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

该项目旨在为高质量的本科STEM教育服务于国家利益。具体地说，它打算产生关于积极学习对知识长期保持的影响的新知识。它还将研究主动学习对学生学习经济学的影响。有两个教育条件推动了这个项目。首先，经济学领域在本科课程中实施主动学习教学法方面落后于其他STEM学科，并且需要证据来证明主动学习在本科经济学课程中的影响。其次，关于主动学习对长期保持知识的影响的研究有限。在康奈尔大学一项积极学习计划支持的工作基础上，项目小组将研究积极学习教学法是否能改善经济学核心概念的学习和长期保持。这项调查旨在比较两种情况下对关键经济学概念的记忆情况：仅讲课形式和主动学习形式。这项定量研究将考察教学方法(只讲课，主动学习)、学生特征以及介入性课程和工作选择如何相互作用，影响课程后学生的学习结果。在这个项目中，将分析康奈尔大学的入门和中级微观经济学课程在积极学习实施和成果方面的情况。本研究以四个研究问题为指导：(1)学生在完成课程后的几年中保留了多少？(2)主动学习教学法在学生的学习保持中扮演了什么角色？(3)人口统计特征、学生工作和教育选择在学习保持中扮演了什么角色？以及(4)主动学习方法如何影响与使用该方法的课程没有直接关系的结果(例如，态度、后续课程的表现、职业选择)？为了评估课堂活动，教师和学生在课堂上的活动将使用本科生STEM课程课堂观察协议工具进行评估。学生的知识将在课程完成后进行评估，并在一到两年后使用微观经济学的经济学技能评估原理和微观经济学的中级经济学技能评估进行评估。此外，调查还将衡量学生对经济和职业计划的态度。这项研究采用前后纵向设计，包括三个重复测量和回归分析(一个队列只接受讲座，随后的队列接受积极学习)，与只接受讲座的学习结果相比，该研究将测试主动学习改善核心经济概念记忆的有效性。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.