This project is enhancing the science education of students enrolled in Economics by introducing computer-assisted experiments that supplement traditionally presented materials in such courses as Principles of Economics, Micro and Macroeconomic Theory, and Econometrics. The computers also add great flexibility to the treatment of topics studied in the Senior Seminars. The mix of technologies now available takes advantage of the computational and graphic capabilities of each machine, allows programming flexibility for the future, and fully utilizes the developing computer expertise of the faculty. Economics instruction is greatly improved by bringing the computer into the classroom, thus allowing students to run regressions, to make forecasts, and to simulate policy outcomes with the instructor nearby. Selected software includes Formodel 1000 for both the Macroeconomics and the Money and Banking labs, and SHAZAM for Econometrics. Moreover, this new laboratory approach to teaching Economics makes students intensely aware of integral part that computers and scientific experimentation play in the professional lives of present day economists. With its new suite of computing equipment, the laboratory is able to accommodate sections of up to thirty students.
