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Poetry and economics: Creativity, engagement and learning in the economics classroom
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Review of Economics Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iree
Poetry and economics: Creativity, engagement and learning in the economics classroom
T
Mary E. Davis Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University, 97 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, United States
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Economic education Pedagogy Poetry
This paper describes a poetry experiment conducted in an economics classroom, where students were randomized across two groups with rotating assignments to write poetry or short answer essay prose during a semester long course in microeconomics. The student experience overall was positive, reporting increased excitement for and engagement with the material. Students also believed that writing poetry improved both their short- and long-term understanding and retention of the concepts. The major criticism of the experiment was the additional time and effort needed to write creatively, although this could also be related to an insufficient time to task writing standard short answer essay responses. Overall, the results suggest that creative writing provides a potentially important tool to enhance learning opportunities and economic literacy among economics students.
1. Introduction Poetry has a long history as a mnemonic device to promote memory and retention. Many of us still recall lines of rhyming verse from as far back as our memories will reach, examples of poetry used by our primary school teachers to promote learning in the classroom. Recent advancements in cognitive science highlight the important role of emotional forms of language, including poetry, metaphors, and figurative language, in activating regions of the brain involved in complex reasoning. Brain imaging and fMRI experiments provide consistent evidence of differential brain activity in response to metaphors over literal language (Bottini et al., 1994; Rapp et al., 2004; Shibata et al., 2007; Ferstl et al., 2008; O’Sullivan et al., 2015) and poetry versus prose (Zeman et al., 2013). Imagery represents another important cognitive tool for organizing complex information that encourages deeper processing and mental effort (Leutner et al., 2009; Roediger, 2013), as well as rhyme and meter (Rubin, 1995; Gardner, 2011). Overall, the available science suggests that metaphors and poetry require additional cognitive resources and involve different neural mechanisms compared to more literal forms of writing and comprehension. The theoretical basis for enhanced learning and memory through poetry might be best understood within the context of cognitive load theory (CLT), which describes how working memory can be manipulated to either support or impede learning (Davis, 2015). Since working memory is understood to be finite, the student learning process can be thought of as a constrained optimization problem – as instructors, we attempt to maximize student learning subject to the constraints of working memory. In the case of CLT, working memory is broken down into three component parts: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive loads. Intrinsic represents the difficulty of the material to be learned, which is impacted by the level of preparation and background of the student. Extraneous cognitive load describes the instructional techniques that require the attention of working memory but do not ultimately facilitate learning, representing unnecessary barriers to learning. The final type of cognitive load is germane, which are instructional
E-mail address: [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iree.2019.100155 Received 12 November 2017; Received in revised form 25 October 2018; Accepted 10 January 2019 Available online 11 January 2019 1477-3880/ © 2019 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
techniques that enhance a learner’s understanding of the concepts by way of connecting the dots. How does this all relate to economics? Our discipline is generally perceived as high in intrinsic load, suggesting that attention to teaching methodologies and the demands placed on working memory may be particularly beneficial to our students. In other words, concepts and connections that are naturally high in intrinsic load require complex analytical skills and are most likely to benefit from small changes in course design and pedagogy that reduce the stress on a learner’s working memory. Forms of imaginative learning are thought to be particularly beneficial in cases where intrinsic load is high (Leahy and Sweller, 2008), suggesting a potentially important role for creative pedagogies in economics. Despite this, our discipline tends to support learning techniques that are high in extraneous (or unnecessary) cognitive load, such as the standard ‘chalk and talk’ variety often applied in the classroom at the expense of more active forms of instruction. The majority of examples of creative pedagogies in the economics classroom relate to the consumption (as opposed to the generation) of creative materials. This includes reading excerpts or whole texts of literature, listening to music, or the appreciation of art in an effort to draw meaning to the concepts and make them relatable to the student (see Davis 2016 for complete list). These efforts are well thought out and laudable in that they promote student engagement with the concepts in a more meaningful and memorable way. However, less common are examples of student generation of creative material to learn and apply these same economics concepts. The literature surrounding creative arts pedagogy suggests that student generation and explicit elaboration on the material to be learned has a particularly memory enhancing effect that improves short- and long-term retention of the concepts (Hardiman, 2012). Specific examples of creative writing and poetry in the economics classroom are rare but available (Ziliak, 2009; Bohanon, 2012; Davis 2016), while similar lines of thinking have been used to teach economic concepts through naturalist writing (Frank, 2006) and analogies (Burdina and Sauer, 2015). Despite these handful of examples of creative approaches to learning in the classroom, the majority of economics instruction continues along the standard ‘chalk and talk’ variety, especially as it relates to the Principles courses (Becker et al., 2006). As a general rule, economics has failed to draw on the scientific advances in cognitive science and learning, and has been risk-averse to change and modernization to a more learner-centric approach (Watts and Becker, 2008). This paper describes a classroom experiment comparing two learning models: one where poetry generation by the student was used to illustrate their understanding of the material, and another where comprehension was communicated through expository writing (standard prose essay responses). This paper presents assignments and examples, as well as a summary of the student reported experience with the course design. The ultimate goal of this experiment was to explore the potential of poetry to engage students in the material and to promote short and long-term retention of the concepts, i.e. economic literacy. 2. Description of experiment The classroom poetry experiment took place in the Spring 2016 semester of a graduate-level introduction to microeconomics class in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. The selected course ‘Economics for Policy and Planning’ represents a core requirement of the department’s policy and planning graduate degree. The course has no prerequisites other than basic algebra, and students come to the class from a diverse range of interests, prior introduction to economics, and quantitative abilities. As a result of this wide diversity of backgrounds and prior coursework in economics, engaging all students at once in the material can be challenging. Tufts Institutional Review Board approved the study design, and the experiment was supported by an internal grant from Tufts University Innovates program. All students in the experimental class were required to participate in the writing assignments (both expository and poetry) as part of the course; however, students could decline participation in the study by not consenting to the use of their individual course performance data or by not responding to the exit survey. All students in the course provided written consent to participate with the exception of one, and the results from that single student are excluded from the information presented here. Of the 39 students participating in the study, 28 were female, 10 were male, and one self-identified as non-binary trans. Students were randomly assigned at the start of the semester to one of two groups – A or B. All students were provided instruction and materials on the first day on how to write in poetic meter by working poet Jill McDonough, director of the creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Students were taught the general principles of metered verse with a focus on iambic pentameter, which results in a line with five sets of two syllable pairs with the stress on the second syllable in each pairing. Shakespearian sonnets provide the most prominent example of iambic pentameter: shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY? (da DA da DA da DA da DA) For the most part, students were encouraged but not required to write in meter, typically blank verse that represent unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. In other words, students were prompted to consider the rhythm and length of their poetic lines in a way that would avoid short simple poem production that failed to develop the concept. Both groups participated in a joint writing task at the beginning of the semester that included practice in both poetry and expository writing, and then the groups rotated between treatment and control the remainder of the semester. For example, after all students participated in the joint writing task, students in Group A wrote poetry during course topics 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, while Group B students wrote standard essay responses. Alternatively, Group B students wrote poetry for topics 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. During each topic, students answered one experimental untimed homework question and participated in one in-class timed writing assignment that typically lasted 10–15 min at the beginning of class. A TA was assigned to read the experimental writing assignments each week, which consisted of approximately five additional hours of TA effort per week compared to the standard operation of this same course. Examples of both a homework and in-class writing assignment across treatment and control groups are provided below. Writing assignments often drew from assigned readings from the academic literature and popular press, similar to the in-class writing 2
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
assignment example below. Example Homework Writing Assignment Essay: Describe the shape of the average total cost curve in terms of economies of scale and the law of diminishing returns. Provide definitions for all three concepts in your description of the ATC shape. Poetry: Choose one or more of these economic concepts (average total costs, economies of scale, and the law of diminishing returns) and write a blank verse poem of at least 7 lines. Your poem should present a creative rendition of the definition(s) and/or describe a real-world example of how this concept(s) comes up in your daily life. Example In-class Timed Writing Assignment Based on the Boston Globe article “The Ride Less Ridden After Increase in Fare” answer your respective group question below: Poetry: Write a poem in metered verse (attempt 5 lines) that explores elasticity from the perspective of a vulnerable population of your choice. How are elasticity and price changes reflected in the choices made by your population? Essay: Interpret the mistaken MBTA projections for THE RIDE in terms of elasticity. How does this error favor the MBTA? If you were the head of the MBTA, how would you look to balance the high cost of THE RIDE with other critical public transportation services?
3. Examples of student poetry At the conclusion of the course, an anthology of the best poetry submissions that includes a description of the individual assignments was constructed and is available at http://sites.tufts.edu/MaryDavis/poetry/. This paper highlights a sampling of student poetry submissions during the semester. The following provides an example of student blank verse written during one of the in-class timed exercises, where students were prompted to review an article on surge pricing by Uber. On FRIday NIGHTS the CLUBBer MUST be WEARy (5 iambs) For IF they’re FAR from HOME and THINGS seem DREARy (5 iambs) The UBer APP may SOON COME to MIND (almost 5 iambs w/ substitution) ALAS the CLUBBer WILL be SAD to FIND (5 iambs) That UBer SURGing WANTS to ROB them BLIND (5 iambs) It was more difficult for students to write in meter during the timed exercises, but they often created rhythmical verse in a manner similar to the poem submitted below during an in-class timed exercise describing the concept negative externalities: The woman upstairs is a new mother, Her baby spends whole nights all a blubber, Screaming and wailing, oh what a bother. Dreaming I use my pillow to smother, That baby, but then, someone does lover her, I hope she doesn’t have another The following poems were submitted in response to a homework assignment to evaluate the neoclassical assumptions, including perfect information and rationality. In the first poem, the meter is varied but the student maintained a clear rhythm reminiscent of a nursery rhyme. The second poem provides an example of an un-metered but rhyming verse. In general, students preferred to write poems that rhymed when given the choice. Imagining chickens, caged and unwell I took out my wallet, “Oh what the hell” These eggs, yes they cost more, but what’s a price? If money buys humane treatment, that’s nice. To my chagrin I discovered the lie “Cage free” and “free range”, just pie in the sky With no regulation, these terms are vague How then to know the true price of an egg? Caffeine, my vice, is all that keeps me sane for me, for all who ride the ‘T’ in pain We feed this need to numb the agony Of screeching trains, delays, and man-spread knees But rationality is not my game Home brew or buy, it’s not the same. But look! A Dunks looms near, its joy awaits my brain I’ll blunt the pain and watch my balance drain Note: ‘T’ is the nickname of the Boston subway system and ‘Dunks’ stands for Dunkin Donuts The following two examples are submissions to a homework exercise on economies of scale: Really, I do like the farmer's market: 3
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
fresh plums, fresh eggs, fresh milk, fresh grapes, fresh cheese But as nice as it is it's not my place for when I go shopping I want my space I like my food in bulk, that is, you see so its Costco where you'll find me I go down the aisles feeling at home buying twenty apples, saying "shalom" Now, you may not enjoy Costco like me, but here's a fact with which you must agree Costco is an economy of scale and trust me they even sell kale In a production shop she spends her days Making exquisite furniture to sell Each piece handmade ornate details abound Smooth to the touch the grain, designs, impress One table sets you back four thousand ($) To mill the parts, assemble and hand plane Then glue up, wax, now oil- the final touch Labor of love takes twenty four to build (hours) With all that set-up silly to make one When built in twos each only takes sixteen (hours) A run of three the build time is thirteen You get the gist, efficiencies increase (but only to a point, then comes decline Fifty tables at once would be obscene, Nowhere to build, not enough wood or help) Each table still sells for four thousand ($) So profits rise as production time falls Economies of scale in real life More than confusing numbers in a book This student submission responded to a homework question asking students to reflect on regressive sales taxes: My chromosome offends you, I suppose, An externality you do not like Perhaps it’s periods that you oppose? Or bleeding broads at work that you dislike? You’ll gladly tax my tampons; pay me less, While you enjoy Viagra, tax exempt. This “bad” behaviour won’t be easily redressed, A fact, I’m sure, you can preempt, Why tax my menses if I could just stop? An idiot knows that would make no sense. My monthly visits to the corner shop Will help to fund some government expense. When menopause sets in, I will be free Not fined for orphaned ova I discharge. Unless I get a hysterectomy, And shed this gender-based surcharge. These poems were submitted as part of a homework assignment to describe the concepts of rival goods and free-riding: Can we share a lane? After seven on a week day I’m there In the Tufts pool, swimming, really I swear. At this hour its free with an I.D., busting with old men who ate too much brie Now I don’t mind the old hairy geezers, but when there’s six or eight, they’re not pleasers It’s not because I’m ageist per sé rather that the pool is rival and they’re in the WAY! I ran to the swing set, wind in my hair Rushing to be the first one to get there 4
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
Only two swings, and more than ten students In this situation, one must be prudent While swings have no price they are rival goods Your use excludes mine, it’s well understood It’s selfish indeed, but the way things work Rationality makes us act like jerks. The fireworks exploded in the night air. While the city manager mumbled “it’s not fair” For weeks he curated and choreographed a show Worth of being captured by Van Gogh. “Charge them a dollar!” cried he, with pride “Our annual budget will easily be supplied.” But on the night of the grand debut, Only a meager crowd paid to view The residents, they watched from window and on roof, Alas, they were all free-riders; this event was proof This final example responded to the topic of agglomeration economies: The planes, the trains, the automobile lanes A high concentration of mighty brains The ease of transport from one place to next Low costs for inputs, no need to be vexed These clusters make marginal costs go down While profits bring life to cities, not towns Our cities have grown while our towns lose might Population decline – a curse, alright Efficiency is high where costs are slim Which makes the prospects for small towns seem dim By pooling their might, they’ll avert that fate At last, here’s that rhyme for agglomerate! 4. Student response to poetry Due to the design of the experiment and small sample size, it was difficult to determine whether poetry had an immediate quantitative impact on student performance in terms of percentage correct on the assessment tools. In particular, it was difficult to provide a meaningful match between the concept written about and the specific assessment tool such as questions on the midterm or final exam. Each group rotated through both poetry and prose writing, and so there was no clear and consistent group link to poetry that lasted the length of the semester. For this reason, the primary focus of the present experiment was on the student experience and their perception of learning and retention as self-reported in an exit survey. Overall, students reported a positive experience with poetry in this experiment (see Table 1). Nearly half of students believed that writing poetry improved their depth of understanding of the concepts they wrote about, compared to a third of students reporting that expository writing would have been better for this purpose. About half of students also reported that they felt more comfortable expressing alternative viewpoints and that the material was more accessible when writing poetry over prose. The largest and clearest effect of the poetry was to generate interest in the material, with 75% of the students in the class reporting that writing poetry made them more interested and excited to learn the material. Finally, half of students reported improved short-term retention of the material for quizzes and exams when writing poetry, an assessment that jumped to 62.5% of students when they self-assessed their long-term retention beyond the semester’s end. Table 1 Student Survey Responses.
Depth of understanding of the concept Generate interest in the material Ability to express alternative viewpoints Accessibility of the material Short-term memorization for quizzes and exams Long-term memory beyond the end of the semester
Poetry better than essay
Poetry no different than essay
Essay would have been better than poetry
45% 75% 52.5% 45% 47.5% 62.5%
22.5% 17.5% 22.5% 42.5% 30% 30%
33.5% 7.5% 25% 12.5% 22.5% 7.5%
5
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
Although students were randomized and rotated between the poetry treatment or prose control assignment during the semester, when asked which type of writing they would have done if they had been given the choice, 70% said they would have chosen poetry (7.5% reported they were indifferent, while only 22.5% would have chosen prose). Nearly half of the class (45%) reported that they spent comparatively more time on the poetry homework assignments, 30% reported no difference between poetry and prose, and a 25% said prose took longer. In their open-ended responses to the poetry design, students expressed both enthusiasm and concern about the approach to learning economics. One student wrote: ‘It was my first time writing poetry, and I was not comfortable or confident about it. After a few assignments it turned out to be an attractive task for me, more than writing. The fun part for me is that it triggers a creative part of my mind and entices me to write about a topic, just like solving a jigsaw puzzle, playing a game, or doodling. Otherwise, writing essays are like torture for me.’ ‘I think that because I prefer creative thinking in general, I felt more invested in the exercise of tangling with concepts when I knew I had the (fun) opportunity of playing around with them abstractly.’ ‘Writing a poem encourages me to think more about how to identify the key points of concepts or the logic of different factors relative to the concepts, and how to state them in a concise way. The process helped me think through the concepts and gain a better understanding.’ Although the majority of short answer responses to the course evaluations were positive, a minority of students expressed some concern over the use of poetry in the classroom experience. One student noted: ‘Poetry made the economics topics fun to explore and memorable, so it was easier to learn and remember the general concepts. However, it took a lot of effort to write a poem even about a simple concept, which lessened the opportunity to delve into/express more complicated concepts in more detail, so the learning experience was more effective but had less depth.’ Another reported that they, ‘felt it (poetry) was time taken away from learning the concepts’ and ‘the challenge for poetry is its limitation to cover all the material.’ And finally, ‘There seemed to be a very different amount of time and diligent thought required to complete poetry versus prose writing assignments.’ Based on the survey responses, the clearest limitation of the poetry experiment was the time required to generate the creative material. However, one could also argue that this was time that should have been spent towards learning the concepts anyway, that students were otherwise able to avoid through non-meaningful and simple prose responses to the questions. 5. Discussion and limitations This paper describes a poetry experiment in an economics classroom, where students were randomized across two groups with rotating assignments of poetry or prose during the semester long course. The student response to the poetry writing experiment was highly positive. The approach generated interest in the material, allowed students to express alternative view points, and was perceived to increase short- and long-term retention of the concepts. The major criticism of the experiment was the additional time and effort needed to write creatively. However, it’s unclear whether this gap represents an insufficient time to task writing prose or whether the poetry assignments themselves are unduly long. A related limitation of the poetry exercise was the need for approximately five additional hours of TA time to read and comment on the written responses. However, alternative teaching approaches such as having students pair and share or grade each other’s creative assignments may cut down on the need for additional TA resources in future courses. Since this experiment was conducted in a graduate classroom, it would be important to run similar experiments in undergraduate settings before generalizing any conclusions to different categories of college students. However, there were no prerequisites for this course and graduate students came into the experience with a range of background and prerequisite knowledge. One might expect similar results in an undergraduate introductory economics course that also had no prerequisites with a similarly wide variety of background skills and knowledge among students. However, differences in maturity level, access to the material and learning styles may differ across the groups and alter the pattern of results It was not possible to assess the quantitative impact in terms of percentage scores on assessment tools in this study, based both on the rotating design as well as the small sample size. However, students clearly perceived an impact, especially as it related to longterm retention beyond the end of the semester and overall student experience. Additional experiments across multiple courses, as well as a follow-up survey of students beyond the semester’s end, would make it possible identify a quantitative impact of poetry versus prose. Despite this limitation, students provided substantive feedback that could aid future economics instructors interested in using poetry as a teaching tool. The positive results from this study suggest a potentially important role for alternative pedagogies such as creative writing and poetry in the economics classroom.
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International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
6. Summary This paper describes the results of a poetry experiment in an economics classroom and provides evidence to support more creative approaches to learning, including the generation of poetry to express student comprehension of the concepts. At a minimum, this work supports expanding the range of written expression opportunities that students are provided to develop their understanding of the material and engage with it in different ways. Acknowledgements The poetry experiment was supported by a Tufts University Innovates grant. Co-investigators Ayanna Thomas, cognitive psychology professor at Tufts University, and Jill McDonough, poet and director of the creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, provided critical support to the project, particularly during the design and execution phases of the experiment. The author would also like to acknowledge the many student poets whose submissions are featured as examples in this article. All student authors are acknowledged in the class poetry anthology available at http://sites.tufts.edu/MaryDavis/poetry/. References Becker, W.E., Watts, M., Becker, S.R. (Eds.), 2006. Teaching Economics: More Alternatives to Chalk and Talk. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA. Bohanon, C.E., 2012. Haiku, art and economics: a pedagogical exercise. Int. J. Plur. Econ. Educ. 3 (4), 424–436. Bottini, G., Corcoran, R., Sterzi, R., Paulesu, E., Schenone, P., Scarpa, P., Frackowiak, R.S., Frith, C.D., 1994. The role of the right hemisphere in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language: a positron emission tomography activation study. Brain 117, 1241–1253. Burdina, M., Sauer, K.M., 2015. Teaching economic principles with analogies. Int. Rev. Econ. Educ. 20, 29–36. Davis, M., 2015. Bringing imagination back to the classroom: a model for creative arts in economics. Int. Rev. Econ. Educ. 19, 1–12. Ferstl, E.C., Neumann, J., Bogler, C., Yves von Cramon, D., 2008. The extended language network: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on text comprehension. Hum. Brain Mapp. 29 (5), 581–593. Frank, R.H., 2006. The economic naturalist writing assignment. J. Econ. Educ. 37 (1), 58–67. Gardner, H., 2011. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, New York, NY. Hardiman, M., 2012. The Brain-targeted Teaching Model for 21st-century Schools. Corwin, Thousand Oaks, CA. Leahy, W., Sweller, J., 2008. The imagination effect increases with an increased intrinsic cognitive load. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 22 (2), 273–283. Leutner, D., Leopold, C., Sumfleth, E., 2009. Cognitive load and science text comprehension: effects of drawing and mentally imagining text content. Comput. Human Behav. 25 (2), 284–289. O’Sullivan, N., Davis, P., Billington, J., Gonzalez-Diaz, V., Corcoran, R., 2015. Shall I compare thee: The neural basis of literary awareness, and its benefits to cognition. Cortex 73, 144–157. Rapp, A.M., Leube, D.T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., Kircher, T.T.J., 2004. Neural correlates of metaphor processing. Cogn. Brain Res. 20, 395–402. Roediger, H.L., 2013. Applying cognitive psychology to education: translational educational science. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 14 (1), 1–3. Rubin, D., 1995. Memory in Oral Traditions. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Shibata, M., Abe, J., Terao, A., Miyamoto, T., 2007. Neural mechanisms involved in the comprehension of metaphoric and literal sentences: an fMRI study. Brain Res. 1166, 92–102. Watts, M., Becker, W.E., 2008. A little more than chalk and talk: results from a third national survey of teaching methods in undergraduate economics courses. J. Econ. Educ. 39 (3), 273–286. Zeman, A., Milton, F., Smith, A., Rylance, R., 2013. By heart an fMRI study of brain activation by poetry and prose. J. Conscious. Stud. 20 (9-10), 132–158. Ziliak, S.T., 2009. Haiku economics: little teaching aids for big economic pluralists. Int. J. Plur. Econ. Educ. 1 (1-2), 108–129.
7
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Review of Economics Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iree
Poetry and economics: Creativity, engagement and learning in the economics classroom
T
Mary E. Davis Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University, 97 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, United States
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Economic education Pedagogy Poetry
This paper describes a poetry experiment conducted in an economics classroom, where students were randomized across two groups with rotating assignments to write poetry or short answer essay prose during a semester long course in microeconomics. The student experience overall was positive, reporting increased excitement for and engagement with the material. Students also believed that writing poetry improved both their short- and long-term understanding and retention of the concepts. The major criticism of the experiment was the additional time and effort needed to write creatively, although this could also be related to an insufficient time to task writing standard short answer essay responses. Overall, the results suggest that creative writing provides a potentially important tool to enhance learning opportunities and economic literacy among economics students.
1. Introduction Poetry has a long history as a mnemonic device to promote memory and retention. Many of us still recall lines of rhyming verse from as far back as our memories will reach, examples of poetry used by our primary school teachers to promote learning in the classroom. Recent advancements in cognitive science highlight the important role of emotional forms of language, including poetry, metaphors, and figurative language, in activating regions of the brain involved in complex reasoning. Brain imaging and fMRI experiments provide consistent evidence of differential brain activity in response to metaphors over literal language (Bottini et al., 1994; Rapp et al., 2004; Shibata et al., 2007; Ferstl et al., 2008; O’Sullivan et al., 2015) and poetry versus prose (Zeman et al., 2013). Imagery represents another important cognitive tool for organizing complex information that encourages deeper processing and mental effort (Leutner et al., 2009; Roediger, 2013), as well as rhyme and meter (Rubin, 1995; Gardner, 2011). Overall, the available science suggests that metaphors and poetry require additional cognitive resources and involve different neural mechanisms compared to more literal forms of writing and comprehension. The theoretical basis for enhanced learning and memory through poetry might be best understood within the context of cognitive load theory (CLT), which describes how working memory can be manipulated to either support or impede learning (Davis, 2015). Since working memory is understood to be finite, the student learning process can be thought of as a constrained optimization problem – as instructors, we attempt to maximize student learning subject to the constraints of working memory. In the case of CLT, working memory is broken down into three component parts: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive loads. Intrinsic represents the difficulty of the material to be learned, which is impacted by the level of preparation and background of the student. Extraneous cognitive load describes the instructional techniques that require the attention of working memory but do not ultimately facilitate learning, representing unnecessary barriers to learning. The final type of cognitive load is germane, which are instructional
E-mail address: [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iree.2019.100155 Received 12 November 2017; Received in revised form 25 October 2018; Accepted 10 January 2019 Available online 11 January 2019 1477-3880/ © 2019 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
International Review of Economics Education 30 (2019) 100155
M.E. Davis
techniques that enhance a learner’s understanding of the concepts by way of connecting the dots. How does this all relate to economics? Our discipline is generally perceived as high in intrinsic load, suggesting that attention to teaching methodologies and the demands placed on working memory may be particularly beneficial to our students. In other words, concepts and connections that are naturally high in intrinsic load require complex analytical skills and are most likely to benefit from small changes in course design and pedagogy that reduce the stress on a learner’s working memory. Forms of imaginative learning are thought to be particularly beneficial in cases where intrinsic load is high (Leahy and Sweller, 2008), suggesting a potentially important role for creative pedagogies in economics. Despite this, our discipline tends to support learning techniques that are high in extraneous (or unnecessary) cognitive load, such as the standard ‘chalk and talk’ variety often applied in the classroom at the expense of more active forms of instruction. The majority of examples of creative pedagogies in the economics classroom relate to the consumption (as opposed to the generation) of creative materials. This includes reading excerpts or whole texts of literature, listening to music, or the appreciation of art in an effort to draw meaning to the concepts and make them relatable to the student (see Davis 2016 for complete list). These efforts are well thought out and laudable in that they promote student engagement with the concepts in a more meaningful and memorable way. However, less common are examples of student generation of creative material to learn and apply these same economics concepts. The literature surrounding creative arts pedagogy suggests that student generation and explicit elaboration on the material to be learned has a particularly memory enhancing effect that improves short- and long-term retention of the concepts (Hardiman, 2012). Specific examples of creative writing and poetry in the economics classroom are rare but available (Ziliak, 2009; Bohanon, 2012; Davis 2016), while similar lines of thinking have been used to teach economic concepts through naturalist writing (Frank, 2006) and analogies (Burdina and Sauer, 2015). Despite these handful of examples of creative approaches to learning in the classroom, the majority of economics instruction continues along the standard ‘chalk and talk’ variety, especially as it relates to the Principles courses (Becker et al., 2006). As a general rule, economics has failed to draw on the scientific advances in cognitive science and learning, and has been risk-averse to change and modernization to a more learner-centric approach (Watts and Becker, 2008). This paper describes a classroom experiment comparing two learning models: one where poetry generation by the student was used to illustrate their understanding of the material, and another where comprehension was communicated through expository writing (standard prose essay responses). This paper presents assignments and examples, as well as a summary of the student reported experience with the course design. The ultimate goal of this experiment was to explore the potential of poetry to engage students in the material and to promote short and long-term retention of the concepts, i.e. economic literacy. 2. Description of experiment The classroom poetry experiment took place in the Spring 2016 semester of a graduate-level introduction to microeconomics class in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. The selected course ‘Economics for Policy and Planning’ represents a core requirement of the department’s policy and planning graduate degree. The course has no prerequisites other than basic algebra, and students come to the class from a diverse range of interests, prior introduction to economics, and quantitative abilities. As a result of this wide diversity of backgrounds and prior coursework in economics, engaging all students at once in the material can be challenging. Tufts Institutional Review Board approved the study design, and the experiment was supported by an internal grant from Tufts University Innovates program. All students in the experimental class were required to participate in the writing assignments (both expository and poetry) as part of the course; however, students could decline participation in the study by not consenting to the use of their individual course performance data or by not responding to the exit survey. All students in the course provided written consent to participate with the exception of one, and the results from that single student are excluded from the information presented here. Of the 39 students participating in the study, 28 were female, 10 were male, and one self-identified as non-binary trans. Students were randomly assigned at the start of the semester to one of two groups – A or B. All students were provided instruction and materials on the first day on how to write in poetic meter by working poet Jill McDonough, director of the creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Students were taught the general principles of metered verse with a focus on iambic pentameter, which results in a line with five sets of two syllable pairs with the stress on the second syllable in each pairing. Shakespearian sonnets provide the most prominent example of iambic pentameter: shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY? (da DA da DA da DA da DA) For the most part, students were encouraged but not required to write in meter, typically blank verse that represent unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. In other words, students were prompted to consider the rhythm and length of their poetic lines in a way that would avoid short simple poem production that failed to develop the concept. Both groups participated in a joint writing task at the beginning of the semester that included practice in both poetry and expository writing, and then the groups rotated between treatment and control the remainder of the semester. For example, after all students participated in the joint writing task, students in Group A wrote poetry during course topics 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, while Group B students wrote standard essay responses. Alternatively, Group B students wrote poetry for topics 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. During each topic, students answered one experimental untimed homework question and participated in one in-class timed writing assignment that typically lasted 10–15 min at the beginning of class. A TA was assigned to read the experimental writing assignments each week, which consisted of approximately five additional hours of TA effort per week compared to the standard operation of this same course. Examples of both a homework and in-class writing assignment across treatment and control groups are provided below. Writing assignments often drew from assigned readings from the academic literature and popular press, similar to the in-class writing 2
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assignment example below. Example Homework Writing Assignment Essay: Describe the shape of the average total cost curve in terms of economies of scale and the law of diminishing returns. Provide definitions for all three concepts in your description of the ATC shape. Poetry: Choose one or more of these economic concepts (average total costs, economies of scale, and the law of diminishing returns) and write a blank verse poem of at least 7 lines. Your poem should present a creative rendition of the definition(s) and/or describe a real-world example of how this concept(s) comes up in your daily life. Example In-class Timed Writing Assignment Based on the Boston Globe article “The Ride Less Ridden After Increase in Fare” answer your respective group question below: Poetry: Write a poem in metered verse (attempt 5 lines) that explores elasticity from the perspective of a vulnerable population of your choice. How are elasticity and price changes reflected in the choices made by your population? Essay: Interpret the mistaken MBTA projections for THE RIDE in terms of elasticity. How does this error favor the MBTA? If you were the head of the MBTA, how would you look to balance the high cost of THE RIDE with other critical public transportation services?
3. Examples of student poetry At the conclusion of the course, an anthology of the best poetry submissions that includes a description of the individual assignments was constructed and is available at http://sites.tufts.edu/MaryDavis/poetry/. This paper highlights a sampling of student poetry submissions during the semester. The following provides an example of student blank verse written during one of the in-class timed exercises, where students were prompted to review an article on surge pricing by Uber. On FRIday NIGHTS the CLUBBer MUST be WEARy (5 iambs) For IF they’re FAR from HOME and THINGS seem DREARy (5 iambs) The UBer APP may SOON COME to MIND (almost 5 iambs w/ substitution) ALAS the CLUBBer WILL be SAD to FIND (5 iambs) That UBer SURGing WANTS to ROB them BLIND (5 iambs) It was more difficult for students to write in meter during the timed exercises, but they often created rhythmical verse in a manner similar to the poem submitted below during an in-class timed exercise describing the concept negative externalities: The woman upstairs is a new mother, Her baby spends whole nights all a blubber, Screaming and wailing, oh what a bother. Dreaming I use my pillow to smother, That baby, but then, someone does lover her, I hope she doesn’t have another The following poems were submitted in response to a homework assignment to evaluate the neoclassical assumptions, including perfect information and rationality. In the first poem, the meter is varied but the student maintained a clear rhythm reminiscent of a nursery rhyme. The second poem provides an example of an un-metered but rhyming verse. In general, students preferred to write poems that rhymed when given the choice. Imagining chickens, caged and unwell I took out my wallet, “Oh what the hell” These eggs, yes they cost more, but what’s a price? If money buys humane treatment, that’s nice. To my chagrin I discovered the lie “Cage free” and “free range”, just pie in the sky With no regulation, these terms are vague How then to know the true price of an egg? Caffeine, my vice, is all that keeps me sane for me, for all who ride the ‘T’ in pain We feed this need to numb the agony Of screeching trains, delays, and man-spread knees But rationality is not my game Home brew or buy, it’s not the same. But look! A Dunks looms near, its joy awaits my brain I’ll blunt the pain and watch my balance drain Note: ‘T’ is the nickname of the Boston subway system and ‘Dunks’ stands for Dunkin Donuts The following two examples are submissions to a homework exercise on economies of scale: Really, I do like the farmer's market: 3
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fresh plums, fresh eggs, fresh milk, fresh grapes, fresh cheese But as nice as it is it's not my place for when I go shopping I want my space I like my food in bulk, that is, you see so its Costco where you'll find me I go down the aisles feeling at home buying twenty apples, saying "shalom" Now, you may not enjoy Costco like me, but here's a fact with which you must agree Costco is an economy of scale and trust me they even sell kale In a production shop she spends her days Making exquisite furniture to sell Each piece handmade ornate details abound Smooth to the touch the grain, designs, impress One table sets you back four thousand ($) To mill the parts, assemble and hand plane Then glue up, wax, now oil- the final touch Labor of love takes twenty four to build (hours) With all that set-up silly to make one When built in twos each only takes sixteen (hours) A run of three the build time is thirteen You get the gist, efficiencies increase (but only to a point, then comes decline Fifty tables at once would be obscene, Nowhere to build, not enough wood or help) Each table still sells for four thousand ($) So profits rise as production time falls Economies of scale in real life More than confusing numbers in a book This student submission responded to a homework question asking students to reflect on regressive sales taxes: My chromosome offends you, I suppose, An externality you do not like Perhaps it’s periods that you oppose? Or bleeding broads at work that you dislike? You’ll gladly tax my tampons; pay me less, While you enjoy Viagra, tax exempt. This “bad” behaviour won’t be easily redressed, A fact, I’m sure, you can preempt, Why tax my menses if I could just stop? An idiot knows that would make no sense. My monthly visits to the corner shop Will help to fund some government expense. When menopause sets in, I will be free Not fined for orphaned ova I discharge. Unless I get a hysterectomy, And shed this gender-based surcharge. These poems were submitted as part of a homework assignment to describe the concepts of rival goods and free-riding: Can we share a lane? After seven on a week day I’m there In the Tufts pool, swimming, really I swear. At this hour its free with an I.D., busting with old men who ate too much brie Now I don’t mind the old hairy geezers, but when there’s six or eight, they’re not pleasers It’s not because I’m ageist per sé rather that the pool is rival and they’re in the WAY! I ran to the swing set, wind in my hair Rushing to be the first one to get there 4
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Only two swings, and more than ten students In this situation, one must be prudent While swings have no price they are rival goods Your use excludes mine, it’s well understood It’s selfish indeed, but the way things work Rationality makes us act like jerks. The fireworks exploded in the night air. While the city manager mumbled “it’s not fair” For weeks he curated and choreographed a show Worth of being captured by Van Gogh. “Charge them a dollar!” cried he, with pride “Our annual budget will easily be supplied.” But on the night of the grand debut, Only a meager crowd paid to view The residents, they watched from window and on roof, Alas, they were all free-riders; this event was proof This final example responded to the topic of agglomeration economies: The planes, the trains, the automobile lanes A high concentration of mighty brains The ease of transport from one place to next Low costs for inputs, no need to be vexed These clusters make marginal costs go down While profits bring life to cities, not towns Our cities have grown while our towns lose might Population decline – a curse, alright Efficiency is high where costs are slim Which makes the prospects for small towns seem dim By pooling their might, they’ll avert that fate At last, here’s that rhyme for agglomerate! 4. Student response to poetry Due to the design of the experiment and small sample size, it was difficult to determine whether poetry had an immediate quantitative impact on student performance in terms of percentage correct on the assessment tools. In particular, it was difficult to provide a meaningful match between the concept written about and the specific assessment tool such as questions on the midterm or final exam. Each group rotated through both poetry and prose writing, and so there was no clear and consistent group link to poetry that lasted the length of the semester. For this reason, the primary focus of the present experiment was on the student experience and their perception of learning and retention as self-reported in an exit survey. Overall, students reported a positive experience with poetry in this experiment (see Table 1). Nearly half of students believed that writing poetry improved their depth of understanding of the concepts they wrote about, compared to a third of students reporting that expository writing would have been better for this purpose. About half of students also reported that they felt more comfortable expressing alternative viewpoints and that the material was more accessible when writing poetry over prose. The largest and clearest effect of the poetry was to generate interest in the material, with 75% of the students in the class reporting that writing poetry made them more interested and excited to learn the material. Finally, half of students reported improved short-term retention of the material for quizzes and exams when writing poetry, an assessment that jumped to 62.5% of students when they self-assessed their long-term retention beyond the semester’s end. Table 1 Student Survey Responses.
Depth of understanding of the concept Generate interest in the material Ability to express alternative viewpoints Accessibility of the material Short-term memorization for quizzes and exams Long-term memory beyond the end of the semester
Poetry better than essay
Poetry no different than essay
Essay would have been better than poetry
45% 75% 52.5% 45% 47.5% 62.5%
22.5% 17.5% 22.5% 42.5% 30% 30%
33.5% 7.5% 25% 12.5% 22.5% 7.5%
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Although students were randomized and rotated between the poetry treatment or prose control assignment during the semester, when asked which type of writing they would have done if they had been given the choice, 70% said they would have chosen poetry (7.5% reported they were indifferent, while only 22.5% would have chosen prose). Nearly half of the class (45%) reported that they spent comparatively more time on the poetry homework assignments, 30% reported no difference between poetry and prose, and a 25% said prose took longer. In their open-ended responses to the poetry design, students expressed both enthusiasm and concern about the approach to learning economics. One student wrote: ‘It was my first time writing poetry, and I was not comfortable or confident about it. After a few assignments it turned out to be an attractive task for me, more than writing. The fun part for me is that it triggers a creative part of my mind and entices me to write about a topic, just like solving a jigsaw puzzle, playing a game, or doodling. Otherwise, writing essays are like torture for me.’ ‘I think that because I prefer creative thinking in general, I felt more invested in the exercise of tangling with concepts when I knew I had the (fun) opportunity of playing around with them abstractly.’ ‘Writing a poem encourages me to think more about how to identify the key points of concepts or the logic of different factors relative to the concepts, and how to state them in a concise way. The process helped me think through the concepts and gain a better understanding.’ Although the majority of short answer responses to the course evaluations were positive, a minority of students expressed some concern over the use of poetry in the classroom experience. One student noted: ‘Poetry made the economics topics fun to explore and memorable, so it was easier to learn and remember the general concepts. However, it took a lot of effort to write a poem even about a simple concept, which lessened the opportunity to delve into/express more complicated concepts in more detail, so the learning experience was more effective but had less depth.’ Another reported that they, ‘felt it (poetry) was time taken away from learning the concepts’ and ‘the challenge for poetry is its limitation to cover all the material.’ And finally, ‘There seemed to be a very different amount of time and diligent thought required to complete poetry versus prose writing assignments.’ Based on the survey responses, the clearest limitation of the poetry experiment was the time required to generate the creative material. However, one could also argue that this was time that should have been spent towards learning the concepts anyway, that students were otherwise able to avoid through non-meaningful and simple prose responses to the questions. 5. Discussion and limitations This paper describes a poetry experiment in an economics classroom, where students were randomized across two groups with rotating assignments of poetry or prose during the semester long course. The student response to the poetry writing experiment was highly positive. The approach generated interest in the material, allowed students to express alternative view points, and was perceived to increase short- and long-term retention of the concepts. The major criticism of the experiment was the additional time and effort needed to write creatively. However, it’s unclear whether this gap represents an insufficient time to task writing prose or whether the poetry assignments themselves are unduly long. A related limitation of the poetry exercise was the need for approximately five additional hours of TA time to read and comment on the written responses. However, alternative teaching approaches such as having students pair and share or grade each other’s creative assignments may cut down on the need for additional TA resources in future courses. Since this experiment was conducted in a graduate classroom, it would be important to run similar experiments in undergraduate settings before generalizing any conclusions to different categories of college students. However, there were no prerequisites for this course and graduate students came into the experience with a range of background and prerequisite knowledge. One might expect similar results in an undergraduate introductory economics course that also had no prerequisites with a similarly wide variety of background skills and knowledge among students. However, differences in maturity level, access to the material and learning styles may differ across the groups and alter the pattern of results It was not possible to assess the quantitative impact in terms of percentage scores on assessment tools in this study, based both on the rotating design as well as the small sample size. However, students clearly perceived an impact, especially as it related to longterm retention beyond the end of the semester and overall student experience. Additional experiments across multiple courses, as well as a follow-up survey of students beyond the semester’s end, would make it possible identify a quantitative impact of poetry versus prose. Despite this limitation, students provided substantive feedback that could aid future economics instructors interested in using poetry as a teaching tool. The positive results from this study suggest a potentially important role for alternative pedagogies such as creative writing and poetry in the economics classroom.
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6. Summary This paper describes the results of a poetry experiment in an economics classroom and provides evidence to support more creative approaches to learning, including the generation of poetry to express student comprehension of the concepts. At a minimum, this work supports expanding the range of written expression opportunities that students are provided to develop their understanding of the material and engage with it in different ways. Acknowledgements The poetry experiment was supported by a Tufts University Innovates grant. Co-investigators Ayanna Thomas, cognitive psychology professor at Tufts University, and Jill McDonough, poet and director of the creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, provided critical support to the project, particularly during the design and execution phases of the experiment. The author would also like to acknowledge the many student poets whose submissions are featured as examples in this article. All student authors are acknowledged in the class poetry anthology available at http://sites.tufts.edu/MaryDavis/poetry/. References Becker, W.E., Watts, M., Becker, S.R. (Eds.), 2006. Teaching Economics: More Alternatives to Chalk and Talk. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA. Bohanon, C.E., 2012. Haiku, art and economics: a pedagogical exercise. Int. J. Plur. Econ. Educ. 3 (4), 424–436. Bottini, G., Corcoran, R., Sterzi, R., Paulesu, E., Schenone, P., Scarpa, P., Frackowiak, R.S., Frith, C.D., 1994. The role of the right hemisphere in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language: a positron emission tomography activation study. Brain 117, 1241–1253. Burdina, M., Sauer, K.M., 2015. Teaching economic principles with analogies. Int. Rev. Econ. Educ. 20, 29–36. Davis, M., 2015. Bringing imagination back to the classroom: a model for creative arts in economics. Int. Rev. Econ. Educ. 19, 1–12. Ferstl, E.C., Neumann, J., Bogler, C., Yves von Cramon, D., 2008. The extended language network: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on text comprehension. Hum. Brain Mapp. 29 (5), 581–593. Frank, R.H., 2006. The economic naturalist writing assignment. J. Econ. Educ. 37 (1), 58–67. Gardner, H., 2011. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, New York, NY. Hardiman, M., 2012. The Brain-targeted Teaching Model for 21st-century Schools. Corwin, Thousand Oaks, CA. Leahy, W., Sweller, J., 2008. The imagination effect increases with an increased intrinsic cognitive load. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 22 (2), 273–283. Leutner, D., Leopold, C., Sumfleth, E., 2009. Cognitive load and science text comprehension: effects of drawing and mentally imagining text content. Comput. Human Behav. 25 (2), 284–289. O’Sullivan, N., Davis, P., Billington, J., Gonzalez-Diaz, V., Corcoran, R., 2015. Shall I compare thee: The neural basis of literary awareness, and its benefits to cognition. Cortex 73, 144–157. Rapp, A.M., Leube, D.T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., Kircher, T.T.J., 2004. Neural correlates of metaphor processing. Cogn. Brain Res. 20, 395–402. Roediger, H.L., 2013. Applying cognitive psychology to education: translational educational science. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 14 (1), 1–3. Rubin, D., 1995. Memory in Oral Traditions. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Shibata, M., Abe, J., Terao, A., Miyamoto, T., 2007. Neural mechanisms involved in the comprehension of metaphoric and literal sentences: an fMRI study. Brain Res. 1166, 92–102. Watts, M., Becker, W.E., 2008. A little more than chalk and talk: results from a third national survey of teaching methods in undergraduate economics courses. J. Econ. Educ. 39 (3), 273–286. Zeman, A., Milton, F., Smith, A., Rylance, R., 2013. By heart an fMRI study of brain activation by poetry and prose. J. Conscious. Stud. 20 (9-10), 132–158. Ziliak, S.T., 2009. Haiku economics: little teaching aids for big economic pluralists. Int. J. Plur. Econ. Educ. 1 (1-2), 108–129.
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