Economics Goes to Hollywood: Using Classic Films and Documentaries to Create an Undergraduate Economics Course

The authors describe an interdisciplinary approach to teaching economics that uses a powerful contemporary medium, the motion picture, to establish the context for teaching elementary economics concepts. The plots and subplots in many films can be used to illustrate problems and issues that are amenable to economic analysis. They suggest how these films can be sequenced to create a general studies course for nonmajors.     

Keith Robinson and Robert Wilson,eds. Extending Economics Within the Curriculum.

Sussman examines the effectiveness of a personalized system of instruction in an introductory course in economics and suggests that personalized instruction may be a viable alternative to the teacher-dominated lecture system widely used in teaching the first course. The results of the author's small scale study may encourage others to experiment with this little-used method of instruction.     

Some Reflections on the Teaching of Economics and Commerce in a Developing Country

The author, a teacher of economics and commercial subjects in Papua New Guinea which recently became independent, reports on the difficulties encountered in teaching these subjects in this developing country, where education of the western type is still associated in the minds of many with an aura of “cargo-cult” thinking. Other problems are the lack of textbooks in the language of the country, and the fact that the traditional beliefs of the majority of students run counter to principles of modern business and economics, making for a lack of even the most elementary economic understanding. Thus, the author believes, the transplanted course now being taught in Papua New Guinea cannot achieve the objective of providing basic economic understanding.

Mr. Smyth also suggests that the teacher “should be concerned with searching out those aspects of the traditional culture fhat can be used as ‘spring boards’ into a more complex study of the modem economy.”     

Effects of Real and Contrived Problem-Solving on Economic Learning

For many years problem-solving approaches have been touted as being superior to conventional teaching methods in precollege classrooms. Too few of the supporters of this technique have undertaken well-controlled research to determine whether or not it really is superior. Although the “final” answer remains to be given, Ellis and Glenn have made a commendable start in their research involving fifth and sixth-grade students. They have measured the effectiveness of three approaches to the teaching of economics in the intermediate school grades to determine which is more effective in teaching basic economic concepts and which is more effective in teaching problem-solving skills. Both their findings and their research design should be of interest to all who are concerned about the teaching of economics at the precollege level.     

Learning to do: Facilitating practice in a large introductory macroeconomics class

Contemporary pedagogy encourages instructors to move away from memorization to teaching the ability to “do economics.” In such an environment, students are taught to apply knowledge of economic measurement, the economic model, and economic policy to analyze current events and policies. In this article, the authors build on existing literature describing independent activities by sharing a set of class exercises and assignments that comprise an entire course. The course discussed in this article is a large enrollment introductory course and presents a novel approach to active learning, adapted to this often-challenging context. The course emphasizes engaging students by encouraging them to practice using macroeconomic tools.     

Preparing Graduate Students in Economics for Teaching: Survey Findings and Recommendations

Survey data from PhD-granting economics departments are used to assess the teaching preparation of graduate students in economics. The results show that relatively few departments require graduate student instructors to take a credit course in teaching before teaching their own course or leading a recitation section. Although more graduate student instructors are required to take a noncredit course in teaching before serving as an instructor or recitation leader, the value of such noncredit courses may be limited. The assessment of teaching preparation by department chairs shows mixed responses, with about three-fifths rating it as very good or good and about two-fifths considering it to be only adequate or poor. Recommendations are offered for improving the teaching preparation of graduate student instructors in economics.     

从自然资源经济学到可持续经济学

随着物质生活水平的快速提高,人类也面临着诸如森林退化、土地荒漠化、物种多样性丧失以及温室效应恶化等生存环境问题。可持续发展问题日益受到人们的关注,通过经济学的视角来研究可持续发展的可持续经济学得到了快速的发展。本文从经济学的角度界定了自然资源的概念,回顾了经济学对自然资源的研究历程,对自然资源经济学的起源、发展进行了评述;论证了自然资源经济学和可持续经济学的关系,指出在可持续发展问题研究中融合自然资源经济学和环境经济学的必然性,以自然资源经济学和环境经济学为重要元素的可持续经济学是可持续问题经济研究的高级阶段,文章进一步探讨了可持续经济学的分析框架、发展现状及存在的问题。     

Enhancing economic literacy of classroom teachers

For the past two summers, the Division of Education and the Division of Business and Economics at Indiana University at Kokomo have collaborated to produce an intense teamtaught summer economics course for pre-service education majors and in-service classroom teachers. The dual emphasis on content and application allows economics to integrate every aspect of the classroom and allows Praxis achievement. This paper explores the essential nature of Praxis in making the content or practice link—so critical for successful implementation of economics in K-12 classrooms. To determine their attitudes toward and knowledge of economics education, a pretest and post-test format was adopted. In addition, the institutional enhancers and inhibitors that dramatically affected the development and implementation of the new course of study are presented. This paper was presented at the Forty-Fourth International Atlantic Economic Society Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 9–12, 1997. Discussants' comments are incorporated.     

A Model of Economics Learning in the High Schools

The effectiveness of the Developmental Economic Education Project (DEEP) of the Joint Council of Economic Education (JCEE) and the International Paper Company Foundation (IPCF) awards program for teaching economics is evaluated in this article. The effects these programs have on achievement in economics (ACH), attitudes towards economics as a subject (ATE), and economic attitude sophistication (EAS) are observed. The authors' study shows that DEEP schools had a positive effect on students in these three areas. The results of the IPCF program are less encouraging with students actually showing less economic understanding as a consequence of being taught by an award winning teacher.     

DOES TEACHER QUALITY AFFECT STUDENT PERFORMANCE? EVIDENCE FROM AN ITALIAN UNIVERSITY

In this paper, we analyse whether the characteristics of university teaching staff matter with regard to students' performance and interest in the discipline. We use data on about 1000 students enrolled on the first-level degree course in business and economics at a medium-sized Italian university. Thanks to the random assignment of students to different teaching classes during their first year, we are able to analyse the effect that teachers with different characteristics, in terms of experience and research productivity, produce both on students' performance, measured in terms of the grades obtained at subsequent examinations, and on courses chosen. Our results suggest that teacher quality has statistically significant effects on students' grades in subsequent courses. These effects are also robust after controlling for unobserved individual characteristics. On the other hand, we find less clear evidence when relating teacher quality to student involvement with a subject. It emerges that research productivity does not produce a statistically significant effect on the probability of a student undertaking additional courses in a subject, while more experienced teachers have a negative impact. However, also this effect does not become statistically significant when we run separate regressions for different disciplines.     

Pod learning: Student groups create podcasts to achieve economics learning goals

In this article, the authors examine two ways that they use music (i.e., popular song lyrics) as an active learning technique in an undergraduate history of economic thought course. First, they use music to help students grasp the ideas of the great thinkers in economics and see their relevance today. Second, because they require students to read original texts and write thesis-driven essays, they use music to teach essential skills related to such assignments. While the article focuses on how they use music as a pedagogical device to teach the history of economic thought, the use of music to teach essential skills could be applied to any economics course in which students engage in higher-level reading and writing.     

西方经济学本科教学改革探讨

西方经济学是经济管理类本科专业的基础性必修课程,其教学效果的好坏直接影响学生对其他相关课程的掌握程度。然而当前一些本科院校西方经济学课程的教学效果并不理想。如何对该课程进行科学革新,更好地发挥其基础性地位,进而帮助学生更好地掌握专业知识,是本课程教学改革的主要目标。     

教师在商务英语教学中的"中介作用"

商务英语属于专门用途英语,教学难度较大。商务英语教学首先应体现语言技能,同时还应涉及相关的经济与商务知识和目的语文化背景知识。目前,商务英语教学中存在着教学效能低下、学生学习动机减弱等问题,因此,应发挥教师主导者的"中介作用",这是突破外部条件局限,提高课堂教学效能的有效途径。     

Perspectives on Economics in the School Curriculum: Coursework,Content, and Research

This review describes the conditions for teaching economics in the kindergarten through twelfth grade (K–12) curriculum in U.S. schools. The first section presents data on course-taking in economics in high schools and state mandates for economics instruction. It discusses the value of the infusion approach to teaching economics either in place of a separate course or as a complement to it. The second section describes the economic content that is taught to students as presented in content guides and standards. The final section presents research findings on (1) test instruments for measuring outcomes from economics instruction, (2) the effect of teacher coursework and training on the student economic understanding, and (3) how instructional materials complement or substitute for instructor selection and training.     

New Economic Theories

This paper analyses some of the most important spillovers of recent developments of economic theory into environmental economics. Attention is given to the anlaysis of sustainable economic development paths, where endogenous growth models are used; the implications of environmental dumping and more generally of policies concerning global environmental issues, where new trade theories are very useful; and, the effectiveness of environmental policy instruments when markets are imperfectly competitive, where industrial organisation theory is employed. The paper does not only note recent developments in environmental economics, but also relates these to the previous environmental economics literature. Thus, it can be assessed whether new results actually improve our knowledge of crucial economic and environmental issues.     

Factors Affecting the Content of High School Economics

Several years ago there was great interest in the high school economics course. Studies were being made of the effectiveness of high school economics, of the relationship between the student's high school economics background and his or her performance in the college principles course, and of the economic knowledge of precollege teachers. Strom's article may bring about a revival of interest in secondary school economic instruction. He has considered variables not previously taken into account, he has addressed the problem of defining the high school course, and—perhaps most important—he has suggested that the two-step factor analysis/regression procedure may be superior to the standard regression analysis in economic education research.     

技术经济学的教学模式创新研究

技术经济学作为应用经济学的分支，是实践性很强的一门学科，也是经济管理类本科专业的核心课程。其主要任务是从经济角度对具体工程项目、技术方案进行分析评价，为投资决策提供科学依据，最大程度地避免投资风险和提高经济效益。目前，我院经济专业、市场营销专业、工商管理以及信息系统和信息管理专业开设了技术经济学课程，本文对现有的技术经济学教学模式进行了改革创新，认为应结合学生的特点合理安排教学内容，通过例题、案例以及上机操作提升学生的实践能力，提高教学效果。     

Some Teaching Techniques for High School Economics

In this article two high school economics teachers describe several teaching techniques that have proven successful in their school. The use of a team approach is briefly explained, and the importance of student motivation is stressed. Among the methods included are skits, plays, the use of video tapes, simulations and games, and the analysis of important economic problems. The means by which the instructors are evaluating their course are set forth, with evidence that the experience helps to destroy commonly held myths about economics and greatly improves student understanding of basic principles.     

Clickenomics: Using a Classroom Response System to Increase Student Engagement in a Large-Enrollment Principles of Economics Course

One of the most important challenges facing college instructors of economics is helping students engage. Engagement is particularly important in a large-enrollment Principles of Economics course, where it can help students achieve a long-lived understanding of how economists use basic economic ideas to look at the world. The author reports how instructors can use Classroom Response Systems (clickers) to promote engagement in the Principles course. He draws heavily on his own experience in teaching a one semester Principles course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but also reports on how others have used clickers to promote engagement. He concludes with evidence that students find clickers very beneficial and with an assessment of the costs and benefits of adopting a clicker system.     

转轨的意义:对近代国家社会转型难题的重新求证

本文是将转轨置于经济史背景中的一种尝试性研究.其基本观点是:从经济史的规律来看,转轨国家与近代落后国家的一个共同特征是在发展过程中缺失了某个重要阶段.这种缺失正是落后与变革的根源.为了进行求证,本文将转轨国家界定为[非历史-人为形态]的制度形态,试图将其还原到经济史的时空背景中,与发达国家[历史-自然形态]的制度形态演进过程进行比较研究,从中发掘转轨可以贡献于经济学的一般意义.