(1552) DR. STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNT TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE MICROECONOMICS: FILM CLIPS AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN ECONOMIC THEORY

摘要

Background - Microeconomics is perceived by students as one of the toughest subjects they face atthe undergraduate level in order to obtain an Economics or Business degree. This is due to asometimes rather stringent mathematical content, which is essential to teach economic conceptskeeping a proper rigorous approach. In this article we present an experience of using a film clip tosupport teaching in the microeconomics field. In this case, we chose a cut from Stanley Kubricks' film"Dr. Strangelove", which topic is closely related to game theory, an area of knowledge that lies at thecore of any intermediate or advanced microeconomics course. The fragment was selected in order toget the maximum subject related content out of the film while spending the minimum class time.Methods - The clip was played in front of two undergraduate level groups, accounting for a totalnumber of 65 students. Results were derived from behavioural observation in a guided debate on theclip's content and the marks obtained by students in a questionnaire that was administrated to themimmediately after viewing the film. Questions were aimed for the students to connect the content of thefilm with the concepts previously taught in class.Results - Students proved a higher degree of interest and attention than that shown in other classsessions of the course, both during the view and the following debate on the content. Additionally,questionnaire marks were on average higher than those obtained by students in other tests. On thewhole, students proved a better comprehension of the economic concepts involved after viewing theclip, compared with that shown in previous sessions.Conclusions - Although film views are a rather innovative tool in the area of microeconomics, ourexperience shows that it can be a useful complement of usual lessons when teaching certaineconomic concepts that are explained to students on a mathematical basis. In this regard, the film clipused in this paper helped students to get a better understanding of those concepts and boosted theirinterest on the topic. We believe that the growing trend of media tools use at the undergraduate levelmust also be implemented gradually in the economic theory field.