Cognitive science teaching strategies and literacy-targeted economics complementarities

Abstract

This article’s authors describe both the advantages of a literacy-targeted introductory course and how it might be taught by employing evidence-based teaching practices developed by cognitive scientists to maximize learning. This pairing of literacy-focused content with evidence-based pedagogy is intended to enhance student learning while focusing on economic literacy rather than mastery of an encyclopedia of models. The literacy-targeted approach reduces the number of models and concepts introduced, therefore leaving more time for teaching strategies that increase comprehension and retention. The authors propose using two foundational economic models that can be utilized to illuminate a variety of economic concepts. These two models are illustrative of this approach, and others might be used. Frequent and varied use of these models deepens student understanding and lengthens retention.

Keywords:

• Economic education
• introductory economics
• literacy-targeted

JEL CODES:

• A10
• A22

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Scott Simkins for very helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Disclaimer

The views expressed here are not the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Federal Reserve Board, or the Federal Reserve System.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 These concepts are also discussed in Boyle and Goffe (2018), although the context differs.

2 This point was made in Boyle and Goffe (2018).