Innovative Approaches to Economics Education: Teacher Experiences, Student Success, and Game-Based Learning
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 12:30 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)
- Chair: Rebecca Chambers, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Evaluating the Impact of Supplemental Instruction in Introductory Economics Courses on Grades
Abstract
At Towson University, students struggle in introductory economics courses. To assist students with the rigorous coursework, we implemented Supplemental Instruction (SI), a proven approach in STEM courses. The program began in academic year (AY) 2021-22 and has grown from impacting 16 to 75 percent of the 1,600 students who take introductory microeconomics and statistics courses each year. We use administrative data to evaluate the impact of SI on student achievement. Students who attend SI review sessions do just under half a letter grade better than students who do not attend SI review sessions; however, the causal evidence is inconclusive. Less than 30 percent of students with SI attended at least one review session, and on average, students attended 4 to 5 SI sessions. Black students are more likely to utilize SI sessions compared to their White peers. Female students attend more SI sessions than their male peers. Future work will investigate potential explanations for these results.Promoting Financial Literacy Among Young Adults in Germany
Abstract
The financial literacy of young adults is poorly developed and receives far too little support (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2023). There are various ideas to change this. One possibility is game-based learning (Platz & Jüttler, 2022). Knowledge is actively constructed and experienced through play - an approach that goes back to the constructivist perspective of Piaget (1896-1980). Games are therefore assumed to be particularly effective for learning. There are some challenges with the financial games that already exist:1. Educational games are complex systems that are difficult to develop. Many criteria should be applied (Salen & Zimerman, 2004; Dondi & Moretti, 2007). These criteria follow different theories, e.g. the game-flow approach (Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005) or the emotion-based approach (Dillon, 2010).
2. Validation is very important. Standards for this can be found in AERA et al. (2014). Due to their complexity, the validation of educational games is particularly challenging (Warmelink et al., 2016). Many financial games are therefore only validated superficially, others not at all.
3. There are various options for the validation. These include, for example, in-game studies (Moreno et al., 2012), which take a closer look at the usability. In terms of questionnaires, only specific scales are used, such as the Flow-Short Scale (Rheinberg et al., 2019). More comprehensive questionnaires exist, but these are also not specifically geared towards financial learning games.
For this reason, we have developed an instrument that enables young adults to test and evaluate financial learning games. For this purpose, two questionnaires were used (Petri et al., 2024; Högberg et al., 2019), adapted and geared towards the application to financial learning games.
At ASSA, we provide teachers with the tool that allows them to evaluate games to promote financial literacy. The results of the previous tests will be presented and discussed with the audience.
Teaching Economics Majors Principles of Writing and Data Visualization
Abstract
It is our experience that undergraduate majors in Economics find instruction in writing an annoyance, but combined with instruction in data visualization writing becomes a palatable medicine. We conduct an IRB approved pre and post survey to assess the effect of the data visualization intervention of student attitudes toward instruction in writing. At our university the course Writing for Economists is a requirement of the Economics major. The course is a laddered sequence of developing a proposal, a list of references/citations, first draft, instructor review, second draft with memo summarizing instructor requested revisions, peer review, and final draft with memo summarizing peer requested revisions. The final product is 15 pages of writing with properly formatted citations. Our paper describes how we integrated basic commands of the Tableau visualization software with the writing process and how it transformed students’ enthusiasm toward writing. We report the results of student reflection on the impact of the data visualization on their attitude to the required instruction in writing in an economics course.Discussant(s)
Oskar Harmon
,
University of Connecticut
Meaghan Vitale
,
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and University of Delaware
Seth Gitter
,
Towson University
Laura Ahlstrom
,
University of Delaware
JEL Classifications
- A1 - General Economics
- A2 - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics