introducing four wisely designed visual aids that can be effectively used in the teaching of economics.The Use of an Online Discussion Forum by Students to Collaborate on the Development of a Study Guide in Applied Econometrics
Abstract
TBDReshaped for High-Level Learning: Student Outcomes in the Redesign of an Undergraduate Macroeconomics Course
Abstract
TBDMedia Resources for Teaching Behavioral Economics
Abstract
TBDEncouraging Students to Form Study Groups in Learning Economics
Abstract
TBDIs Less More?
Abstract
TBDInflation and Government Economic Policies
Abstract
TBDGame Theory, Gamified
Abstract
TBDStimulation with Simulation: Oligopoly Markets at Work
Abstract
TBDComparing Delivery Mode: Student Learning in Money and Banking
Abstract
TBDIndexing Multimedia Resources for Digital Pedagogies in Economic Education
Abstract
TBDInformal Writing in Economics
Abstract
TBDSyllabus and Economics: Reasoning With Generation “Why”
Abstract
TBDImproving Assessment of Learning in Economics Courses With Value-Added Analysis of Test Scores
Abstract
This poster focuses on assessment of student learning in economics courses based on a value-added analysis of pretest and posttest scores. A primary purpose is to introduce participants to a newly-created and easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet program for entering pretest and posttest item data from a multiple-choice or other type of test and use it to calculate different learning scores.The poster will explain how the posttest score is a combination of retained learning (correct pre and post) and positive learning (incorrect pre and correct post) while the pretest score is a combination of retained learning and negative learning (correct pre and incorrect post). A posttest-pretest difference score, therefore, is the combination of positive learning minus any negative learning.
Interested people will have access to the spreadsheet program and can use it in their own classes to calculate the different learning scores. The program also displays the results graphically item by item and student by student. During the session there will be numerous suggestions for using the learning scores to improve assessment and classroom instruction.
For those who are interested participants can learn how to prepare a pretest and posttest dataset for research purposes. The STATA computer code can be shared for converting pretest and posttest item data into different learning scores. These scores can then be used as outcome variables in regression analysis that controls for student characteristics and other background variables.
JEL Classifications
- A2 - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics