This paper builds on the existing literature, to expand the stock of "chalk-and-talk" alternatives and reduce the cost of implementing such alternatives. Specifically, the paper proposes three lesson plans that are based on a series of Breaking Bad scenes identified in Duncan, Muchiri and Paraschiv (2020) and featured as part of the associated online companion, BreakingBadEcon. com. The lesson plans rely on the economic content within the scenes to introduce and emphasize a notable array of microeconomic concepts while also facilitating the assessment of concept comprehension and student learning.
We propose an activity that draws on over 44,000 internationally comparable photographs (of households and their living conditions) that help students connect cross-country differences in real per-capita GDP with differences in living conditions. First, students virtually visit approximately twenty households across five countries (four of their choice and the United States) and document their living conditions. Second, students collect real GDP per capita data for these countries, compare it, and link it to the observed differences in living conditions. Ultimately, this process allows the students to understand how differences in real GDP per capita relate to the differences in living conditions and learn some of the advantages and disadvantages of using real per-capita GDP to measure living conditions.
Motivation and interest are important determinants of academic performance (Becker, 1997). However, engaging and motivating students involves presenting the material in an active and inclusive way. To facilitate this, the current paper develops an in-class activity that simplifies the process of introducing one of the core, most important, and yet least-understood concepts in introductory economics: price elasticity of demand. It does so by relating the otherwiseabstract concept with the basic and familiar image of a bouncing ball. Specifically, we use a ball's bounce upon being dropped against the floor to visually demonstrate the increase in quantity demanded in response to a decline in the price of a good or service.
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