Literacy-Targeted (LT) Principles of Economics and Designing Learning Objectives
This week, I will continue to write about what I am using from the JEE symposium: “What should go into the only economics course students will ever take?”
This summer, my goal was to identify one or two ideas from the articles I read from the symposium. If you find the articles interesting, consider checking them out for other ideas. This week:
Cohen, A. J. (2023). What do we want students to (know and) be able to do: Learning outcomes, competencies, and content in literacy-targeted principles courses. The Journal of Economic Education, 55(2), 128–145. https://doi-org.elon.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/00220485.2023.2282016
My Cue Question is: Can I improve my learning objectives this year by placing more emphasis on what I want students to be able to do with what they learn?
Cohen’s paper presents many good ideas about the backward design of learning objectives in a literacy-targeted principles course. Cohen, Scott, and Wolla (2023, p.6) introduce it as follows:
"He [Cohen] makes the case for why departments should offer LT principles courses, explains what students should be able to do after taking LT courses, and differentiates LT principles from existing "intro for non-majors" or "survey" courses."
Idea #1: Use Allgood and Bayer's (2017, p. 143) competency list to develop revised learning objectives. Cohen (2024) shares these competencies in Table 3. Allgood and Bayer competencies for economics students at any level.
Idea #2: Continue to use an Annotate the Course Syllabus Assignment for students and observe whether they annotate the section with these goals.
I have provided my imperfect attempt below. After reviewing the submissions last week, I observed that this syllabus section was one of the most widely annotated by the students. We will see if I can deliver.
Learning Goals
Goal One: Explain how economists use economic thinking to ask good questions and gather information to answer them. Develop the ability to inquire and learn through practice.
Examples of Lesson-Specific Activities for Goal One:
—Explain how economists evaluate the pros and cons of decisions.
—Experiment with the marginal principle and break complex "how many" decisions down into smaller or marginal decisions.
—Explore the concept of opportunity costs and how it can help make decisions.
—Ask how changes in other factors might lead you to make different decisions.
Goal Two: Select and use appropriate economic and ethical concepts and models to analyze and evaluate choices, outcomes, and policies in different settings.
Examples of Lesson-Specific Activities for Goal Two:
—Use ideas from Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments to evaluate the concept of "self-interest."
— Critique General Motors' use of the cost-benefit principle when deciding whether to fix a fuel tank problem. To do this, you will use three ethical frameworks: outcome-, duty-and-rule-, and character-based ethics.
—Use a "jigsaw" cooperative learning activity to examine at three models economists have used to evaluate discrimination in labor markets.
Goal Three: Develop reasoning skills with numbers to understand data patterns and relationships.
Examples of Lesson-Specific Activities for Goal Three:
—Discuss the poverty and unemployment rates and how they are measured. Collect and interpret poverty and unemployment data.
—Demonstrate why it is essential to account for the influence of inflation before making comparisons and decisions.
—Analyze GDP as a measure of a country's total income and track whether the income goes to workers as wages or business owners as profits.
—Compare differences in poverty rates using Census-defined categories of social location and reflect on why the estimates may differ within and across groups.
— Collect and analyze data from EPA about air pollution in your community and other communities. Use bar charts to tell a story about the latest comparisons between neighborhoods.
Goal Four: Choose methods of economic reasoning to apply to life. Be aware of the main ideas behind the reasoning and how such ideas can influence figuring out what is true.
Examples of Lesson-Specific Activities for Goal Four:
—Use and interpret the supply-equals-demand model for goods, labor, and loan markets.
— Recognize how discrimination affects outcomes in the labor and loan markets.
—Weigh economics and ethics together in the courtroom as you compare different interpretations of harm using the opportunity cost principle.
— Examine the consequences of macroeconomic shocks and policy on the real interest rate, output gap, and inflation.
Goal Five: Discuss economic issues that promote mutual understanding and inquiry fluently using basic economic terminology and tools and explain your reasoning to other people.
Examples of Lesson-Specific Activities for Goal Five:
— Collaborate in teams to interpret and evaluate assigned readings and write short explanations of relevant economic concepts for different audiences.
—Contrast different views about the relationship between the economy and society and the role of self-interest and virtue.
—Develop a semester project that evaluates the concept of economic equity and policies designed to address equity.
References
Allgood, S., & Bayer, A. (2017). Learning outcomes for economists. American Economic Review, 107(5), 660–664. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20171070
Cohen, A. J., Stock, W., & Wolla, S. (2023). Introduction to JEE symposium on “What should go into the only economics course students will ever take?” The Journal of Economic Education, 55(2), 107–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2023.2289969
Cohen, A. J. (2023). What do we want students to (know and) be able to do: Learning outcomes, competencies, and content in literacy-targeted principles courses. The Journal of Economic Education, 55(2), 128–145. https://doi-org.elon.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/00220485.2023.2282016