Valuing Us All: Feminist Pedagogy and Economics

The Road Not Taken: Service Learning as an Example of Feminist Pedagogy in Economics

The Road Not Taken Service Learning as an Example of Feminist Pedagogy in Economics KimMarie McGoldrick Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and II took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost In 1988 the Association of American Colleges (AAC) and the American Economic Association assembled a task force to study the "Status and Prospects of the Economics Major." This report, by Siegfried et aI., suggests that more needs to be done to teach our students to think like economists. Further, it indicates that lecturing emphasizes "passive learning, narrow forms of evaluation, few or no writing assignments, and a reliance on textbooks (rather than real books) and routine problem sets; all of these practices limit intellectual stimulation" (Siegfried et a1. 1991,206). The report outlines a number of approaches and changes that have the potential for improving undergraduate economic education by providing opportunities for students to practice thinking like economists. Among the suggested changes are expanding the writing across the curriculum program, encouraging cooperative learning, developing hand-on experiences (emphasizing context rather than the abstract), and including more applications of active learning. The report also recommended that educators be aware of the changing gender makeup of our audience. The chilly climate toward women in the classroom and lack of gender-neutral examples must be addressed. To the extent possible, educators must also recognize that students evolve in their educational process, as suggested by Perry (1970). Although not specifically expressed in their report, many of the changes outlined by the AAC are consistent with the ideals expressed in feminist pedagogy. Feminist pedagogy and its application in economics have received recent attention in the literature (e.g., see Shackelford 1992; and Bartlett and Feiner 1992). They suggest a more inclusive presentation and practice of the economic way of thinking through challenging patriarchal structures, recognizing alternative ways of knowing, and emphasizing process in addition to outcomes. While these may be applied in the classroom through the applica168 The Road Not Taken Service Learning as an Example of Feminist Pedagogy in Economics KimMarie McGoldrick Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and II took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost In 1988 the Association of American Colleges (AAC) and the American Economic Association assembled a task force to study the "Status and Prospects of the Economics Major." This report, by Siegfried et aI., suggests that more needs to be done to teach our students to think like economists. Further, it indicates that lecturing emphasizes "passive learning, narrow forms of evaluation, few or no writing assignments, and a reliance on textbooks (rather than real books) and routine problem sets; all of these practices limit intellectual stimulation" (Siegfried et a1. 1991, 206). The report outlines a number of approaches and changes that have the potential for improving undergraduate economic education by providing opportunities for students to practice thinking like economists. Among the suggested changes are expanding the writing across the curriculum program, encouraging cooperative learning, developing hand-on experiences (emphasizing context rather than the abstract), and including more applications of active learning. The report also recommended that educators be aware of the changing gender makeup of our audience. The chilly climate toward women in the classroom and lack of gender-neutral examples must be addressed. To the extent possible, educators must also recognize that students evolve in their educational process, as suggested by Perry (1970). Although not specifically expressed in their report, many of the changes outlined by the AAC are consistent with the ideals expressed in feminist pedagogy. Feminist pedagogy and its application in economics have received recent attention in the literature (e.g., see Shackelford 1992; and Bartlett and Feiner 1992). They suggest a more inclusive presentation and practice of the economic way of thinking through challenging patriarchal structures, recognizing alternative ways of knowing, and emphasizing process in addition to outcomes. While these may be applied in the classroom through the applica168 The Road Not Taken 169 tion of active learning, cooperative learning, in-class writing assignments, and alternative evaluation techniques, they can be extended to include out-ofclass projects and papers. One such out-of-class experience is service learning. Service learning is an educational tool that relies on the combination of community volunteer service and classroom theory. Its goal is to allow students to have the opportunity to be active participants in their education. David Kolb (1976, 1984) suggests that learning is a cycle that incorporates...