IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ireced/v47y2024ics1477388024000185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A picture is worth a thousand words: The effectiveness of infographics in microeconomic principles courses

Author

Listed:
  • Calimeris, Lauren
  • Kosack, Edward

Abstract

We investigate the impact of infographics on student learning in principles of economics classes. Infographics display facts, data, and information about a specific topic in a clear and easy to understand manner, using graphics and pictures to help summarize, explain, and display information. Creating an infographic can be a fun, engaging, and powerful educational tool for learning new topics in both introductory and advanced courses. We use a randomized classroom experiment to evaluate the effect of creating infographics on student learning in principles of microeconomics courses as measured by exam performance. The randomization across topics enables a student-fixed effects estimation of the effect of infographics. We find students were 2.1–2.2 percentage points more likely to answer a multiple-choice question correctly relating to the topics for which they completed an infographic relative to those they did not. We provide suggestive evidence that infographics may help higher ability students most, increasing their scores on both multiple choice and short answer questions.

Suggested Citation

  • Calimeris, Lauren & Kosack, Edward, 2024. "A picture is worth a thousand words: The effectiveness of infographics in microeconomic principles courses," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:47:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iree.2024.100300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388024000185
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iree.2024.100300?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julia VanderMolen & Christy Spivey, 2017. "Creating infographics to enhance student engagement and communication in health economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 198-205, July.
    2. Michael Watts & William E. Becker, 2008. "A Little More than Chalk and Talk: Results from a Third National Survey of Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Economics Courses," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 273-286, July.
    3. Lauren Calimeris & Edward Kosack, 2020. "Immediate feedback assessment technique (IF-AT) quizzes and student performance in microeconomic principles courses," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 211-226, August.
    4. William E. Becker & Michael Watts, 2001. "Teaching Economics at the Start of the 21st Century: Still Chalk-and-Talk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 446-451, May.
    5. Georg Schaur & Michael Watts & William E. Becker, 2008. "Assessment Practices and Trends in Undergraduate Economics Courses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 552-556, May.
    6. Eva Dziadula, 2023. "Developing Students’ Analytical and Data Presentation Skills Using Infographic Assignments in Principles of Macroeconomics and Economics of Immigration," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 45-53, January.
    7. William L. Goffe & David Kauper, 2014. "A Survey of Principles Instructors: Why Lecture Prevails," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 360-375, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klein, Alina F. & Klein, Rudolf F., 2023. "Principles of Economics, the Survivor Edition," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 5(2), March.
    2. Ahlstrom, Laura J. & Harter, Cynthia & Asarta, Carlos J., 2023. "Teaching methods and materials in undergraduate economics courses: School, instructor, and department effects," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    3. A. Arrighetti & A. Lasagni, 2018. "Insegnare Economia Industriale ‘in a digital age’," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP06, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    4. Cynthia Harter & Rebecca G. Chambers & Carlos J. Asarta, 2022. "Assessing Learning in College Economics: A Sixth National Quinquennial Survey," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 251-266, April.
    5. Scott A. Wolla, 2018. "Yours, Mine, and the Truth: Using a Structured Minimum Wage Debate in the Economics Classroom," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 63(2), pages 245-259, October.
    6. Gregory M. Randolph, 2016. "Laissez-Colbert," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 61(2), pages 217-228, October.
    7. Martinez, Gabriel X., 2023. "Studying like a nerd: Spacing, self-testing, and explanatory questioning in principles of microeconomics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    8. Rita A. Balaban & Donna B. Gilleskie & Uyen Tran, 2016. "A quantitative evaluation of the flipped classroom in a large lecture principles of economics course," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 269-287, October.
    9. Anna Maximova & Steve Muchiri & Mihai Paraschiv, 2023. "A Stroll Down the Dollar Street: Teaching Per-Capita GDP Using Internationally Comparable Photographs," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 8(2), pages 87-113, May.
    10. Cynthia Harter & Georg Schaur & Michael Watts, 2015. "School, department, and instructor determinants of teaching methods in undergraduate economics courses," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(4), pages 1169-1188, April.
    11. Amanda Mandzik, 2023. "All I Want for Christmas is an A on My Econ Final: A Holiday-Themed Review Class," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 8(2), pages 72-86, May.
    12. Lester Hadsell & Raymond MacDermott, 2012. "Faculty Perceptions of Grades: Results from a National Survey of Economics Faculty," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 11(1), pages 16-35.
    13. Franklin G. Mixon & Richard J. Cebula (ed.), 2014. "New Developments in Economic Education," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15538, March.
    14. KimMarie McGoldrick, 2010. "Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Economics," Chapters, in: Michael K. Salemi & William B. Walstad (ed.), Teaching Innovations in Economics, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Cynthia Harter & Carlos J. Asarta, 2022. "Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Intermediate Theory, Statistics and Econometrics, and Other Upper-Division Economics Courses: Results From a Sixth National Quinquennial Survey," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 67(1), pages 132-146, March.
    16. Robin L. Bartlett, 2011. "Integrating Race, Gender and Class," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Michael Jaeger & Jadrian Wooten, 2023. "The Most Magical Way to Teach: Disney Music In The Classroom," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 8(1), pages 12-23, January.
    18. Carlos J. Asarta & Stephen Buckles & Cynthia Harter & Diego Mendez-Carbajo, 2024. "A National Survey on Teaching Methods in Advanced Placement (AP) Economics Courses," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 69(2), pages 206-213, October.
    19. Amanda Mandzik, 2022. "Once Upon an Economics Course: Using Fairy Tales to Teach Economics," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 7(3), pages 147-161, October.
    20. KimMarie McGoldrick & Janice Peterson, 2009. "Public Scholarship and Economics: Engaging Students in the Democratic Process," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2-3), pages 229-245, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Infographics; Microeconomic principles courses; Student performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:47:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-review-of-economics-education .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.