Building Aeroplanes in the Class

By Pablo Branas-Garza, Praveen Kujal, Marie Wong, Lara Ezquerra-Guerra, Alex Bueno

A classroom experiment based on Bergstrom and Miller’s paper (1999)

Definition

Illustration◦ Graphs◦ Figures◦ Real life examples

Regurgitation

Application

Traditional way of teaching and learning Economics

12/04/2023

Slide 4

Traditional way of teaching and learning Economics

Boring

Theoretical

Low or no participation from students

Short-lived memory

Limited scope of learning

Drawbacks

Fun way of learning economics

Learning both economic concepts and one’s attributes through experimental activities

Provide data for research work linked to the activities

GSTK – ‘Get Students to Know’ Experimental Economics project – funded by Middlesex University’s Learning and Teaching Grant

Experimental Economics

Slide 7

Learning Economics through games

3 concepts to be taught:

◦Diminishing Marginal Returns

◦Long term production function

◦Error learning process in the long run

Building Aeroplanes in class

Signing of consent form

Random grouping of students

Instruction & trial

5 rounds of play & results recorded

Data analysed and graphs plotted

On-line follow-up activities

Further research work

Implementation

A formal practice in Experimental Economics to seek consent for using data from the experimental activities for further research purpose.

All personal data treated in strict confidentiality and will be disclosed to the individual concerned only

1. Consent Form

Each group had different amounts of labour (group members) and capital (drawing pens) – both varying from 1 to 5.

The size of the groups and amount of capital will be determined by the same person in all the experimental sessions so that at the end we can have observations for all the possible combinations of labour and capital.

Students were randomly allocated into different groups by one of the monitors following “the sorting protocol”

2. Random grouping

Sorting protocol: We assign the first person on the first column and row to group 1, the next person (row1 column 2) to the second group and so on. We continue with this process until all the students have been sorted.

Random grouping (cont.)

K,L=1,1K,L=1,2K,L=1,3K,L=1,4K,L=1,5K,L=2,2K,L=2,3 K,L=2,4K,L=2,5K,L=3,3K,L=3,4K,L=3,5K,L=4,4K,L=4,5K,L=5,50

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Observations

Random grouping (cont.)

Self-explanatory instructions handed out

Students given 4 minutes to read and try it out

What can be learnt at this stage about the students?

Attentiveness to details Ability to adapt to changes Problem solving skills Team working and communication skills Time management skills Ability to work under pressure

3. Instruction and Trial

3. Instruction and Trial (Cont.)

Each round 3 minutes time were given to produce perfectly completed and flying aeroplanes.

Both complete and incomplete aeroplanes were counted and recorded.

What can be learnt about the students? Error learning skills Problem solving skills Team working and organisation skills Attitudes towards repetitive work

4. Five rounds of play

Students ID Role: B (in %)

Role: P ( 1- B in %)

Gender K=

1

2

3

4

5

5. Results recorded

Rounds 1 2 3 4 5

Incomplete

Complete

C + Flying

6. Data analysed and graphs plotted

Long term production function

Error Learning curves in the long run

www.gstk.eu

◦ Explanation of the 3 Economic concepts

◦ Interactive graphs for illustration

◦ Diagnostic MC questions to check understanding

◦ Simple questionnaire to collect further information

7. On-line follow up activities

1. Active participation in the learning process

2. Relate abstract Economic concepts to everyday life experience

3. Easier to remember the concepts and their explanations.

4. Learning more about themselves

Advantages of Teaching and Learning with Experimental Economics to students

Procrastination

Attentiveness to details

Team working and communication skills

Problem solving and organisation skills

Attitude towards an assignment

Risk Attitude

What do students learn about themselves from experimental economics?

Inform students how their attributes have changed (if any) over the 3 years of study at Middlesex University, London.

Production of Certificates acknowledging in private the students’ own personal attributes to be used alongside their CV to inform potential employers if they wish

Feedback to students

(1) About students’ learning attributes:

Data generated for further research

Personal Attributes

gender

Ethnicity

Programme of study Age

Year of study

Entry qualification

Examples of personal attributes observed directly and indirectly Attentiveness Procrastination Academic attainment Attendance Engagement in assignments Social networking Risk attitude Rationality ......

For example:

Relationship between labour, capital, gender and production.

Gender and the role in production process

Gender and errors in production

Data for further research related to Economic’s subject matter

Bringing life and fun to teaching and learning Economics

Enriching students’ learning experience

Raising the level of students’ engagement

Embedding modern technology into teaching and learning

Involving students in research work from day 1 at MDX

Combining research with learning and teaching

Publishing an e-book using the output from each activity

Conclusion: What Experimental Economics can achieve?