Bringing Adam Smith's Pin Factory to Life: Field Trips and Discussions as Forms of Experiential Learning

Autor/in	Galizzi, Monica
Titel	Bringing Adam Smith's Pin Factory to Life: Field Trips and Discussions as Forms of Experiential Learning
Quelle	In: Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14 (2014) 5, S.27-47 (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1527-9316
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Experiential Learning; Field Trips; Labor Economics; Cognitive Style; Economics Education; Discussion (Teaching Technique); Group Membership; Questionnaires; Massachusetts + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Experiental learning; Erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen; Exkursion; Arbeitsökonomie; Cognitive styles; Kognitiver Stil; Wirtschaftskunde; Gruppenzugehörigkeit; Fragebogen; Master-Studiengang
Abstract	Educators are often aware of the need to implement a variety of teaching techniques to reach out to students with different learning styles. I describe an attempt to target multimodal learners by bringing classical economic texts and concepts to life through discussions, field visits and role playing exercises. In my Labor Economics class I analyze the relationship existing between demand for labor, technological advances, and trade. As a foundation for such analysis, I assign the reading of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations chapters regarding the division of labor. To increase students' interest toward the topics, I precede the text discussion with a field visit to a museum of industrial revolution. Here students are asked to participate also as "factory workers" to an assembly line exercise that brings Smith's description of a pin factory to life. They are then asked to reflect on this experience and to use it as a foundation to inform the following class discussions about Smith's chapters. In this paper I describe the main learning and retention objectives of this exercise, its implementation, challenges, and students' learning outcomes and feedback about enjoyment and recollection. Field trip participants performed significantly better when tested on the relevant concepts. I also discuss the rewards and institutional challenges associated with making use of community resources to increase the understanding of the concrete applications of the economics concept we teach. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Indiana University. 755 West Michigan Street UL 1180D, Indianapolis, IN 46202. Tel: 317-274-5647; Fax: 317-278-2360; e-mail: josotl@iupui.edu; Web site: http://www.iupui.edu/~josotl
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10