Model essay on microeconomics 1: Reflections on classroom teaching reform of microeconomics
[Abstract] Microeconomics, as a professional basic course in local finance and economics colleges, should be reformed with the goal of cultivating applied talents and enhancing students' employment and entrepreneurial ability in combination with the transformation ideas of local colleges and the characteristics of local economic development. At present, there are some problems in the teaching process, such as focusing on theory but neglecting practice, and single teaching method. In the process of teaching reform, we should pay attention to the combination of theory and practice, clarify the level of curriculum objectives and strengthen practical teaching.
[Keywords:] Microeconomics; Teaching effect; Experimental teaching
I. Introduction
China's economy is in a new stage characterized by the new normal, and its economic structure is facing a major transformation. In this context, economics education is also at a critical turning point. Economics is the optimal allocation of research resources, and it is the ultimate goal of economics education to cultivate talents who face and serve the market. With the continuous development of China's market economy, the demand for economic professionals is expanding and more diversified. In the process of transforming into an application-oriented university, local financial colleges should serve the local economic and social development and cultivate innovative talents with characteristics that meet the market demand. Microeconomics, as a basic theory course of economics, can cultivate students' abstract thinking ability, which is conducive to improving students' adaptability to the economy and society and their secondary employment ability in the long run. However, it can not directly affect the initial employment rate of economics majors in the short term, which brings great pressure to the school's curriculum, teaching methods and personnel training. Traditional teaching methods mainly focus on imparting knowledge, and students receive a lot of professional knowledge, but they often lack the ability to think and innovate. Microeconomics, as a basic course, has experienced hundreds of years of development and has gradually become a subject with extensive content and strong frontier. With the continuous development of social and economic practice, the classroom teaching of microeconomics should also be innovated to meet the needs of social diversification. In order to realize the organic combination of theory and practice in the teaching of basic theory of economics abroad, the reform and exploration of teaching mode mainly focus on the following aspects: First, from the perspective of case study, the concepts of constructive validity, internal validity, external validity and reliability are put forward. The second is to explore by using the method of restoring the scene, which plays a great role in students' understanding of the theory and classroom interaction and can make up for some defects of the case study. The third is to conduct economics classroom experiments. With the rise of experimental economics, it has become a novel teaching method to explain and test microeconomic theory with students as experimental objects in class, which has been strongly advocated by the American Economic Education Association. Many economists have also designed ingenious classroom experiments for such issues as the neo-classical theory test of perfect competition, the price formation of oligopoly market, lemon market and hitchhiking of public products. Foreign research provides new methods and new ideas for classroom teaching reform of microeconomics. With the rapid development of information technology, the construction of various experimental software and platforms has also provided convenient conditions for teaching reform. Reforming teaching methods in classroom teaching, strengthening practical teaching, and mentioning teaching cases and experiments of microeconomics at home and abroad are conducive to increasing students' perceptual knowledge and promoting the improvement of classroom teaching effect of microeconomics.
Second, the problems in classroom teaching of microeconomics
(A) classroom teaching emphasizes theory over practice.
Judging from the teaching situation of microeconomics, there is a general problem that the teaching content is theorized and not closely combined with practice. Microeconomics comes from microeconomic activities and requires students to understand the market mechanism, demand and supply, which is very practical. Students lack social experience and social observation, and generally feel that economics is abstract and difficult to understand, which leads to many contents that are difficult to understand. The contents of domestic textbooks are theoretical, with many concepts and formulas, while cases and exercises are theoretical. Due to the limitation of teaching time and practical conditions, students still can't turn theory into analytical tools and abilities after lectures. In the face of economic phenomena in daily work and life, we can't apply the theories we have learned. How to make students gain something while teaching theory, inspire and guide students to think, and improve their ability to analyze economic problems and economic literacy has become an important goal of reforming classroom teaching methods.
(2) The teaching form is relatively simple.
At present, the main form of microeconomics teaching is classroom teaching theory, and students' participation and initiative are weak, so it is difficult to mobilize their learning enthusiasm and enthusiasm. According to the learning pyramid theory, the highest retention rate of knowledge is active learning, simulating actual cases, and the efficiency of active work and participation is as high as 90%; The knowledge retention rate of discussion and speech reaches 50%; If it is just beautiful, the knowledge retention rate is only 20%. Teachers design inquiry, task-driven teaching methods and autonomous learning mode to replace traditional listening classes, complete learning tasks, improve students' participation and enliven classroom atmosphere. We can effectively use the concept of sharing and participation in web3.0, combine students' learning foundation and professional background, pay attention to personalized learning and autonomous learning, and stimulate students' learning interest and participation. For example, students are encouraged to share their learning achievements and experiences in the form of project reports and speeches, so as to provide students with sufficient opportunities for communication and discussion. At present, more and more attention is paid to the experimental teaching of economics in colleges and universities, and teaching practice can be carried out with the help of laboratory resources. Teachers should make full use of these experimental resources and auxiliary teaching methods in classroom teaching, and cultivate students' ability according to the spread of knowledge and human cognitive characteristics.
(3) The teaching objectives of the course are vague.
The teaching and training objectives of microeconomics abroad are clear, and the differentiation characteristics of disciplines in different learning stages are obvious. For example, Harvard University, Cambridge University and Yale University have distinct courses, which are divided into basic courses, advanced courses and seminar courses. In contrast, the teaching level of microeconomics in local financial colleges in China is not obvious enough, and most of them are unified as professional basic courses. Facing the students with different levels, different foundations and different goals, microeconomics, as a professional basic course, also lacks the characteristics of teaching objectives and increasing teaching difficulty in the teaching process. Secondly, foreign microeconomics teaching pays more attention to the frontier of discipline and theoretical development, and pays attention to cultivating students' practical analysis ability. In teaching, students are encouraged to use the theories and methods of economics and other disciplines to analyze practical problems in related fields, with problem analysis as the guide, ability training and encouraging thinking as the goal, and pay attention to interdisciplinary and systematic knowledge structure, so that students' knowledge structure is more complete and their thinking methods are more diverse and active. There are many undergraduate courses in economics abroad, most of which are general education in the first year. Principles of Economics, as a public course, will be systematically studied in intermediate microeconomics after entering a specialized course in the second year. For example, Stanford University emphasizes three goals: being familiar with various economic phenomena in modern society, mastering the skills of analyzing economic problems, and having the practical ability to evaluate public policies. In contrast, the division of disciplines in China is still relatively strict. Microeconomics, as a basic discipline, has little overlap with other disciplines, and its attention to the frontier of discipline development is not high enough.
Third, the optimization of microeconomics classroom teaching content and the improvement of teaching methods
(1) The orientation of curriculum objectives is based on intuition, tools and practice. Microeconomics is a theory to study how to realize the effective allocation of resources, that is, how to achieve the optimal choice under the constraint conditions based on the hypothesis of economic man. In the teaching and learning of microeconomics, the analysis of economic behavior of economic man and related social problems should always run through. The teaching goal of microeconomics should be to cultivate students' economic thinking and the ability to analyze economic problems with theory around various realities. We should pay attention to intuition, tools and practice in setting the course objectives of microeconomics. "Intuition-oriented" is to cultivate students' "economic intuition" in the corresponding courses and teaching. "Economic intuition" is a kind of ability to think with economic thinking. Keynes once said that economics is not a dogma, but a method, a container of the mind, and a skill of thinking, which helps those who have it to draw correct conclusions. Studying microeconomics is not only to understand the basic principles, but also to train the way of thinking. For beginners of economics, we should pay attention to cultivating economic intuition, which is of great benefit to the construction of their economic quality. "Tools as a supplement" means that while strengthening the cultivation of economic thinking, students can master and apply the necessary mathematical analysis, cultivate their logical thinking ability and master the necessary analytical tools. However, relative to economic thinking, mathematical tools are in an "auxiliary" position. "Emphasis on practice" means that the course construction of microeconomics must be based on the spirit of integrating theory with practice and apply the learned theory to solve practical problems. On the basis of mastering the basic principles and concepts of microeconomics, it helps students to cultivate the ability to analyze real economic problems with theory and realize the leap from "blackboard economics" to "life economics".
(B) the comprehensive use of a variety of practical teaching methods to change the teaching method of a single theory. Microeconomics, as a practical subject, needs to restore the theory to the real economic life, so that students can understand and accept the theoretical knowledge in vivid situations, cases and experiments. Classroom practice teaching methods mainly include case teaching and experimental teaching.
1. Use situational teaching method for case teaching.
Using the scenario method of "recovery and regeneration", we select classic and achievement cases, design "simulation performance" and "simulation design" in combination with environment, scenario and evolution, reproduce the trading process, try to generate and test cases, make the conclusions of case studies as close as possible to reality, and strengthen students' understanding and analysis of reality. The selection of cases should be combined with the actual situation of China's current economic and social development to design cases. There are many classic cases in microeconomics teaching, but most of them come from western countries, and some of them are old, which will make students feel divorced from reality and unconvincing. At present, news hotspots are selected from newspapers and networks as cases, which can reflect hot issues with daily life as the background. The design of local cases makes students feel immersive and stimulates their enthusiasm for learning. The case is interesting and practical while reflecting the knowledge and times. For example, take the train tickets bought home during the Spring Festival as an example to enhance students' understanding of the law of demand and the elasticity of supply and demand; The case of star concert ticket price changes reflects the theoretical analysis of price discrimination and consumer surplus. Case analysis is carried out by scenario reduction method to restore the real economic situation, and the theory echoes the set economic situation, stimulating students' economic intuition, enhancing their thinking and experience of the economic situation and deepening their understanding of the theory. Make microeconomics teaching return to the real world, enhance students' sensitivity to real problems, and train students' ability to explain reality with theory.
2. Carry out experimental teaching of economics.
Experimental teaching is carried out through games and role-playing. Students can deeply understand economic theory in the game, stimulate students' initiative and enthusiasm in learning, change passive learning into active learning, and make students become the main body of the learning process. Many famous research universities in China also introduce economics experiments into the classroom. Through the experimental class, students actively participate in and think about feedback, which changes the one-way information flow of passive listening, stimulates students' learning and research potential, and improves students' independent thinking and innovation ability. For example, in the comprehensive experimental course of economics in our school, students participate in the production and trading process of a product by simulating the production and operation of enterprises through software, and simulate the production and trading process of a product through raw material procurement, product research and development, market bidding and sales, and have a personal understanding of how the price mechanism spontaneously forms through the role of supply and demand in market competition and the profound reasons behind it. Through simulation experiments, students are stimulated to think deeply about the theoretical knowledge they have learned, and the close combination of theory and practice is realized through the cycle of practice-theory-re-practice-re-theory.
Four. conclusion
Cultivating students' economic thinking and application innovation ability is an important direction of economic education reform in the future. Changing traditional teaching methods, clarifying the level of curriculum objectives, strengthening practical teaching content and improving experimental methods and conditions are the main trends of classroom teaching reform at present. The discipline characteristics of microeconomics determine the uniqueness of classroom teaching reform, and the idea of taking ability training as the main line and practical teaching as the main method should run through the whole teaching process. Starting from the goal of talent training, we should clarify the multi-level teaching goal and establish a teaching system with ability training as the main line and connecting theoretical teaching with experimental teaching. In the teaching process, efforts should be made to combine the cultivation of "knowledge, ability and quality" with international advanced teaching models and methods, to cultivate students' learning enthusiasm and initiative, to make students become the main body of the classroom, to change the style of study in universities by active learning, to make the cultivation of students' quality and ability meet the needs of society, and to cultivate innovative and practical talents who really apply what they have learned.
References:
[1] Wang Qing. Speculation in argumentation &; On experimental teaching of economics [J]. Journal of Yangzhou University (Higher Education Research Edition), 20 13(4).
[2] Lv Xiaoying, Park Yinggong. Research on the Application of Experimental Teaching in the Course of Western Economics [J]. China Electric Power Education, 20 13( 16).
[3] Wang Weidong. Reflections on Microeconomics Teaching [J]. Journal of Shaoxing University of Arts and Sciences, 20 10(5).
[4] Ma Xianbiao. On internationalization and localization of economics education. China university teaching [J], 20 12(2).
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Microeconomics Model 2: Microeconomics Papers on Curriculum Reform
First, the characteristics of microeconomics course
First of all, the research of microeconomic theory is mainly quantitative analysis, combined with qualitative analysis. The conclusion of microeconomic theory is often restricted and influenced by many factors, which is difficult for students to understand. Secondly, in the verification of many economic theories, mathematical knowledge is often used to deduce the reaction degree of dependent variables to the changes of independent variables, which is also difficult for students with weak mathematical foundation to master. Thirdly, a large number of charts are used in the course of microeconomics to illustrate the relationship between variables and the changing process. Many graphics are similar, and it is not easy for students to grasp them firmly.
Second, the main problems in the teaching process
Through long-term teaching practice, the author believes that there are the following problems in the teaching process of microeconomics at the undergraduate level.
(a) There are few actual cases.
Microeconomics is gradually established on the basis of Marshall's equilibrium price theory, absorbing the monopoly competition theory of American economist Chamberlain and British economist Robinson. The textbooks mainly use economic cases from western countries, but lack cases of current hot spots and focal issues in Asia, especially in China (such as land price and real estate industry). This makes students have a sense of distance in the teaching process, only staying on the surface, not deep enough, and it is difficult to explain the real economic problems with the theories they have learned.
(2) Compared with the content, the class hours are less.
Judging from the arrangement of teaching time, compared with the characteristics of this course, students' situation and teaching content, 48 hours is relatively tight. Students often have to master nearly one chapter in one class. Even if students preview before class, it is difficult for students to fully absorb the classroom content. This leads to the teacher entering the next chapter to catch up with the teaching progress before the content of the previous chapter is mastered. Because of the coherence of the course content, students often fall into a vicious circle of swallowing dates, and the effect of teaching and learning is greatly reduced.
(C) the lack of practical ability of students
Because the evaluation method of teaching is mainly based on the final exam, this determines that students take books as the center and teachers take exams as the center, thus ignoring the real significance of classroom teaching. As an economic theory to explain practical problems, its original intention is to serve social problems. Therefore, theoretical study is not only to understand the derivation of mathematical formulas, or to memorize concepts, but more importantly, to learn to use the mastered theories to analyze practical problems and try to give solutions and methods.
Thirdly, some suggestions on the curriculum reform of microeconomics.
Combined with the above problems in microeconomics teaching, the author puts forward the following suggestions to improve the teaching quality of microeconomics.
(A) carefully designed classroom content
Because of the complexity of microeconomics, teachers should choose the content of teaching materials and carefully design each lesson, including how to introduce topics, how to highlight key points, how to guide students to think and how to ask questions to students. Follow the principles of from shallow to deep, from abstract to concrete, from theory to practice, so that students can not only grasp the key knowledge points in textbooks, but also understand their true meaning from abstract theories. When giving lectures, the price determination mechanism is the main line, so that the content of each chapter runs through this system and students always have a clear main line in the center of the learning process.
(B) enrich teaching methods
With the help of the advantages of multimedia teaching methods, the teaching materials are sorted and summarized, and the content of curriculum reform is introduced in the form of animation, short film and pictures. By making courseware, students can clearly understand the theoretical context, key concepts and theorems of microeconomics, strengthen their perceptual knowledge and stimulate their enthusiasm for learning. Multimedia teaching can often save a lot of drawing time, and make students more clearly understand the changing process of variables and their mutual influence, and teach students how to look at pictures and watches. Secondly, strengthen classroom interaction. Microeconomics is a practical course. Starting with putting forward and analyzing the focus and hot issues in the real economy, the two-way information exchange process of teachers' guidance and students' participation can turn boring theoretical explanations into active theoretical discussions, cultivate students' ability to acquire knowledge, ask questions, analyze and solve problems independently, and improve students' participation in the classroom.
(C) pay attention to the combination of theory and practice
In teaching activities, vivid cases of curriculum reform can be selected according to the needs of teaching purposes, which can vividly show the theories learned. From the teaching practice, the introduction of the current hot issues in China can arouse students' enthusiasm, and the teaching effect is good, so that students can have a deeper understanding of microeconomic theory. Case teaching has been widely used in the field of education. In the future, we should not only strengthen the study of western economy and society, but also pay attention to the study of economic events in China, and analyze the new changes in consumer behavior, producer behavior, enterprise organization and management in China. For example, when the production theory talks about the substitution relationship between capital and labor and its influence on output, it can appropriately introduce the industrial upgrading and transformation in the coastal areas of China, from labor-intensive to capital-and technology-intensive, which explains this theory well.
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