Abstract
United States scholars in economics education generally view economic literacy as the field’s connection to citizenship education. However, despite this clarity of purpose, the range of ways that economic literacy could be applied to civic life is ill defined. Based on an examination of stated civic outcomes in U.S. economics curriculum and instructional materials and drawing from Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) widely-cited democratic citizenship framework, the authors detail four archetypes of economic citizenship: (1) The personally responsible economic citizen; (2) the participatory economic citizen; (3) the justice-oriented economic citizen; and (4) the discerning economic citizen. With these citizenship archetypes in mind, economics educators can construct opportunities for their students to consider how to use their economic knowledge to make sound personal decisions, to participate in collective action, to struggle against economic inequality, or to develop an opinion after considering multiple points of view.
Highlights
The primary goal of economics education in the United States is to help students think economically [1]
Findings from this study offer a portrait of four economic citizenship archetypes: (1) The personally responsible economic citizen; (2) the participatory economic citizen; (3) the justice-oriented economic citizen; and (4) the discerning economic citizen
In the sections that follow, we provide a snapshot of the characteristics of each economic citizenship archetype along with an overview of the data that substantiated each category
Summary
The primary goal of economics education in the United States is to help students think economically [1]. This habit of mind encourages decision making through the identification of “trade-offs—that is the costs and benefits—of whatever issue is at hand” [2]. Economic thinking unifies the field of U.S K-12 economics education. It pervades standards documents [3], curricular resources [4,5], instructional strategies [1,6,7,8,9], and assessment models [10]. This outcome is worthy, but begs a larger question: What kinds of economic citizens is economics education promoting?
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
