According to Keynes, Economics is a method rather than a doctrine. It is an apparatus of the mind and a technique of thinking. Hence, effective economics teaching demands not merely factual transmission of economic knowledge/vocabulary to students but also the inculcation in students the unique economic reasoning of the discipline as well as the ability to apply economic theories to analyse economic problems in their socio-economic surroundings. As shown in Chapter 2, the present CDC Advanced Level Syllabus also shares similar aspirations.
Yet, the above alleged aims of economics teaching are not easy to achieve. Firstly, Economics as an academic discipline is theoretical and abstract. Grasping economic reasoning requires students to think in abstraction. Hence, it is not surprising that most students regard sixth form Economics as difficult and unrelated to their daily life experience.
Another problem arises from the contention of different schools of thought in the discipline.
In addition, politicians and economists may also have different views on policy issues.
Thus, a sixth form student may find it confusing to juggle with conflicting arguments posed by different parties.
Furthermore, the traditional teaching approach to economics may not be able to fully achieve the above aims of economics education. The traditional approach is usually a didactic one under which students are being told (by a lecture, a film or through reading) the specific economic knowledge. The teacher prepares all the teaching materials, presents the teaching points and structures the lessons in such a way that students can easily compile a complete set of notes for memorization. The communication flow is a unidirectional one from the teacher to the students. Actually, students are expected to be only passive learners.
Such didactic approach which is very time efficient and systematic would certainly facilitates rote memorization. However, it is not too effective in encouraging critical and analytical thinking. Neither does it help to develop students’ ability to apply economic concepts to daily life problems.
Hence, it is no surprise that overseas research findings indicate that educational experiences seem to bring about only very limited changes in the way of thinking about the economic environment. That means, teaching does not have a lasting effect on students’
perception. Students who are quite successful in the examination hall may still retain layman’s perception of their economic environment. Suchman’s learning/thinking model(1) also points out that teachers can control the classroom but it is the students who ultimately control their own learning.
The aims of economics teaching can be achieved by adopting appropriate teaching approaches and strategies. Apart from the traditional didactic approach, two other approaches, namely the diagnostic approach and the inquiry approach, are found relevant for economics teaching at sixth form level in Hong Kong.
know about certain concepts and skills. On the basis of this information, teachers can work towards exp anding their understanding or skills or correcting misunderstandings. Teaching can then be designed in such a way to meet the needs of the students and to restructure students’ knowledge.
For instance, diagnostic teaching can be used at the beginning of a teaching unit to elicit pupil response. Provocative questions such as “What is meant by inflation?”, “What causes inflation in Hong Kong?”, “What is cost?” or “Is there a labour shortage in Hong Kong?” can stimulate thoughts. Attitude or knowledge surveys, brainstorming or questioning may be adopted to find out how much students already know about certain concepts or topics. As layman’s understanding of concepts such as inflation, cost, shortage, etc. may be very much different from economic understanding, the teacher can then take appropriate strategies to remedy misconceptions before proceeding with further materials.
Diagnostic teaching can also be used as an assessment device such as pre-test of a programmed learning unit to discover what the students already know.
In small group projects, problem solving sessions, or group discussions, the teacher can organize a debriefing session so that students can report the results of their work to the rest of the class, to clarify their ideas and to comment and question each other’s work. Diagnosis and remediation can be achieved through teacher-guided discussion or students sharing of ideas.
The role of the teacher in diagnostic teaching is important. The teacher is both a diagnostician and learning director. By means of questioning, the teacher pushes students to expose the knowledge they already possess and examine how they themselves acquire knowledge. The teacher may then challenge students’ concepts and knowledge by asking thought-provoking questions or providing counter-examples. The aim is to modify the way students perceive meaning from the world and also restructure the knowledge possessed by them.
Inquiry learning approach emphasizes active pupil participation in the thinking/learning process so as to learn through personal discovery or problem solving. Inquiry learning can be based on teacher-guided activities or it can be based on pupil initiated projects. The ultimate purpose of this approach is to develop an autonomous inquir er who has the motivation and ability to learn on his/her own.
Inquiry can be deductive or inductive.
Deduction is the process of drawing logical conclusions from a concept, generalization or theory. For example, the teacher may ask students to infer implications from theories and definitions or make predictions through logical reasoning based on concepts.
Inductive inquiry is the process of generalizing from given facts. The stages of (1) observation, (2) classification of observations, (3) forming hypotheses, (4) verification of hypotheses and (5) forming generalizations, are necessary.
(1) Helping students to form concepts out of given information.
(2) Interpreting data (finding out the similarities and differences, drawing conclusions or hypotheses).
(3) Applying principles in real/hypothetical situation.
To sum up, the didactic, diagnostic and inquiry approaches vary in the degree of teacher control and pupil participation, with the greatest teacher control in teaching/learning under the didactic approach and the highest degree of pupil participation under the inquiry approach. Obviously, the didactic approach is least conducive to developing analytical thinking required by the discipline. Yet, it is not without a merit. Such an approach is still commonly found in classrooms because it is time efficient. The teacher can cover a lot of teaching points in quite a short period of time. On the other hand, the inquiry approach, though found to be more desirable in developing the skills of economic reasoning, is time-consuming.
In fact, more than one approach can be used in teaching Advanced Level Economics.
Topics of varying comple xities may be treated differently at different times. A group of economic educators in USA also consider variety as a very important factor in determining the success of economics teaching. (2) They suggest that it necessary to intersperse theories with practice so that students can make meaning out of their own economic concepts and theories. Theories can be introduced by any of the three approaches and students are given the opportunities to practise using the theories on economic problems, for example, through survey, data response exercise, case study etc. Feedback and evaluation of students’
progress is important as students can know their own achievement. Above all, the sense of achievement is a very strong motivator of learning especially if we want to develop students to be autonomous inquirers.
To complement the adoption of different approaches, a variety of activities or teaching strategies can be used in the classroom. These activities provide chances for students to work on their own, to apply their economic concepts, to develop a critical attitude and, above all, to increase the interest of the lessons. The following suggests some useful strategies/activities which can be adopted in classroom. Most of them have been incorporated in the curriculum guide. It has to be stressed that the strategies/activities listed below are not exhaustive. Teachers are free to adopt other strategies which are found useful to them.
Discussion
Discussion, similar to guided inquiry, is commonly used in sixth form teaching. It is especially useful in helping students to apply the theories to interpret the real world economic phenomena. The classroom discussion technique is based on the belief that knowledge resides within the students participating in discussion. Students can learn from the effect of relating new data to their current economic knowledge. The role of a teacher is not to impart knowledge but to stimulate the knowledge students already possess and create a situation that encourages students to find the relations among ideas. The teacher may help
responses.
To make discussion effective, the teacher has to be very clear about the purpose of the discussion. Throughout the lesson, the teacher has to keep the discussion on target. Any irrelevant questions raised by students side-tracking the discussion should be ignored for the time being. The teacher has to encourage all students to participate actively in discussion.
There must be even chance for students to express their ideas. Responses of students have to be audible and understandable. Furthermore, the teacher can ask probing questions following students’ responses in order to stimulate the students to re-examine their ideas or to clarify any ambiguity of the responses. This will encourage students to think through their responses more thoroughly. Finally, a good discussion session must be concluded by either consolidating the parts of discussion into coherent whole or providing thought-provoking questions as a follow-up stimulant.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a technique which encourages students to react to a controversial question or problem by giving any idea that comes to mind in a very short period of time, say five to ten minutes. Criticism or evaluation of these reactions are not allowed in the stage of brainstorming. Brainstorming can be conducted for a large group, small groups or on individual basis.
Such technique can be used in two different situations. First, as an “opener” of a topic by eliciting responses from students. Teacher can then determine what students already know and what their attitudes are toward a topic. Second, brainstorming can be used for problem solving. For example, students can have a brainstorming to identify the causes of a particular problem (such as inflation) or the consequences of attempting a particular solution.
After the brainstorming session, the teacher or the students themselves can process the brainstormed ideas to make generalizations or identify concepts.
Projects
Students at sixth form level may also be required to conduct and report an inquiry on a topic or an economic issue.
There are two main ways to carry out project inquiry by students. One way is to divide the class into several groups and each group is designated to collect information about one particular aspect of a chosen topic. After a certain period of time and information has been collected, each group works to sort out and collate what has been discovered with the help of the teacher. Then the teacher may help to bring together all the information collected by organizing a reporting session for students to explain their findings to the class or arranging board display, class display, etc. Hence, different groups can look at each other’s work. This method is more suitable for projects of a large scale.
All in all, the ideas of doing projects is educational as students learn skills such as collection of data, asking appropriate inquiring questions, developing analytical mind and presentation skills. However, the prerequisite of success requires the topic chosen to be manageable and the survey/inquiry to be guided by the teacher. If possible, students can first formulate economic hypothesis to be tested by the project before proceeding to collection of data so that they have a clear focus of what is to be found from the inquiry.
Problem Solving Exercises
The aim of problem solving exercises is to give students an insight into the nature of decision- making under different circumstances. In addition, they provide students with the chance to apply their economic knowledge in hypothetical situations.
Teachers can provide students with hypothetical problems which they have to solve by manipulating certain data. These exercises involve anticipating and evaluating the likely outcomes of various courses of action.
The problems to be tackled can be built on real situations within the experience of the students, for example, a problem solving built upon a visit to a factory. Besides, teachers can create hypothetical situations with the help of statistical data, pictures, graphs, recordings, case studies, etc.
Successful problem solving depends on the choice of topics and proper structuring of suitable resource materials for use by the teacher so that relevant economic principles can be learned inductively through the study of the resource materials.
Unlike students at tertiary level who are expected to work on their own, more guidance and participation by the teacher is required at sixth form.
Tutorial
If the class size is small or the time allocation is adequate, small group tutorial work is a highly desirable alternative to classroom teaching.
Tutorial has an important characteristic. Work is prepared by the students for discussion with the teacher. Tutorial can be subject-centred or learner-centred. It provides a good opportunity for active learner participation. Teacher can discuss with students any problems arising from what has been taught or they have come across in reading. Teacher can also ask students to prepare small scale survey of a topic of interest or clarify key concepts in the form of worksheet/case study, etc. Brainstorming, problems solving exercises and other strategies may also be used in tutorial.
The effective utilization of tutorial sessions requires careful teacher planning to choose a suitable theme for discussion or pupil presentation. Active participation has to be encouraged and students should be given sufficient time for preparation.
students to develop a surer and deeper understanding of the economic concepts with active participation in the learning process.
Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, there is no simple panacea of effective economics teaching at sixth form level.
Experience of economics educators reveals that greater effectiveness of teaching is closely related with careful teacher planning before the lessons. Active teacher diagnosis of the subject requirement and students’ ability and interest seem to be the prerequisites to improving the quality of teaching. With such understanding, the teacher can then select a variety of teaching approaches and strategies at different times subject to constraints like the requirements of the topics, teaching time and resources available.
Furthermore, the teacher has to review the successfulness of his/her teaching from time to time by evaluating students’ progress and achievement. Such review provides feedback on the suitability of the teaching approaches and strategies adopted. Whenever necessary, the teacher can modify his/her way of teaching. In short, the teacher is the director of learning but he/she is also the learner within the classroom.
Note :
(1) According to Suchman’s learning/thinking model, students are not passive recipient of knowledge. Instead, when the learner gets in contact with some new experiences, the learner’s state of mind will determine how and which of the new experiences will be perceived and retained. The learner’s own theories of thinking, framework of the world as well as motivation form one’s state of mind.
(2) Suzanne W. Helburn and James E. Davis, Preparing to Teach Economics : Approaches and Resources, Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., 1982.
This Chapter consists of a few suggestions on how selected topics in the syllabus can be taught. These suggestions illustrate how a variety of teaching activities/resources such as brainstorming, discussion, problem solving exercises, case study, survey, cartoon illustrations and concept map can be used in an integrated manner to achieve specific objectives. These suggestions only serve as examples of implementing the “Teaching Approaches and Teaching Strategies” rather than ‘model lesson plans’ for teachers to follow.