multi-modal approaches to teaching economics vanessa smith methodist ladies’ college, wa
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Motivation Increasing competition to attract students Syllabus changes Increasing awareness of the need for
differentiated learning experiences that cater for a variety of intelligences
New opportunities presented by technology in schools and at home
A major problem
... it’s true, economics can come across as pretty boring. It is a singular achievement of the economics profession that it has managed to make the study of our daily lives and interactions about as exciting as a maths quiz.
Jessica Irvine (2012), Zombies, Bananas and Why There are No Economists in Heaven, p. 1
Learning styles Explicit consideration of learning styles may
help us engage both students and teachers, boosting the profile of economics even in the face of increasing competition
Learning styles
Visual Auditory Read/write Kinaesthetic
All students and teachers can benefit from understanding their own preferred learning style
Questionnaire at http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp is very useful
My philosophy Economics is an exciting, relevant area Theories last a long time but the
applications are always changing This sense of immediacy, excitement and
relevance needs to permeate economics programs
I have found that each of the following strategies can assist in developing student engagement and understanding – and they’re lots of fun!
Simulation games Have several advantages:
Make economics “real” Experiential learning Can be used either to introduce or consolidate
materials
Free games ASX sharemarket game
www.asx.com.au/resources/sharemarket-games.htm
ECB games: €conomia and Inflation Island www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/educational/
Simulation games
Commercial games SimCity
Civilisation / Age of Empires / Empire Earth
If you’re interested, you can even draw on MMOs such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2
Board games such as Monopoly or Risk
Simulation games
Create your own games Multiplier game: “I spend, you spend”
Elasticity emporium
Market for lemons: market failure due to asymmetric information
Simulation games
Create your own games There are many ideas in the Economics
education literature, but these generally need to be adapted for the school context: www.economicgames.org http://people.virginia.edu/~cah2k/teaching.html http://www.marietta.edu/~delemeeg/games/ http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/themes/games
Journal of Economic Education is very useful
Economics teaching blogs and Twitter
Simulation games
Visual strategies Routines for drawing diagrams Summary tables Visual organisers Colour Different presentation media
Dealing with diagrams Make effective use of colour to distinguish
between “old” and “new” points:
Visual strategies
Price
Quantity
D1
S
P1
Q1
D2
Summary tables
Visual strategies
Perfect Competitio
n
Monopolistic
Competition
Oligopoly Monopoly
Number of firms
Type of product
Control over price
Barriers to entry
Nonprice competition
Economic profit(long run)
Examples
Causes and effects summary
Visual strategies
Increase in demand
• Successful advertising campaign
• Increase in disposable income (if this is a normal good)
• Demographic or seasonal changes
• Shortage (refer to diagram)
• Consumers bid up prices, leading to a contraction in demand
• Profit-maximising firms revise production plans upwards, leading to an expansion in supply
• New equilibrium (refer to diagram)
Other visual tools A3 or A5 paper Mind maps
Draw freehand or use software such as Inspiration
Can be created on any mobile device and then shared
One-page summaries “FBI wall”
Visual strategies
Kinaesthetic strategies Traditional approaches to teaching
economics haven’t been friendly to those with a kinaesthetic preferences
These techniques can benefit everyone
They also help build a sense of identity as a class
Creating models Showing the general shape of price elastic
and inelastic demand curves
Sidewalk chalk
Sending a hoop through the business cycle
Kinaesthetic strategies
Clickers (classroom polling) A fabulous way to liven up multiple-choice
questions Questions & alternatives are presented in
PowerPoint Students select their preferred response
using a keypad A graph showing the number of students
selecting each option can be shown Could be used for assessment
Kinaesthetic strategies
Low-cost alternatives Depending on your school’s mobile phone
policy, it may be possible to use Poll Everywhere (www.polleverywhere.com)
Team-based approaches make it easy to find different sounds for each team Door bells are fun, but make sure there isn’t a
test going on in the next classroom!
Kinaesthetic strategies
More multiple-choice ideas Can be used at any stage of the lesson
Helps develop students’ metacognitive skills by encouraging them to reflect on their learning
Try getting students to write the questions
Set time limits for particular questions Helps students get used to the speed at which
they need to work in assessments
Kinaesthetic strategies
Using music Demand and supply rap based on Mankiw’s
10 principles of economics www.educationalrap.com/song/demand-supply/
Illustrate the phases of the business cycle
Merle Hazard “The first-and-only Nashville country artist to sing
about derivatives, mortgage-backed securities and physics”
www.merlehazard.com
Auditory strategies
Discussion Using the language of economics Students not always working with the same
group Scenario-based activities drawing on
students’ experience Economics paradoxes, such as:
paradox of value paradox of prosperity
Auditory strategies
Videos and movies Clarke and Dawe, Alan Kohler
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fabulous illustration of structural
unemployment, pressures of competition and applications of price elasticity of demand
Create your own podcasts
Auditory strategies
Read/write strategies Flashcard creators
Incorrect economic commentary
Writing questions & marking keys
Examining sample responses
Wikis and blogs
Flash cards Useful for definitions, diagrams and key
points
www.quizlet.com Free flashcard creator Computer, mobile device or print them out Can pay a small annual fee to allow you to
upload diagrams Flashcards can be shared – wide range of
settings
Read/write strategies
Incorrect commentary Take a written piece of economic
commentary, e.g. a newspaper article, and insert a set number of mistakes into it
Students need to find and correct the mistakes, fully explaining their work
Can be time-consuming but is well worth it Try getting students to create the incorrect
commentary then swap with their peers Alternatively, could get students to annotate
commentary
Read/write strategies
Writing questions Encourage students to write their own data
interpretation or extended response questions Also need to write a marking key!
Need to consider which instruction word is most appropriate Think about the difference between discuss
and evaluate
Read/write strategies
Sample responses As a class, examine anonymous student
responses from earlier years Students can try marking them Identify areas of strength and strategies for
improvement
Several possible sources: Keep copies of work from earlier years Standards guides in WA Write your own!
Read/write strategies
Wikis and blogs www.wikispaces.com or similar
collaborative approach
embeds a cycle of writing, seeking feedback and reviewing
Read/write strategies
Next steps Currently creating sets of quizlet flashcards
for the entire Year 11 & 12 courses Electronic submission of work Developing a simulation game focusing on
the effects of shifts in the exchange rate and the terms of trade
A final thought...
Economics is about one thing and one thing only: maximising society’s total stock of wellbeing, and well, what could be more important than that?
Jessica Irvine (2012), Zombies, Bananas and Why There are No Economists in Heaven, p. 2
Questions or comments? I love discussing strategies for teaching
Economics! Please feel free to contact me at
[email protected] twitter: buglegs