In this symposium, the author comments on an article written about critical thinking in economics. The author leans toward the view that undergraduate economics should continue to be focused around core tenets and basic models--what the article refers to as little-think critical thinking--while, at the same time, students should be given clear…

The author has long thought that the role of instructors in the introductory economics classroom is to serve as ambassadors for the economic profession. They are there not to present their own views of economics. They should, instead, transcend their idiosyncrasies and represent the broad consensus of professional economists. The job of the…

In this article, the authors describe an interactive classroom simulation that helps students learn some of the most important ideas from models of international trade with heterogeneous firms. Students make entry/exit decisions for individual firms with different marginal costs of production. The simulation consists of five rounds, beginning with…

The authors of this article demonstrate best practices for creating belonging in economics, which allows diverse students to feel respected and accepted within the discipline. Opportunities to connect with economics allow students to understand and be empowered by the value they add to the classroom. The suggested practices thus include providing…

Team-based learning is a powerful collaborative learning technique that can be used effectively in a principles of economics course, although its implementation can be costly for instructors and students alike. The author suggests a series of strategies that can result in a much smoother transition to a fully collaborative classroom. The author…

Bounded rationality is a key concept with implications across all areas of economics. To help students better understand the nature, causes and forms of bounded rationality in individual choice, the authors present a flexible classroom experiment. Beyond providing students with some first-hand evidence of bounded rationality, the experiment shows…

Incorporating readings beyond the textbook is one way to broaden economic content across all courses. While previous studies document the extent to which narrowly defined categories (press readings, scholarly articles) are used, none to date provide details as to how such readings are incorporated. This study was intended to document use in…

The authors of this article introduce two teaching modules that aim to increase climate literacy and active learning in undergraduate economics courses through the incorporation of real-world data and modeling. These modules are based on the concept of computational guided inquiry (CGI), which combines a guided inquiry approach within a…

In this article, the author describes the use of a storytelling approach in a learning design with significant asynchronous elements. This approach was introduced in an upper-level international trade course with close to 200 students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As most live "lectures" took place online and were subject to…

The authors of this article estimate the learning effects of the flipped classroom format using data from 16 sections of principles of microeconomics over a 4-year period. The experimental design is unique in that two treatment and two control sections were taught during the fall semester in four consecutive years. Further, the instructor switched…

In this article, the authors describe how Team-Based Learning (TBL) intentionally promotes learning strategies that learning sciences research has identified as highly effective to create powerful learning environments for students. The article illustrates how learning sciences principles and research findings inform and support the TBL framework,…

Technological interventions have been sold as improving student understanding of economics for decades. Yet despite the panoply of ways to incorporate technology, it is not clear which types of interventions consistently result in statistically significant improvements in learning outcomes. Of 145 papers devoted to the technology in collegiate…

Film and video clips have been used in the classroom to bring economic concepts to life. The authors use the 2015 film "Joy" to animate Joseph Schumpeter's "The Theory of Economic Development," a foundational text on the theory of innovation and entrepreneurship that remains relevant for students today. They outline…

In this article, the authors describe a classroom experiment on exchange rates appropriate for undergraduate courses in macroeconomics, international economics, and money and banking. Student teams compete by managing virtual portfolios of six foreign currencies over a period of several weeks. Trading requires a few minutes in class. Students gain…

In this article, the author describes the practice of active learning with Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). First, he outlines the broad intellectual context of learning with and about economic data, summarizing the recent scholarly contributions made to the topic. Next, the author presents several strategies for teaching with FRED in the…