THE EFFECT OF THE 'TRADE-OFFS' SERIES ON STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF AND ATTITUDE TOWARD ECONOMICS

The Problem. The study was designed to assess the impact of the "Trade-offs" video series as used by trained teachers on student understanding of and attitude toward economics. Specifically, the study investigated the following five questions: (1) What impact did the "Trade-offs" series have on student understanding of economics? (2) What impact did the "Trade-offs" series have on student attitudes toward economics? (3) What is the relationship between student attitudes toward economics and student understanding of economics? (4) What effect did a training program for teachers have on teacher understanding of economics? (5) What effect did teacher understanding of economics have on student understanding of economics?;Experimental teachers were trained to use the "Trade-offs" series in an experimental graduate course after which experimental and control teachers were tested again. Experimental teachers used the "Trade-offs" series with their students after which the researchers contemporaneously tested both control and experimental students to assess understanding of economics and attitude toward economics.;The student results were analyzed by ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares multiple regression, controlling for age, pretest economic understanding (only with the dependent variable of posttest economic understanding), teacher posttest, social class, grade level, pretest attitude (only with the dependent variable of posttest attitude), posttest economic understanding (only with the dependent variable of posttest attitude), and posttest attitude (only with the dependent variable of posttest economic understanding). Teacher posttest results were analyzed by ordinary least squares multiple regression, controlling for pretest score, age, gender, quarter hours of graduate credit, and quarter hours of economics credit.;Findings. The results indicate that use of the "Trade-offs" series with experimental students did not produce a statistically significant difference (p < .095) in posttest understanding of economics compared to the control group, after controlling for other variables. The results for posttest attitude indicate a favorable impact of the series on the experimental students at the conventional minimum level of significance. The relationship between student attitude toward and student understanding of economics was hypothesized to be non-recursive. Two-stage least squares analysis of posttest scores demonstrated a positive, but statistically insignificant relationship. Ordinary least squares results showed a significant, positive relationship, but were demonstrated to be inconsistent due to violations of inherent assumptions in the statistical procedure.;Procedures. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a sample of students from grades three through nine. Pretreatment comparison by multiple linear regression of the experimental group (123 students) with the control group (206 students) revealed no statistically significant differences, controlling for age, pretest attitude toward economics, pretest economic understanding, teacher understanding of economics, social class, and assessed property value. Experimental and control teachers were found to be statistically equivalent, controlling for pretest economic understanding, age, quarter hours of graduate credit, and quarter hours of economics credit.;The experimental teacher posttest scores were found to be substantially higher, but not statistically different from, those of the control group, after controlling for other factors. The impact of teacher posttest scores on student posttest economic understanding was found to be not significant.