Some subscribers to TeachEdPsych and TIPS and might be interested in "Effects of Problem Based Economics on High School Economics Instruction" [Hake (2010)].
The abstract reads: *********************************** ABSTRACT: In "Effects of Problem Based Economics on high school economics instruction" [Finklestein et al. (2010)] state: "This experiment was designed to test whether problem-based instruction in high school economics can result in gains in students' content knowledge. The analysis at the primary (student) level indicates that students in the spring 2008 semester whose teachers had received professional development and support in Problem Based Economics outscored their control group peers on the Test of Economic Literacy by 2.60 items (effect size = 0.32)." This rather modest effect size can be compared with an effect size of 2.43 for the *normalized gain* resulting from interactive engagement vs traditional methods in introductory mechanics courses (Hake, 2008). Judging from their report, Finklestein et al.: (1) are either oblivious or dismissive of pre/post testing in the sciences by means of "concept inventories"- see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_inventory> and <http://bit.ly/ceg1Bx>; and (b) believe that RCT's are the "gold standard" for determining causality despite "Seventeen Statements by Gold-Standard Skeptics #2 [Hake (2010)]. *********************************** To access the complete 9 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/9tYZiO>. Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII) <rrh...@earthlink.net> <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake> <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi> <http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com> <http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake> "There is no such thing as economics, only social science applied to economic problems." Kenneth Boulding REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/>] Finkelstein, N. , T. Hanson, C-W. Huang, & B. Hirschman. 2010. "Effects of Problem Based Economics on high school economics instruction," U.S. Dept. of Education, NCEE 2010-4002, U.S. Department of Education, online as a 4.5 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/aTIFCV>. I thank David Berliner for informing me of this report. Hake, R.R. 2010. "Effects of Problem Based Economics on High School Economics Instruction," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/9tYZiO>. Post of 20 Aug 2010 14:01:50-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are also being transmitted to various discussion lists. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4327 or send a blank email to leave-4327-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
