Economics faculty are participating in one week workshops to learn instructional techniques that utilize laboratory experiments by undergraduate students who are enrolled in principles of economics and intermediate theory classes. These techniques demonstrate to students the basis and applicability of economic theory and provide valuable feedback to instructors on student perceptions of theory. The students are not asked to accept hypotheses about markets, but rather to test hypotheses. The experiments demonstrate to students the validity of the hypotheses and the conditions under which they can predict economic behavior. Utilizing computer facilities at the Economic Science Laboratory at the university, the faculty are participating in established experiments and learn the techniques for designing experiments for undergraduate instruction. The workshops are adding a new dimension to instruction and improving the teaching and understanding of undergraduate economics.
