Teaching introductory economics: an interdisciplinary approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21100/compass.v16i1.1418Keywords:
Economics education, Interdisciplinary teaching and learning, Interdisciplinary instruction examples, teaching elasticity, teaching circular economies, teaching using input process output diagramsAbstract
Using three examples, this opinion piece argues that introductory economics can provide an effective context in which to introduce university students to interdisciplinary learning and thinking. The first example illustrates how input-process-output diagrams can be used to stimulate interdisciplinary thinking in classrooms when teaching the concept of production. The second and third examples illustrate how elasticity and the concept of circular economies, respectively, can be introduced using an interdisciplinary approach. These examples are suitable for introductory economics classrooms in which students gain a foundation of basic scientific and mathematical concepts.References
Arnold, R.A. (2019) Economics (13th edn.) Boston: Cengage. ISBN: 9781337617383
Blair, R.D. and Durrance, C.P. (2012) ‘An interdisciplinary approach to teaching antitrust economics.’ In: Hoyt, G.M. and McGoldrick, K.M. (eds.) International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 463-472. ISBN: 9781848449688
Caviglia-Harris, J.L. (2010) ‘Introducing Undergraduates to Economics in an Interdisciplinary Setting.’ The Journal of Economic Education, 34(3), 195-203. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220480309595214 (Accessed: 5 May 2022).
Davies, M. and Devlin, M. (2010) ‘Interdisciplinary higher education.’ In: Davies, M., Devlin, M. and Tight, M. (eds.) Interdisciplinary Higher Education: Perspectives and Practicalities (International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, Vol. 5. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 3-28. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3628(2010)0000005004 (Accessed: 18 January 2023).
Freedman, O. (2008) ‘Sex, Class, and History: An Experiment in Teaching Economics in an Interdisciplinary Setting.’ The Journal of Economic Education, 39(3), 251-259. Available at: https://doi:10.3200/jece.39.3.251-259 (Accessed: 12 June 2022).
Islam, S. (2011) ‘Teaching Introductory Economics to Students of Different Majors.’ In: American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences 18th Annual Conference, ASBBS, 2011. Las Vegas, NV. 22-27 February. Las Vegas, NV: ABSBBS, 877-885. Available at: http://asbbs.org/files/2011/ASBBS2011v1/PDF/I/IslamS.pdf (Accessed: 7 May 2022)
Klaassen, R.G. (2018) ‘Interdisciplinary education: a case study.’ European Journal of Engineering Education, 43(6), 842-859. Available at: https://doi:10.1080/03043797.2018.1442417 (Accessed: 23 May 2022).
Lattuca, L.R. (2001) Creating Interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching
among College and University Faculty. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN: ‎ 9780826513830
Lindvig, K. and Ulriksen, L. (2019) ‘Different, Difficult, and Local: A Review of Interdisciplinary Teaching Activities.’ The Review of Higher Education, 43(2), 697-725. Available at: https://doi:10.1353/rhe.2019.0115 (Accessed: 3 June 2022).
Mankiw, N.G. (2016) Macroeconomics. (8th edn,) Boston: Cengage. ISBN: 9781429240024
Mankiw, N.G. (2018a) Principles of Microeconomics. (8th edn.) Boston: Cengage. ISBN: 9781305971493
Mankiw, N.G. (2018b) Principles of Macroeconomics. (8th edn.) Boston: Cengage. ISBN: 9781305971509
Pharo, E.J., Davison, A., Warr, K., Nursey-Bray, M., Beswick, K., Wapstra, E. and Jones, C. (2012) ‘Can teacher collaboration overcome barriers to interdisciplinary learning in a disciplinary university? A case study using climate change.’ Teaching in Higher Education, 17(5), 497-507. Available at: https://doi:10.1080/13562517.2012.658560 (Accessed: 19 May 2022).
Pindyck, R and Rubenfield, D. (2013) Microeconomics. (8th edn.) Boston: Pearson. ISBN: 9780132857123
Rover, D.T. (2002) ‘Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning: What, why, and how.’ Journal of
Engineering Education, 91(4), 369-70. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2002.tb00718.x (Accessed: 10 June 2022).
Staub, F.C., and Stern, E. (2002) ‘The nature of teachers' pedagogical content beliefs matters for students' achievement gains: Quasi-experimental evidence from elementary mathematics.’ Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 344-355. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.2.344 (Accessed: 5 June 2022).
Tucker, I.B. (2019) Survey of economics. (10th edn.) Boston: Cengage. ISBN: 9781337111522
Woods, C. (2007) ‘Researching and developing interdisciplinary teaching: towards a conceptual
framework for classroom communication.’ Higher Education, 54, 853-866. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-006-9027-3 (Accessed: 9 May 2022).
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Compass: Journal of Learning & Teaching provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a more equitable global exchange of knowledge.
Â
Works are released under the default licence of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) licence, which provides unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. If authors require a divergent licence, please contact [happy to have 'the Scholarly Communications Manager' (ks8035h@gre.ac.uk) listed here if that is easier.]
Â
Authors of articles published in Compass: Journal of Learning & Teaching remain the copyright holders to their published work and grant third parties the right to use, reproduce, and share the article according to terms of the Creative Commons license agreement applied to the work by Compass: Journal of Learning & Teaching.
Â
Self-archiving policy: authors are permitted, and encouraged, to deposit any version of their article - submitted, accepted, and published versions - in subject and institutional repositories at any time.Â
Â
If you have any queries about the choice of license, or which to discuss other options, please contact the Scholarly Communications Manager at scholarlycommunications@greenwich.ac.uk.