Review of "The Handbook of Pluralist Economics Education"

Review of 'The Handbook of Pluralist Economics Education' by J. Reardon

Service-Learning in Economics: A Detailed Application

Over the past decade, a significant push has been made toward the adoption or development of alternative methods of disseminating economic concepts to students. Much of this work is grounded in the belief that we, as educators, must recognize who our students are as well as how they process information. Siegfried and colleagues ( 1991) have suggested that more needs to be done to teach students to think like economists. They outlined a number of approaches and changes that have the potential for improving undergraduate economic education by providing opportunities for students to practice thinking like economists

Pluralism and Economic Education: a Learning Theory Approach

Preparing students to participate in social and economic life after graduation is a widely held goal of economics instructors. How that goal is achieved and interpretations of what is a relevant skill, however, are a source of debate, covering both content coverage and pedagogical practices. This paper argues that a more pluralistic approach to both course content and pedagogy is fundamental for better preparing economics students for the world, and that learning theory is an integral component of understanding how to design practices to achieve desired outcomes.

The Professional Development of Graduate Students in Economics

This paper provides insight into the skill development activities of graduate students at U.S. institutions providing graduate education in economics. It documents the extent of student participation in and preparation for research and teaching activities while in graduate school. Over fifty percent of students are involved in teaching related activities including grading, leading recitation sections, and teaching their own sections with and without guidance. Most were generally satisfied with their preparation. About fifty-five percent of graduate students attend economic conferences, twenty percent present papers, twenty-two percent submit papers and ten percent have published. Important differences by assistantship assignments, institutional rank, and gender in such activities are highlighted. Findings suggest that programs could do more to prepare students for participation in professional activities post graduation.

Setting an Agenda for the Future

Anniversaries are a time for reflection and planning for the future. The fiftieth year of the Journal of Economic Education motivated us to invite those who have been intimately involved with the Journal to provide reflections, which appear within this symposium. In addition to providing a wealth of information about the past, they set the stage for initiatives that support the path forward

Switching Majors – Into and Out of Economics

Using student transcripts from six institutions over a 23-year timespan, the authors investigate the movement of students into and out of the economics major. Considerable movement between majors occurs with 83 percent of economics graduates switching in after their first principles course. These eventual majors come from a variety of sources, but primarily from business, engineering, science & math. In an absolute sense, weaker students (as measured by cumulative GPA) switch into economics. However, students appear to move to disciplines of relative academic strength (as indicated by relative grades). While females from other majors are less likely to switch into economics, traditionally underrepresented minorities are largely attracted to economics from other disciplines at similar (or higher) rates to which they persist in originally declared majors

50 Years of Economic Instruction in the Journal of Economic Education

With 2019 marking the fiftieth year of publication of the Journal of Economic Education (JEE), it seems fitting to examine the evolution of economic instruction as portrayed in the Journal. Born of the American Economic Association (AEA), and first edited by members of the AEA’s Committee on Economic Education (Saunders 2012), it is not surprising that the Journal’s focus as chronicler, proponent, and outlet for economic education activity reflects the educational component of the American Economic Association’s mission. The creation of the Journal signaled a self-awareness in the discipline that we needed to be more deliberate in thinking about how we teach economics and, as a discipline, take responsibility for the teaching enterprise at all levels in the United States. Further, it has “serve[d] as a journal of ‘natural history’ of the teaching of economics” and a resource designed to document successful “techniques and patterns” so that future generations do not face the pitfalls that “human knowledge [as] a very perishable commodity” generates (Boulding 1969, 9, 10). We provide an overview of the evolution of economic pedagogy over the past five decades as conveyed by the Journal of Economic Education. In so doing, we consider pedagogical choice along with the underlying factors that potentially drive our activity. What is the purpose of such a review? Perhaps we bask in the notion that we have seen growth as a discipline and we have evolved as economic educators, making us more enlightened and more effective practitioners. Or perhaps this exercise serves to highlight our shortcomings as a profession and provides a point of comparison to other disciplines with the possibility that, as a discipline, we have fallen behind or in some way are lacking. But ultimately, an article that chronicles the past also points the way for the future and allows for more thoughtful choices as we, in our role as economic educators, continue to grow and adapt to the teaching climate in the United States in the coming decades

How Do Median Graduate Economic Programs Differ from Top-ranked Programs?

This paper reports the results of a survey of median economics graduate programs and compares it with the results of a survey of top economics graduate programs done by Colander. Overall it finds that while there are some differences in the programs, there are large areas of similarity. Some of the particular finding are that there are more US respondents in median programs than in top programs, median students have more interest in econometrics, history of thought and economic literature than do students at top programs, although after the fifth year, their interest in any field drops significantly. It also finds that students at top schools are much more likely to be involved in writing scholarly papers, and that students at top schools give far less emphasis to excellence in mathematics as a path to the fast track than do students at median schools.

Teacher Training for PhD Students and New Faculty in Economics

Past studies suggest that a majority of economics graduate students engage in teaching-related activities during graduate school and many go on to academic positions afterwards. However, not all graduate students are formally prepared to teach while in graduate school nor are they fully prepared to teach in their first academic position. The authors characterize current teaching experience and training of graduate students from the point of view of directors of graduate studies and of newly minted academic economists. The authors also query department chairs and new faculty about teacher training, support available for new faculty, and the degree to which newly hired Ph.D. economists are prepared to teach. Findings indicate that while some training is available, there is room for enhancing teacher training in economics