Teachers of Economic Principles

Abstract

A number of experimental studies support the conclusion that different methods may be used with equal effectiveness for teaching the beginning college course in economics, generally called Principles of Economics. Although their main concern was with methods of teaching, some of these same studies also suggest that the individual instructor does not seem to influence the amount learned by his students. The experiment described here is intended primarily to compare the effects of six individual instructors, meeting with their students in sections of from twenty-seven to thirty-seven students each for three hours a week, on the test performance and attitude of their students. We conclude that the individual instructors do not significantly influence the achievement of their students but do influence dramatically the attitudes of their students not only toward the instructor but also toward the subject matter of economics. This conclusion suggests that teachers might better concentrate on creating a favorable attitude toward the subject matter rather than putting the emphasis on the transmittal of content since they seem to have little effect on the average test scores of their students. Characteristics of instructors (as perceived by the students) were analyzed in relation to attitude toward both the instructor and the subject matter. The question of whether the characteristics associated with favorable student attitude can be emulated by those instructors less successful in establishing a positive attitude would seem to be a fruitful area for further study.