Know Thyself: A Methodological Manifesto for Teaching Microeconomics Through Epistemic Provocation

Tomasz Kopczewski ()
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Tomasz Kopczewski: University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences

No 2026-14, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: This paper documents and formalises the Know Thyself method, a teaching approach developed through more than thirty years of university teaching practice. Its starting diagnosis is that students often learn economic models without experiencing the assumptions that make those models necessary. The method reverses the usual sequence: experience before theory, data as a mirror before abstraction, and questions before answers. Its empirical core is not the experiment narrowly understood, but ad hoc research: classroom experiments, surveys, simulations, valuation tasks, and replication laboratories that make learners’ own assumptions visible. Four case studies — expected value, ergodicity, market equilibrium, and the rationality of altruism — illustrate how the method converts declarative knowledge into reflective practice. Artificial intelligence gives the method scale by lowering the cost of surveys, dashboards, simulations, and replication protocols. The paper’s practical conclusion is simple: change the order. Ask first. Teach later.

Keywords: economics education; epistemic provocation; experiential learning; replication; expected value; ergodicity; market equilibrium; AI in education; science curiosity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A22 B41 C92 D81 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe
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