International Review of Economics Education最新文献

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework, first introduced by the Harvard School of Graduate Education in 1984, to incorporate different approaches to engage and motivate learners from diverse backgrounds in an inclusive learning environment. UDL promotes academic curriculum design based on three main principles: (1) multiple means of representation, (2) multiple means of action and expression, and (3) multiple means of engagement. This study shows how UDL can be implemented in a principles of microeconomics course, providing examples of good practice for delivery structures and evaluation criteria that integrate UDL strategies.

Ineffective study strategies breed overconfidence, bad grades, misplaced blame, and little long-term learning. The psychological learning-science literature suggests that pedagogies based on spacing, self-testing, and explanatory questioning push back against these tendencies and improve learning. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the results in “Chalk-and-Talk” versus “Active Learning” microeconomics courses that used learning science insights. In the latter, the better students were more likely to earn As and middle students’ grades averaged about a letter grade higher. Weaker students’ failures and Bs were both more frequent. The quality of comments on the readings and lecture completion were highly significant predictors of over-performance for above-median students. Required practice exams and preparation time were significant predictors of over-performance for below-median students.

There is an open debate in academia about whether economics students behave in a more self-interested manner than non-economics students. This debate is based on the assumption that economics students are exposed to the study of standard economic models. These models begin with a representative agent, the homo œconomicus, which is a rational optimizer that serves to satisfy their own self-interest. A systematic review was conducted to enhance this debate. Empirical studies that tested the existence of behavioral and/or attitudinal differences related to self-interest among university economics and non-economics students were included. The results provide evidence that economics students are more self-interested than non-economics students. This review has allowed us to highlight the limitations of the pre-existing scientific papers published to date. Primarily, the majority of studies have used cross-sectional data, and it is advisable to carry out more studies with longitudinal data.

This paper reviews journal articles in the area of economics teaching and learning published during the past two years, namely calendar years 2020 and 2021. Our intention is to provide scholars in economics departments with a critical and selective overview of some of the main trends and highlights of the scholarly literature as it pertains to economics pedagogy, curriculum and assessment.

This study investigates the impact a historically black institution's (HBI) Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA)-peer-tutoring program-effecton African American male student success. The ULA program allows upper-level college students who have successfully completed lower-level economics and accounting courses to serve as peer tutors to undergraduate students by providing in-class support and out-of-class office hours. This paper seeks to tackle the causal effects of peer tutoring on African American male students' success in quantitative base courses at a predominately HBI. The results predict that an African American male students have a higher probability of passing an economics or accounting lower-level course if a ULA is present compared to if a ULA is not present. Educators can use these findings to design better university-wide interventions and classroom-based support for students to address the African American male achievement gap, specifically in quantitative-based courses.

I implement in a labor economics course a project-based assignment involving narrative interviews on the work that people do. Through experiential learning, students investigate how social, political, and economic forces shape the evolution of an occupation. Students apply one or more of the three neoclassical models — the neoclassical model of labor-leisure choice, the neoclassical model of labor demand, and the neoclassical model of the labor market — to an occupation to explain why it is in decline. Furthermore, students hone their social skills through collaborating with their groupmates, conducting narrative interviews with strangers, and delivering a TED-style talk to their classmates. I draw on student presentations and reflections to demonstrate learning outcomes.

This study starts by examining the relationship between procrastination and grades. I use a large sample (n = 17,241) of timed submissions of online assessments, where having multiple observations for each individual makes it possible to control for individual fixed effects. The data confirm a significant negative relationship between procrastination and grades. To address procrastination, two “nudges” encouraging earlier submission were tested with a smaller class group. The first was a communication about social norms relating to submission times; and the second was an information nudge highlighting grade disadvantages of late submission. Disappointingly, neither nudge led to earlier average submission times. This finding adds to a small body of work suggesting that nudges might be less effective when trying to change habitual behaviours.

A large body of literature documents that school-based financial education generally improves financial knowledge, yet little is known about the effect of instruction in the broader economic domain. This paper evaluates the effect of a curriculum reform introducing mandatory economic education on economic competence and knowledge in German lower stream schools, in which students have lower socio-economic status and end up having lower incomes when entering the workforce. While we find small but positive effects on basic economic knowledge and interest in economic matters, we observe insignificant effects on competences, i.e., factual and procedural knowledge in the economic domain. Quantile regressions reveal that the effect on students’ knowledge is widely consistent across the entire distribution. With regard to socio-demographic characteristics, we observe strong gender differences already before adulthood.

Distributed practice improves learning by requiring the brain to expend extra effort retrieving prior learning after a time delay. I examine whether repeating the most troublesome homework question on the next assignment improves exam performance within one large upper-level undergraduate economics course. I compare exam outcomes of students enrolled in Fall 2017 as my control group (N = 136) with those of the intervention group in Spring 2018 (N = 163). Adjusting for differences in student characteristics, the intervention was associated with a statistically significant (at the 90% level) increase of 2.44% in final exam scores, with raw average scores of 84.6% versus 81.7%. No difference was found post-intervention in overall course scores, while small increases for midterms. Subgroup analysis suggests the benefits may accrue more to the strongest and weakest performers. Findings suggest that repeating troublesome problems could improve learning in economics.

Recent research suggests educators can enhance the depth of capstone projects by assigning projects with real-world applications. We illustrate how the case method can be adapted for an undergraduate research experience course. We present an example case study project used in an economic consulting capstone course. Student teams receive a case narrative that includes a real-world request for a proposal. In response, they must formulate a research question, identify and analyze appropriate data to address it, and prepare several business memorandums, a final proposal, and an oral presentation to share their findings. We argue that while traditional undergraduate research helps students develop general data literacy and critical thinking skills, a case study format is better suited to simulate how these skills will be used once students enter their professional lives.