August 2020
Irene R. Foster (George Washington University), Melanie Allwine Fennell (Randolph-Macon College)
Abstract: Results from an experiment in Fall 2013 of 902 incoming students at this university are reported. In this experiment, after students were given a basic math assessment to ensure they had the necessary math skills to take a principles of economics course, they were randomly allocated to a treatment or control group to test if there was a significant impact of test format, calculator use, and calculator type on students’ scores. The interaction of calculator use/type and test format was also tested. The results from this experiment suggest that each treatment had a significant positive impact on students’ assessment scores, with much variation depending on the type of question asked and the level of performance.
JEL Codes: A22, C23
Key Words: Economic Education, Teaching Economics, Math Assessment, Microeconomics,
Calculator Use, Test Format
