Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Introductory Economics Courses: Results From a Sixth National Quinquennial Survey

Abstract

This article presents the first report of basic findings from the 2020 online administration of the sixth national quinquennial survey on teaching and assessment methods. Focusing on the teaching methods in introductory economics courses (i.e., principles and survey courses), the authors find that very little has changed in the past quarter-century. The typical instructor in introductory courses is predominantly a male, Caucasian, with a PhD. “Chalk and Talk” remains the preferred method of instruction in introductory courses, along with the use of textbooks. The use of “student(s) with student(s)” discussions in the classroom, as well as cooperative learning/small-group assignments, has increased since 2010. Lessons, activities, and references that address diversity, inclusion, or gender issues, however, are almost never used in introductory economics courses. JEL Classifications: A20, A22

Assessing Learning in College Economics: A Sixth National Quinquennial Survey

“…In keeping with the presentation of the quinquennial survey results established by Becker and Watts ( 1996 ), 2020 mean and median responses for the assessment method questions are provided in Table 1 . As indicated by Watts and Becker ( 2008 ) and Asarta et al ( 2021 ), we are unable to establish whether those responding to the survey are representative of all undergraduate instructors in the USA.…”

“…However, based on the descriptions of miscellaneous other types of assessments being used, the small increase in variety observed in introductory courses, in particular, may signal that a few instructors are using more application activities and introducing beginning students to more of the actual work of economists, rather than following the historical approach of waiting for that work to take place after students choose the major and advance to upper-division courses. In reporting results of changes in teaching methods from the 2020 quinquennial survey, Asarta et al ( 2021 ) and Harter and Asarta (forthcoming) noted increases in the use of cooperative learning/small-group assignments, as well as in instructor-led and “student(s) with student(s)” discussions. These methods may coincide with the use of some of the newer assessment activities involving video production, blog creation, debates, peer reviews, and reflective journal articles.…”

“…Asarta et al ( 2021 ) described in detail the development and administration of the 2020 national quinquennial survey on teaching and assessment methods as part of the first published report of basic findings on teaching methods in introductory economics courses. The survey, approved by the University of Delaware Institutional Review Board, was distributed online to 11,544 full-time and part-time instructors teaching at U.S. higher education institutions.…”

“…The authors used the Qualtrics software platform (Qualtrics 2020 ), utilizing built-in branch logic to reduce participants’ cognitive load and minimize the amount of time spent completing the survey. Response rates, as well as the distribution of instructors based on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning, are presented in Asarta et al ( 2021 ). Overall, 1,664 instructors completed the survey in 2020; that number represents a response rate of 14.4%, 3.9 percentage points higher than in 2010.…”

Who Publishes in Economic Education? A Bibliographic Analysis of the First 50 Years of the Journal of Economic Education

“…This series of articles reporting the pedagogical trends employed by economics instructors is clearly one of the most popular and influential sets of papers published by the JEE . These papers popularized the phrase “chalk and talk” now commonly used to describe the traditional lecture-based method of instruction that appears firmly rooted in the economics classroom despite years of evangelism for more activity-based pedagogies (Asarta et al, 2020).…”