Economics is known for being a difficult subject, but perhaps what students dread most about the class is graphing. There is not a lot of multiple choice questions in my class- students are expected to graph routinely on bi-weekly quizzes. In order to support student development with their graphing abilities, last year I introduced mini-whiteboards as a way to get students practicing graphing as a class warm-up activity, focusing material from the previous class. (With a friend, I created the mini-whiteboards using showerboard using the funding of a learning grant, but one can also purchase them commercially). I was pleased to find that 20/20 (100%) of the students in my Microeconomics Principles (ECN212) demonstrated mastery of a quiz question (recieved at least 7 out of 8 points) in which they had to graph a perfectly competitive firm maximizing profit, including the shading in of profit or losses. This would be unheard of before the mini-whiteboards were used. This is evidence that engaging in active learning warm-ups (perhaps particularly in morning classes) supports student learning.
Comments
Good stuff, Erik! I am assuming you also use the mini-whiteboards to give you feedback on whether or not the students are getting it, and if they are not, you re-teach. It's like you have a "mini action research" cycle in your class!
Yes, though the quizzes themselves could be thought of as summative assessments (though I will review quiz questions that many students struggled with), the mini-whiteboards themselves are a formative assessment technique. As I walk around the class, I can see if students are mastering the graphs quickly and correctly (in which case I know I can move on), or address specific issues as I see them. Having the teacher personally give you feedback seems to make the learning more stickly for an individual student, and therefore it reduces errors on the quizzes and they get better grades. And of course I get to brag about my students' graphing abilities! :)
I love the idea of whiteboards for practice, Erik. We use them frequently in math class, and like you mentioned, if I see that students are struggling I know to re-teach the concept.
I'm curious as to what percentage of students mastered the graphing before you used the whiteboards. How much of a difference was there?
In reply to I love the idea of whiteboards for practice Erik We use by Marianne Smith
I wish I had kept better track of the hard numbers, but from memory I would say only about 1/2 showed mastery of the graphs on the quiz (i.e., no errors or only a minor error).
Marianne posed an interesting question, the difference would be interesting to know. Also, it seems we need to make your ECN course a pre-req for all science courses, especially BIO 181!
In reply to Marianne posed an interesting question the difference by Bronwen Steele
Don't even get me started on pre-reqs... if my dissertation study works out well, I should have some good data to advocate for the introduction of pre-reqs for ECN classes. I'm know students struggle in both ECN and BIO.
Erik,
Just curious, is this done in teams or individually?
In reply to Erik Just curious is this done in teams or by Gary Kilduff
Students sit together in groups and can talk and teach each other, but they each have their own mini-whiteboard to practice with.
I have used mini-whiteboards in group settings as well. However, this has me thinking how else I can introduce them into my classes. The students have been very receptive.