In this study, the authors investigated three questions: whether students' outcomes were improved by grading participation more intensely; who benefits most from increased participation; and, whether students who would benefit from more intensive grading choose it when they are given the choice. An eight-month field experiment was used to elicit…

The author of this article presents a brief introduction to the use of current events news articles in an introductory microeconomics course for business students. Popular press articles are integrated with small-group peer instruction, and student understanding is assessed using student response system, or clicker, questions. Examples of lesson…

Economics and business students are taught that sunk costs are irrelevant to their decisions. Yet, there is ample evidence that managers fail to integrate this simple rule and fall prey to what is known as the sunk-costs bias. To mitigate cognitive biases, such as the sunk-cost bias, educators must raise students' awareness of these common…

This article describes an innovative pedagogical technique, applicable to most economics courses, that offers students a deeper understanding of market equilibrium, inflation, real and nominal interest rates, intertemporal choice, and financial markets. Students earn extra credit, pooled together for the entire class, by correctly answering…

Pedagogical research shows that teaching methods other than traditional lectures may result in better outcomes. However, lecture remains the dominant method in economics, likely due to high implementation costs of methods shown to be effective in the literature. In this article, the author shows significant benefits of using a teaching app for…

Over the last few years, classroom response systems (or "clickers") have become increasingly common. Although most systems require students to use a standalone handheld device, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) systems allow students to use devices they already own (e.g., a cell phone, tablet or laptop) to submit responses via text message or…