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SHAPING TODAY THOSE WHO WILL SHAPE TOMORROW

SHAPING TODAY THOSE WHO WILL SHAPE TOMORROW. Differentiation in Higher Education: Does a Background in Economics improve performance?. Dr Chris Jones & Anne Wheeler LSE: Developments in Economics Education Conference Tuesday 6 th September 2011. Introduction & Background.

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SHAPING TODAY THOSE WHO WILL SHAPE TOMORROW

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  1. SHAPING TODAYTHOSE WHO WILL SHAPE TOMORROW

  2. Differentiation in Higher Education: Does a Background in Economics improve performance? Dr Chris Jones & Anne WheelerLSE: Developments in Economics Education Conference Tuesday 6th September 2011

  3. Introduction & Background • Objective of paper: • Does past study in Economics and Math's improve exam performance for students who do a 1st year undergraduate module? • This is a large module 400+ students. • 10 Credits, 20 hours of lectures and 5 hours of classes. • If past study of Economics improves performance should pedagogy be differentiated by streaming students by ability? • This is controversial at Secondary level – have people ever considered it for Higher Education?

  4. Literature • Carol Tomlinson’s definitions of differentiation: • “Differentiation is simply attending to the learning needs of a particular student or small group of students rather then the more typical pattern of teaching the class as though all individuals are the same” • There is almost no literature on differentiation in Higher Education. Why? • There are studies that look at the determinants of degree performance: • e.g. Smith & Naylor (2001) Oxford Bulletin: • Age, Marital Status, Higher A-Level Score, social class have a +ve impact.

  5. Simple Predictions • H1: Students who have studied Economics at A-Level (or an A-Level Equivalent) prior to joining Aston University perform better in Introductory Economics than students who have not studied Economics before. • H2: Students who have studied Mathematics at A-Level (or an A-Level Equivalent) prior to joining Aston University perform better in Introductory Economics than students who have not studied Mathematics before. • H3: Demographic factors have a significant impact on performance in Introductory Economics.

  6. Data • Data Discussion • All of the data is from Student Information System • We have 3 separate cross sections – this is not panel data. • 2007-2009 • On average there are approximately 400 observations per year. • We have data on: past study in economics and maths, sex, age, home vs. overseas, school type and parent occupational class. • Students participate in a number of different degrees. None of them study single honours Economics.

  7. Descriptive Statistics

  8. Grade Distributions

  9. Econometric Model Model estimated by OLS and a Tobit specification because the data is censored at 40% (these are the people who pass and get given 40%). Our primary interest is beta 1 and beta 2 SchoolType = 0,1 Dummy (independent school vs. the rest) ParOccup = 0,1 Dummy (higher managerial class vs. the rest)

  10. Baseline Results

  11. Results including Class

  12. Discussion • Results & Conclusion • Past study in Economics improved test scores by between 5-8 percent • Past study in maths improved test score by between 1-3 percent • Age, sex, school type and parental class has little impact on performance. • For 2007 home students performed better by 3% on average, in 2008 & 2009 this disappeared. Should class teaching be differentiated by ability?

  13. Questions?

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