High School Economics Class Research Articles

The Effects of theChair the FedSimulation on High School Students’ Knowledge

Chair the Fed is an award-winning online simulation developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to teach about the role of the Fed in achieving its dual mandate goals of stable prices and maximum employment. It is widely used, with an average of close to 85,000 games started each month in 2019. This article describes Chair the Fed and the results of a controlled experiment to determine its effects on learning in high school economics classes in the Fed’s 12th district. We find that students who played Chair the Fed score significantly higher on a 10-question posttest compared with students who learned about the Fed and monetary policy in more traditional ways. In evaluating our results, we compare difference-in-difference regression modeling with the traditional economic education model where the posttest score is regressed on the pretest score, and find that our results are robust across both specifications.JEL Classifications: A20, A21, E52, E58

PENGARUH AKTIVITAS BELAJAR DAN KEMANDIRIAN DALAM MENGERJAKAN TUGAS TERHADAP HASIL BELAJAR SISWA EKONOMI KELAS XI DI SMA SEMEN PADANG

Ab stract T h i s study aims to examine) The effect of learning activities and independence in doing tasks on learning outcomes of students in high school economics class XI Semen Padang.When the study was conducted in May 2014The results showed that: 1) There is a positive and significant effect of learning activities on student learning outcomes in high school economics class XI Semen Padang this with tcount>t table (4.955> 1.661). 2) in positive and significant impact of independence in doing the learning outcomes of students in high school economics class XI Semen Padang this is evidenced by the value of tcount>ttable (7.556> 1.661), there is a positive and significant impact jointly between learning activities and independence in the tasks of the learning outcomes of students in high school economics class XI Semen Padang academic year 2013/2014 this is evidenced by the Fcount>Ftable (135.599>3.09) and R Square0.745.

How Students are Graded in the Philippines at High School Economics Classes?

How Students are Graded in the Philippines at High School Economics Classes?

Integration of a Financial Literacy Curriculum in a High School Economics Class: Implications of Varying the Input Mix from an Experiment

We taught a mere seven‐period financial literacy curriculum to two 12th grade economics classes, where one treatment was Financial Fitness for Life® (FFFL)‐intensive and the other was “stock market learning” (SML)‐intensive. Two control groups received no financial literacy treatment—an 11th grade group with no exposure to economics and a 12th grade economics class. The 12th grade economics classes, i.e., the two treatment groups and one control group, also worked on identical stock market portfolio assignments that their teachers required independently of our curriculum. In a test of overall financial knowledge, the FFFL‐intensive group outscored both control groups and the SML‐intensive groups, even on questions that were not taught in our curriculum. We conclude that an FFFL‐intensive input mix was beneficial in directly adding to financial knowledge and also in terms of leading to spillovers in such knowledge.

LOST IN TRANSLATION? TEACHER TRAINING AND OUTCOMES IN HIGH SCHOOL ECONOMICS CLASSES

Using data from a 2006 survey of California high school economics classes, we assess the effects of teacher characteristics on student achievement. We estimate value-added models of outcomes on multiple choice and essay exams, with matched classroom pairs for each teacher enabling random-effects and fixed-effects estimation. The results show a substantial impact of specialized teacher experience and college-level coursework in economics. However, the latter is associated with higher scores on the multiple-choice test and lower scores on the essay lest, suggesting that a portion of teachers' knowledge may be lost in translation when conveyed to their students. (JEL A21, 121) I. INTRODUCTION Assessing the contribution of teacher quality to student achievement is a key issue in the educational research and policy fields (National Research Council 2010). A central finding from this literature is that the quantitative contribution of teacher quality to student outcomes is large, with substantial gains in student achievement possible in response to systematic improvements in teacher quality (Hanushek 2011). However, research findings regarding the relationship between teacher quality and measurable characteristics such as training and experience have been mixed, with little support found for systematic, consistent contributions of identifiable contributors to teacher preparation (Aaronson, Barrow, and Sander 2007; Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor 2010; Hanushek and Rivkin 2010; Harris and Sass 2011; Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain 2005; Rockoff 2004). This failure to identify systematic contributions of observable teacher characteristics may reflect imperfect identification of relevant teacher skills and the specific settings in which they make a difference. In this article, we contribute to the literature on teacher quality and student outcomes by investigating the impact of teacher characteristics on students' success in high school economics classes. Much of the voluminous literature on educational outcomes focuses on students in primary school. In contrast, we focus on subject matter education at the high school level, for which teachers' specialized educational background and experience may play a larger role than it does in primary school settings. We distinguish between teachers' specific training and teaching experience in the economics field and their general training, including postgraduate degrees (primarily in the education field). Our breakdown between categories of teacher skills follows the distinction in the education literature between content knowledge, which focuses on a teacher's understanding of the specific subject being taught, and pedagogical knowledge, which refers to a broader understanding of how learners acquire knowledge in that subject (Ball. Thames, and Phelps 2008; National Research Council 2010; Shulman 1986). This literature provides an informative backdrop for the interpretation of our results. Our data are from a special survey of California high school economics teachers conducted in 2006. The survey produced value-added outcome data, which includes test scores before and after a limited instructional window, for nearly 1,000 students in 48 matched-pair classes taught by 24 teachers. These data were first used by Lopus and Hoff (2009), who examined the contribution of specialized instructional materials to student learning. In this article. we have expanded the analysis to address the broader question of how teacher characteristics affect the learning process, and how the contribution of teacher characteristics compares with the contribution of student characteristics. These questions were not addressed in the earlier paper by Lopus and Hoff. In addition. relative to that paper, we more fully exploit the study's experimental design by employing an econometric approach that enables us to explicitly account for observed and unobserved teacher effects using fixed-effects and random-effects estimation. …

Using Mentor Texts for Writing Instruction in a High School Economics Class

Writing is an important tool for content acquisition and for teaching analytical skills in economics. Students must be able to read and write in the economics with an understanding of how knowledge is produced and disseminated in the field. This study sought to understand how 12 secondary students enrolled in an economics course engaged in evaluating, critiquing, and studying a mentor text to learn how to craft a policy paper. A mentor text is a high-quality model text students can read and study to learn more about how to write in the field of economics. Results found students self-reported learning: the content of economics how to structure their paper, the discourse of economics. They further gained an understanding of why economists write.

Lost in Translation? Teacher Training and Outcomes in High School Economics Classes

Using data on 24 teachers and 982 students from a 2006 survey of California high school economics classes, we assess the effects of student and teacher characteristics on student achievement. We estimate value-added models of outcomes on multiple choice and essay exams, with matched classroom pairs for each teacher enabling random effects and fixed-effects estimation. Students' own and peer GPAs and their attitudes towards economics have the largest effects on value-added scores. We also find a substantial impact of specialized teacher experience and college-level coursework in economics, although the effects of the latter are positive for the multiple choice test and negative for the essay test.

Lost in Translation? Teacher Training and Outcomes in High School Economics Classes

Using data from a 2006 survey of California high school economics classes, we assess the effects of teacher characteristics on student achievement. We estimate value‐added models of outcomes on multiple choice and essay exams, with matched classroom pairs for each teacher enabling random‐effects and fixed‐effects estimation. The results show a substantial impact of specialized teacher experience and college‐level coursework in economics. However, the latter is associated with higher scores on the multiple‐choice test and lower scores on the essay test, suggesting that a portion of teachers' content knowledge may be “lost in translation” when conveyed to their students.

An Empirical Analysis of Alternative Assessment Strategies in the High School Economics Class

Three different assessment methods are used to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum package Open and Operating: The Federal Reserve Responds to September 11 in improving the economic knowledge of 1291 California high school students. Student performance is found to vary by race and gender depending on the assessment method used: multiple choice questions, an essay question, or a group creative poster activity. Consistent with prior studies, white male students perform better on the multiple choice questions. However, these gender and racial differences disappear for the essay instrument, and females and Asians outperform others on the group creative activity. Economists who work training high school teachers are encouraged to recommend that teachers use different assessment methods to encourage the success of different types of students.

Effects of the High School Economics Curriculum on Learning in the College Principles Class

Much has been written about whether taking a high school economics class affects initial knowledge and learning in college macro or micro principles classes. The results of several studies indicate that high school economics helps students in their college principles classes, whereas the results of other studies suggest that high school economics either has no effect or even puts students at a disadvantage in their college principles class. My contention is that these conflicting results may not reflect the quality of high school economics per se but may reflect the great variation in the content and curriculum of high school economics classes.

Introducing system dynamics in schools: The Nordic experience

AbstractThis article describes two pilot studies of introducing system dynamics into schools in the Nordic countries. The first study describes the use of system dynamics in a high school economics class. One group of students was taught by the standard economics teaching approach; the other group, by a system dynamics approach. The second study tested the ability of 15‐ and 17‐year‐old students to understand the dynamics of social and ecological systems. The results of these pilot studies suggest that incorporating system dynamics into teaching leads to a better understanding of complex dynamic problems. A list of recommendations for designing educational systems using system dynamics was compiled.

Do Additional Expenditures Increase Achievement in the High School Economics Class?

Expenditures allocated directly to the economics classroom are found to increase student achievement in economics; the more disaggregated the measure of expenditures, the stronger the effect on student achievement.

Do Additional Expenditures Increase Achievement in the High School Economics Class?

Do Additional Expenditures Increase Achievement in the High School Economics Class?

Verbal and graphical strategies in the teaching of economics

This study tested the hypothesis that teaching concepts in high school economics first in a familiar mode or symbol system and then elaborating on them in a second or less familiar mode facilitates classroom learning. In an experimental design, 83 high school seniors were individually assigned at random to three classes, which in turn were randomly assigned to three different classroom instructional treatments, each having a duration of 10 hours and taught by the students' regular economics teachers. It was predicted and found that comprehension of economics is facilitated by a teaching strategy that initially presents the concepts in a familiar verbal mode and then presents them in a more abstract mode using graphs or other instructive imagery. This strategy compared favorably with two alternative procedures, one presenting the same content first in graphs and then verbally ( p<0.001), and the other using only one mode of presentation ( p<0.01). These results imply that the type and order of presentation of symbol systems influence the learning of concepts in high school economics classes by facilitating or interfering with the generation of relations between prior knowledge and new information. The results imply that presenting economics concepts in two symbol systems, rather than one, facilitates learning, provided, contrary to customary teaching methods, that the teacher uses the familiar verbal presentation first and follows it with an integrative but less familiar graphic presentation.

Learning Through Advocacy: An Experimental Evaluation of an Adversary Instructional Model

Dr. Kourilsky describes the use of her Adversary Instructional Model and reports on an experiment in which the Model was used in high school economics classes. Control and experimental groups were tested with the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, the Dietz Test of Economic Understanding and a specially designed Attitude Rigidity Inventory or “opinion ballot.” Some of the results are surprising, but the superior performance of the experimental group on the Watson-Glaser test strongly suggests that the Adversary Instructional Model is a valuable instructional device.