Study Using Quizzes

I really enjoyed this article on studying and the use of quizzes to do it. This quote, "“The issue with learning is, no one ever sits down and teaches you how to study" is something I start the year telling my classes. How many times have all of us heard, "I don't know why I did so poorly on the test, I studied for hours." I normally ask them how they studied and if they had all distractions, namely their phone, turned off and in the other room. If students are being honest, they normally are trying to multitask, which one cannot do while trying to study. I am going to require this article for all of my students to read at the start of next semester. 

Election Economics

I want to start this blog by saying that I AM NOT pushing one political agenda over another. I think it is important that students understand the economics on what the new president-elect has promised. The video is done by Mr. Jacob Clifford, examining the economic policies put forth by both candidates, here is an article detailing President-Elect Trump's possible policy on tariffs. Last here is the link to Planet Money's podcasts, I would suggest scrolling to #387 The No-Brainer Economic Platform, in which they interview a number of economists from all over the political spectrum.


 

Finimiza

One of the many things I love about teaching economics is the fact that it is in the news all of the time. The issue is I do not have the time to read everything. This app helps with that. It gives a brief and understandable summation of financial news brought right to your phone. It is totally worth the few minutes to sign up.


http://insider.finimize.com/?kid=CEFP2

Economics of Baseball

Last baseball post until Sping Training Promise. Here are an article and video on the profitability of the Cubs. I am a big time Cubs fan and I was so excited that I got to see something generations have not seen. With that said, I will be cheering for Cleveland to make it back and break their own drought. With increase demand, low costs, an inelastic supply curve, this article is great for discussion.

I also included a video talking about how bad an investment in public stadiums and big public events are for a city. I wanted to throw that in in case you wanted to go deeper in discussion. One thing about Wrigley, where the Cubs play, it is 102 years old and they are not calling for a stadium.

Economics of Daylight Savings Time

I am not sure why, but I really do not like daylight savings. Yeah, I do not like driving to work in the dark, but something about daylight savings bugs me. I envy those of you who live in states that do not mess with time! With that said, I wondered if there could be an actual reason not to like that which was a Ben Franklin idea. Here comes the Wall Street Journal. It turns out that daylight savings has a negative effect on consumer spending. The article has a ton of other economics concepts from supply and demand to GDP. It made for a fun warm up for my classes today and led to some fun debate. Enjoy