Critical thinking within a multi-paradigmatic approach: introduction to the symposium on innovations in heterodox economics education

The primary theme that emerges from this symposium is that teaching heterodox economics effectively becomes an exercise in creating a structure that facilitates sophisticated critical thinking via discovery-based learning. This can be done with carefully designed exercises or assignments that contrast mainstream and heterodox models, service learning experiences that ground students in real-world experiences, or the construction of course, curriculum and textbook designs that juxtapose mainstream and heterodox theories and ideas in sophisticated ways. We outline the major contributions of this symposium to the literature on teaching heterodox economics. Those summaries are followed by descriptions of some approaches we use in our own courses that promote sophisticated critical thinking in a multi-paradigmatic, discovery-based setting. The final section of the paper concludes and suggests future directions for research into heterodox teaching and pedagogy.