Strategies for Effective Economics Education

Section One:

The presentation discusses strategies for using the Stage 6 Economics syllabus, including highlighting the importance of key sections like the "Rationale," "Aim," "Objectives," and "Content," and showing how they can be used. The presentation also covers how to identify overlapping content and concept areas in the syllabus and suggests strategies to streamline teaching with this information.

Section Two:

This course section covers strategies for improving students' multiple-choice, short-answer, and extended-response skills. Firstly, participants learn how to use an HSC Economics Examination booklet and keyword searches to create question documents that can be shared as answer keys on an LMS. Secondly, the NESA Glossary of directive verbs is creatively taught using "the chocolate game." Thirdly, teachers are guided on how to develop short-answer skills using past student responses and a grading rubric. Lastly, the course shows how to develop extended response skills using a self-evaluation checklist. These strategies enhance students' confidence and knowledge, self-evaluation skills, and ability to produce high-quality responses independently.

Section Three:

A slideshow presentation explains how simulations can be used to teach various economics concepts such as opportunity cost, market structures, comparative advantage and international trade, supply and demand, the cash rate, inflation, economies of scale, price controls, and the prisoner's dilemma. The presentation provides quick overviews of the steps required to set up and run these simulations, and the benefits of using simulations in teaching economics concepts are highlighted, including engagement, student self-regulation, higher-order thinking, and connectedness.

Section Four:

This presentation covers strategies for creating a positive classroom climate, including integrating memes into teaching, creating an economics newsletter, and using multimodal approaches like songs and board games. The presenter shares examples of positive outcomes from past cohorts and references academic literature supportive of these strategies. The presentation also highlights the transferability of these approaches to other subjects.