Reality-oriented critical learning using the CORE in introductory economics courses: cognitive engagement and economic literacy

Natsuka Tokumaru ()
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Natsuka Tokumaru: Ritsumeikan University

Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 2024, vol. 21, issue 1, No 6, 97-113

Abstract: Abstract The Economy: Economics for a Changing World by the Curriculum Open-Access Resources in Economics (CORE) team is an online, open-resource textbook designed to propose a ‘new benchmark’ for introductory economics. In this study, the author examined the effectiveness of this textbook (the CORE hereafter) by comparing it with an existing standard textbook and conducting a Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) before and after an introductory economics course using the CORE at Ritsumeikan University in Japan. According to the study, the method of the CORE can be described as ‘reality-oriented critical learning’ and is in contrast to that of existing orthodox textbooks that use ‘model-oriented step-by-step learning’. The TEL results indicated that the participants’ economic literacy improved significantly after taking CORE-based courses. This finds that the CORE works to develop learners’ economic literacy because it effectively evokes their ‘cognitive engagement’ in the learning process.

Keywords: Curriculum Open-Access Resources in Economics (CORE); Economic literacy; Introductory economics; Critical thinking; Cognitive engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A22 A39 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s40844-023-00265-9

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