Estimating the Long-term Effects of Active Learning on Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes in Microeconomics Courses

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This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality undergraduate STEM education. Specifically, it intends to generate new knowledge about the impact of active learning on long term retention of knowledge. It also will examine the impacts of active learning on student learning in economics. Two educational conditions motivate this project. First, the field of economics lags behind other STEM disciplines in the implementation of active learning pedagogies in undergraduate courses and is in need of evidence about the impacts of active learning in undergraduate economics courses. Secondly, there is limited research on the impact of active learning on the retention of knowledge over the long term. Building on work supported by an active learning initiative at Cornell University, the project team will examine whether active learning pedagogies improve the learning and long-term retention of core concepts in economics. The investigation is designed to compare the retention of knowledge about key economics concepts under two conditions: a lecture only format and an active learning format. The quantitative study will examine how teaching methods (lecture only, active learning), student characteristics, and intervening course and work choices interact to affect post-course student learning outcomes. For this project, both introductory and intermediate microeconomics courses at Cornell University will be analyzed with regard to active learning implementation and outcomes. Four research questions guide the study: (1) How much do students retain in the years after course completion? (2) What role does active learning pedagogy play in students’ retention of learning? (3) What role do demographic characteristics, student work, and educational choice play in the retention of learning? And (4) How do active learning methods affect outcomes (e.g., attitudes, performance in subsequent courses, career choices) that are not directly related to the course in which the methods are used? To assess classroom activity, faculty and student activity in classrooms will be assessed using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM courses instrument. Students’ knowledge will be assessed after course completion and again one or two years later using the Principles of Economics Skills Assessment for Microeconomics and the Intermediate Economics Skills Assessment for Microeconomics. In addition, surveys will measure student attitudes towards economics and career plans. Using a pre-post longitudinal design that includes three repeated measures and regression analyses (one cohort is subject to lecture only and subsequent cohorts to active learning), the study will test the efficacy of active learning to improve the retention of core economic concepts when compared to learning outcomes from a lecture only condition. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.