Evaluating Implementation and Impacts of Problem Based Economics (2005)

Home » Research » Evaluating Implementation and Impacts of Problem Based Economics (2005)

Jason Ravitz & John Mergendoller

This paper presents a year long study involving Economics teachers in public U.S. high schools. These teachers implemented units from a Problem Based Economics curriculum after being trained and provided with detailed materials and guidelines for instruction. The study included 15 teachers, and 1162 students who provided data consisting of a) student and teacher background surveys; b) student and teacher checklists of practices used and their helpfulness; and c) pre-, post- and final (delayed post) content tests. The study relates the background characteristics of the teachers and students to learning outcomes.

The students who appeared to perform less well than expected based on prior achievement were students for whom English is a second-language and students with mid-to-average prior achievement. Overall, the largest gains in learning were seen among students who reported low prior achievement, while high prior-achieving students also outperformed expectations. This suggests an overall curvilinear relationship between prior achievement and learning in problem based instruction.

Specific problem based practices were associated with long-term learning gains, while other more traditional or non-problem-based practices were associated only with short-term learning. Implications for high school reform efforts and connections to observation and interview findings are discussed.

Discussions of this paper, and other papers presented in the AERA session, are available (temporarily) here.

Suggested citation: Ravitz, J. & Mergendoller, J. (2005). Evaluating Implementation and Impacts of Problem Based Economics in U.S. High. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Montreal, Canada. April 14, 2005.