Purpose: Current economic education is in urgent need of reform -- both in terms of content and in terms of didactics. This paper aims at contributing to this reform by outlining possible directions economic education might take or combine in a purposeful way. Design/methodology/approach: This article considers economic thinking as interpretative…

Rising federal debt threatens to reduce the growth of the economy, people's living standards, wages, and the standard of living. A policy solution needs to respect many constraints, most importantly, that it is seen as fair--both within generations and across generations. This article addresses concepts of fairness and their application to…

Communication is the foundation of professional relationships and collaborative teams within family and consumer sciences (FCS) (Mitstifer, 2014). These relationships and collaborative work may be facilitated through communicative actions. Educational structure is needed to intentionally focus on communicative actions in undergraduate coursework.…

The author of this article describes an intermediate economics course structured around outside readings, which include academic journal papers, policy briefs, and news articles. Students complete low-stakes, high-frequency writing assignments that promote accountability and encourage critical thinking about the readings. This pairing of outside…

The authors of this article describe three student-driven learning modules developed from their respective College Fed Challenge courses. These activities are ready-to-apply in a wide range of courses to facilitate adoption without a large time commitment. In the "Pick a Policy Maker" module, students gain an understanding of the…

This paper provides details on a classroom experiment that focuses on returns to foreign assets given uncertain future exchange rates. Students are assigned the role of foreign analysts and decide how much to invest abroad given their expectations about future exchange rates. The experiment allows students to practice calculating the returns to…

Whether pursuing immediate professional careers or preparing for graduate research, for many students the opportunities to conduct original research as undergraduates can be formative, creating a valuable differentiating factor on their resumes. The Economics Scholars Program builds an environment where undergraduate students can conduct economic…

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…

Incorporating writing into an economics course is a beneficial goal of economic educators. The potential benefits of using writing to enhance learning among economics students have been emphasized in the literature. Writing to Learn (WTL) is an act of using writing activities to help students think through key concepts presented in a course. The…

This paper uses the PBS Nova show "Mind Over Money" to introduce a number of topics in behavioral finance. Instructors can also use the video as a jumping off point for expanding the discussion to the "second generation" of behavioral finance, where many of the decisions that differ from what are considered optimal are due to…

The economics profession lacks diversity and, as a result, interventions have been introduced at the graduate and professional levels to minimize the effect of the "leaky pipeline." In addition, economic educators lack training in classroom management and student interaction, which may lead to underinvestment in fostering diversity,…

Environmental justice is an important topic that can be better understood by using the tools of economics. The author of this article describes a data integration exercise that connects data available through government portals: the Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund Sites Where You Live" interactive map, data on Net Present…

Chew and Cerbin (2021) outline nine cognitive challenges to student learning with which economic educators are likely familiar, even if the language used to describe them differs. In this article, the authors refrain from summarizing Chew and Cerbin's framework and instead focus on providing context for how those conducting research and developing…

Chew and Cerbin (2021) offer a fruitful way of thinking deeply about teaching economics. In this article, the author offers several ideas on how to offload parts of three of the cognitive challenges they identify to an online module that any instructor could assign to their students. Ideally, this module would be described in an economics…

Can teachers promote true economic understanding among students by adding a dose of psychology? Fans of behavioral economics, with its unique blend of psychology and economics, think so. Blending a bit of behavioral economics into social studies lessons provides answers to the ever-present questions that permeate every classroom,"What does…