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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• active learning
• economics instruction
• flipped classroom
• macroeconomics
• pedagogy

JEL CODES:

• A10
• A22
• E00

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the comments provided by three anonymous reviewers and to the editors for their assistance.

Notes

1 Each semester, about three-quarters of enrolled students are in the face-to-face section of the class, and about one-quarter take the course through an online section. Most students who take the course online live on campus but have scheduling conflicts or extracurricular commitments which make a flexible online learning environment more conducive.

2 The state in which the college is located requires that students take economics in high school.

3 Online appendix available at the University of Arizona Campus Repository, including Part A. Contact the authors for more information.

4 While Blackboard Learn and similar learning management systems are increasingly common, we recognize that not all instructors have access. Moodle is a free, open-source, version of the software which could be used by instructors whose universities do not provide a similar system.

5 Although the software used in this class is proprietary to the university at which the course is taught, a similar free version of the software, called Poll Everywhere, exists and could be used by instructors whose universities do not provide a similar system.

6 A Pew survey from 2017 found that 100 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have some type of cell phone. In the experience of this particular course, considering three semesters with a total of 788 in-class students, only two did not have a cell phone, laptop or tablet. These students turned in their answers on paper and were on their honor to submit their answers unchanged after the correct answer was revealed.

7 Imazeki (2014) finds that bring-your-own-device response systems turn these potential distractions into a pedagogical tool that can enhance learning.

8 Online appendix available at the University of Arizona Campus Repository, including Part B. Contact the authors for more information.

9 Most important, regarding the different decades used for assignments, students are not penalized, nor do they benefit, from having one decade rather than another. The instructor is careful to avoid such possibilities, for example, by focusing on alternative decades on exams. So, even if the application of data or model considered is similar to or the same as a previous group assignment, the time period is not. On a recent exam, students were asked to analyze materials and data from the recession and recovery of 1957–59, which is not the subject of a group work assignment. We thank an anonymous reviewer who raised this concern.

10 Groups are told that all members must submit the same answers. However, students may not actually do this. The individual submission of Scantron sheets is rooted in university capacity limitations and large class size. Because of the size of the course, assignments are processed using Scantrons. The Scantrons are filled out individually because the university’s data processing center is unable to handle group submissions. As a result, all grades are tabulated individually. With that being said, the instructor can see if group members are submitting different individual answers and penalize them. This is made clear in class. As a result, deviations from the group decision are rarely observed, and students collaborate to find a single group solution. We thank the reviewer who pointed this out.

11 With a class of 200 or more people meeting in a classroom designed to seat 500 people, a straightforward system such as this provides dramatic time savings.

12 For students who do not have access to Microsoft Office, Google Sheets provide a free spreadsheet tool in which to complete the assignment.

13 Online appendix available at the University of Arizona Campus Repository, including Part C. Contact the authors for more information.

14 Although the PRS used in this classroom is a proprietary software provided through the university where the course is taught, a similar free version, called Calibrated Peer Review, exists.

15 Online appendix available at the University of Arizona Campus Repository, including Part D. Contact the authors for more information.

16 Although there were 98 online students, assignments for these pupils did not include in-class PRS assignments or group projects; therefore, we cannot test correlations with final exam scores.

17 We thank the anonymous reviewer who encouraged us to do so.