No matter the college, a class in the principles of microeconomics is likely to cover the discipline's greatest hits. The author attends three economics courses at three colleges, and finds three very different approaches. In this article, the author discusses three colleges' different approaches that shape learning in Econ 101.

Research on the effects of grading on participation behavior is mixed. This study adds to the literature by analyzing the motivational effects of a policy that incorporates student self-assessment, flexible course weighting of the participation grade, and an expanded definition of participation. The results suggest that in some classes, more than…

In this article, the authors illustrate how incentives can improve student performance in introductory economics courses. They implemented a policy experiment in a large introductory economics class in which they reminded students who scored below an announced cutoff score on the midterm exam about the risk of failing the course. The authors…

In this paper we explore and discuss an important research question in higher education--is there a trade-off relationship between in-class and out-of-class efforts for students? We used an empirical model to test the trade-off hypothesis between these two efforts. We identified a trade-off between in-class and out-of-class efforts, especially for…

In this study, the authors employed a quasi-experimental research design to examine the efficacy of a cooperative learning pedagogy (i.e., think-pair-share exercises) integrated into sections of microeconomic principles. Materials, exercises, and assessment instruments for all study sections are identical except for the nature of the…

The use of online course offerings in college has grown sharply in recent years. Previous research, while limited, is inconclusive in determining expected student performance in online versus a traditional lecture format. This paper focuses specifically on student performance in introductory microeconomics classes, analyzing learning differences…

This study examines the level of a student's performance based on incoming knowledge in an intermediate macroeconomic and microeconomic course at a major mid-western university. Analysis of student understanding of specific economic concepts was accessed through the Test of Understanding College Economics, 4th Edition (TUCE) (Walstad,Watts &…

This paper uses a relatively large dataset of the stated academic major preferences of economics majors at a relatively large, not highly selective, public university in the USA to identify the "discouraged-business-majors" (DBMs). The DBM hypothesis addresses the phenomenon where students who are screened out of the business curriculum often…

Economics is usually perceived as a difficult subject among undergraduate students with negative repercussions on their performance. The literature suggests that the students' problems with principles of economics are mainly related to the style and method of teaching together with the course content. Particularly attacked are the chalk and talk…

Public colleges and universities today are more than institutions of academic study. They play a role in the economic and social life of their communities by engaging in partnerships aimed at enhancing their scope and brand image. This paper suggests these partnered activities do more than just manage costs and replace state support during…

This paper provides evidence indicating that experimental games can trigger a double dividend. The dividend, measured in terms of enhanced performance, accrues to both the students and to the instructor. The evidence for the instructor's dividend is obtained from evaluation questionnaires administered in an introductory microeconomics course at…

The authors bring together two research streams in the literature that examine separately the effectiveness of using experiments in the principles classroom and the relationship between different personality types and student achievement. Using a sample of 255 principles of microeconomics students, 48 of whom were enrolled in sections that relied…

We determine how much observed student performance in microeconomics principles can be attributed, inferentially, to three kinds of student academic "productivity," the instructor, demographics, and unmeasurables. The empirical approach utilizes an ordered probit model that relates student performance in micro to grades in prior…

The author presents new evidence on the effects of attendance on academic performance. He used a large panel data set for introductory microeconomics students to explicitly take into account the effect of unobservable factors correlated with attendance, such as ability, effort, and motivation. He found that neither proxy variables nor instrumental…

This paper investigates which students delay taking a required developmental mathematics course and the impact of delay on student performance in introductory microeconomics. Analysis of a sample of 1462 students at a large Midwestern university revealed that, although developmental-level mathematics students did not reach the same level of…