Multi-modal approaches to teaching Economics Vanessa Smith Methodist Ladies’ College, WA.

Multi-modal approaches to teaching EconomicsVanessa SmithMethodist Ladies’ College, WA

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 Draw in the same order each time:

Price

Quantity

D

S

P1

Q1

Visual strategies

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

Visual organisers

Visual strategies

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

Keepad clickers

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


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!


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


Auditory strategies Music

Discussion

Videos and movies

Podcasts

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


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


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!


Wikis and blogs www.wikispaces.com or similar

collaborative approach

embeds a cycle of writing, seeking feedback and reviewing


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

Multi-modal approaches to teaching Economics Vanessa Smith Methodist Ladies’ College, WA.

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