A MOOC on "An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" is starting next week which, the title notwithstanding, should be a great opportunity for instructors in ALL disciplines to learn more about effective pedagogies. To make participation even more useful for us economists, Scott Simkins is investigating forming a learning community of economists who could meet online weekly to discuss each week's topics, as well as discuss asynchronously. If you are interested in joining the group, go enroll in the course and then fill out the form here to indicate your availability for the weekly meetings (note that this isn't committing you to anything in stone at this point but if you think you might be interested, it would help Scott a lot to know). Hope to see you online!
As I mentioned in my last post , I am asking my Econ for Teachers students to reflect on their reading by responding to discussion prompts. It occurred to me that it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to share my thoughts on those issues here and see if anyone wants to chime in. For this week, the students were asked to read the California and national content standards , an article by Mark Schug and others about why social science teachers dread teaching economics and how to overcome the dread, an article by William Walstad on the importance of economics for understanding the world around us and making better personal decisions (with some evidence on the dismal state of economic literacy in this country), and another article by Walstad on the status of economic education in high schools (full citations below). The reflection prompt asks the students to then answer the following questions: What was your high school econ experience like? What do you remember most from that class? How do...
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