New Releases by Kim Holder

This volume discusses diverse methodologies in economics education, focusing on experiential economic education away from campus through study abroad, study away, and other off-campus programs. These twenty-three chapters provide a ''how-to'' guide for economic educators looking to expand their pedagogical repertoire, whether they want to take students to Ireland to study Adam Smith or South Africa to study poverty. Readers are provided with information about the economic content of the course as well as the nuts-and-bolts of on-the-ground experiences. Delivering a modern take on economic education, this volume is intended for economics educators wishing to engage students in new and creative ways.

Most lessons about sports in relationship to personal finance and economics showcase how professional athletes mismanage their millions. However, most students tend to view these same athletes as heroes and are inspired to follow in their footsteps, despite the cautionary tales. In this paper, we identify positive role models for students by showcasing athletes who are our MVPs, our “Most Valuable Players” whose stories can provide our students with constructive lessons in economics and personal finance. Our lessons and teaching tips are connected to the national standards on personal finance and economics and leverage the popularity of sports for student engagement.

Students in economics classrooms are increasingly digital natives, raised in a culture of engagement, expression and learning through online interactions using technological devices. We have turned the concept of a ''selfie'' into an instructional tool for students to demonstrate their understanding of economic concepts, as well as to engage personally with those concepts. A student self-assessment survey supports the expectations of the literature that the EconSelfies assignment leverages the power of visuals and narratives to help students link themselves with introductory economics material for improved learning outcomes.

The Rockonomix assignment and Web site were developed (1) as tools to reward students who possess skills and talents that are traditionally undervalued in the economics classroom (e.g., creativity, artistic talents, technological skills, and communication skills) and (2) as a means of disseminating information regarding those rewards to a mass audience in order to encourage a greater and more diverse interest in economics. Students are tasked to create a music video and replace the lyrics to a popular song with new lyrics that are based on an economics theme.

Economists study how incentives motivate human behavior. However, besides grades, professors do not frequently employ incentives to motivate students in the classroom. Possibly because expenses associated with classroom incentives often remain unreimbursed or because other implementation costs are high. In this paper, we demonstrate methods educators can use to motivate student behavior while minimizing costs. We identify a range of options that include: incentives appropriate for large sections, an effective monetary incentive system suitable for smaller classes, tips for using an assortment of non-monetary incentives, and methods for leveraging social capital to motivate student learning and engagement.

Economists have explored the relationship between economics and music since Tinari and Khandke (2000) made use of popular songs, dating back to the 1930s, to help teach economics. This paper takes the work of Tinari and Khandke and combines it with the more recent efforts of Mateer and Rice (2007) and Hall, Lawson and Mateer (2008) to create a database of the best economic songs for each year from 1964 through 2015. The database provides a historical timeline that helps instructors connect economic events from the past with the music of that time period. For each song selected, we provide the core economic concept(s) that it conveys and a sample of the relevant lyrics.

This series of in-class activities utilizes a familiar favorite, Hasbro''s Monopoly board game, in order to demonstrate economic development concepts that are common to most principles level macroeconomics courses. The basic Monopoly game rules are rigged in a variety of iterations to provide opportunities for a robust classroom discussion as well as authentic student engagement. The abbreviated method of play and simplified rules allow this author''s version of using Monopoly as a game-based learning experience to be offered in almost any type of course structure: face-to-face, hybrid and online. In each experimental simulation, students practice learning-by-doing and connect with theories about income distribution, initial endowments, wealth and income inequalities, intergenerational transfers, imperfect information, and risk aversion. Ultimately students will uncover how an economy''s rules of the game, institutions, and resource allocation methods factor into producing outcomes which may not be found to be fair or envy-free.