Abstract for: Using Causal Diagrams to Teach Macroeconomics

Our literacy-focused approach to teaching economics leverages cognitive science insights, emphasizing how students build and adjust schemas to understand economic concepts. We created instructional activities using causal diagrams for supplementing traditional lectures. We integrate causal diagrams into the curriculum through structural debriefing activities. Given the novelty of this approach, we employ a design-based methodology to conduct formative research aimed at validating and refining the structural debriefing activities for literacy-targeted instruction in economics education. The design-based approach allows us to adapt general principles to specific situations and reflect on our findings. Our findings indicate that such structural debriefing of economic material effectively introduces students to key economic relationships and models, such as the national income model, government-purchases multiplier, and tax multiplier. The objective of this study was to answer the research question of how instructors can utilize causal diagrams and structural debriefing activities for literacy-targeted instruction in a macroeconomics classroom. Three activities were developed and implemented.