The ‘Intro to Economics’ E-book
Produced by the students in my non-AP Economics class in collaboration with ChatGPT
I’m a San Marino High School social studies teacher who, in January, called on the students enrolled in my 4th-period non-AP Economics class to work with ChatGPT to produce various chapters for an e-book titled “Intro to Economics.”
The goal, I told my students, was to produce a work that non-AP Economics students across the nation would find interesting, informative, and engaging.
To keep the ball rolling, I then presented the students with a 32-chapter table of contents I had developed. I then encouraged the students to select the chapter they were most interested in writing about. The requirements for each chapter included:
- A clear and concise subtitle.
- A captivating image to attract readers.
- The avoidance of any/all words that the student authoring the chapter could neither pronounce nor would often use.
- Five multiple-choice questions to test comprehension.
- Two discussion questions to encourage deeper engagement.
- Something to engage (a video found on YouTube, for example, no longer than three minutes, or an analogy, or some high interest and relating news story
- A further reading section.
I then told the students that all completed chapters were to be uploaded to Medium.com.
To lead by example, I selected one of the unclaimed chapters and demonstrated how to approach the task, aiming to inspire and guide the students through their own writing process.
The Student Produced Chapters
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Economics, by Gabriel Izquierdo
- Chapter 2: The Economic Way of Thinking, by Sophia Hou
- Chapter 3: Supply and Demand, by Aeris Hui
- Chapter 4: Market Structures, by Matthew Jitngamplang
- Chapter 5: The Role of Government in Economics, by Brandon Strauss
- Chapter 6: Money and Banking, by Cassidy Taber
- Chapter 7: Understanding Inflation and Deflation, by Teagan Torres
- Chapter 8: The Basics of International Trade, by Taylor Hong
- Chapter 9: Capitalism, Socialism, and Economic Growth, by Felix Steinberger
- Chapter 10: Labor Markets and Employment, by Joshua Lee
- Chapter 11: Taxes and Fiscal Policy, by Maya Borkar
- Chapter 12: Monetary Policy and Central Banks, by Caden Chan
- Chapter 13: Economic Indicators and Their Importance, by Patrick Feng
- Chapter 14: Business Cycles and Economic Growth, by Victoria Tao
- Chapter 15: Poverty and Economic Inequality, by Anjali Rao
- Chapter 16: Environmental Economics and Sustainability, by Zeyun Wang
- Chapter 17: The Keynesian View, by Ethan Kinoshita
- Chapter 18: Behavioral Economics, by Yilong Zheng
- Chapter 19: The Economic Health Chronicles, by Michael Fan
- Chapter 20: Technology and the Future of Economics, by Preston Montano
- Chapter 21: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, by Sophia Armendariz
- Chapter 22: The Economics of Education, by Collin Sze
- Chapter 23: Globalization and Its Economic Impact (by Reef Stark-Moniz
- Chapter 24: Contemporary Economic Challenges and Debates, by Emi Heller
Enhancing Comprehension with Multimedia and Collaborative Learning
After finishing their chapters, the students were called on to produce a video lasting no more than two minutes detailing the chapter they wrote.
Add yes, they were permitted to use ChatGPT to assist in the scripting of these presentations.
Below are examples of the videos produced by the students. Of special note — the last video. It was produced by a student who utilized an AI-driven platform for voiceover narration, showcasing a creative approach to fulfilling the project requirements while maintaining personal comfort.
Customized Assessments Using AI
After producing their videos, students were asked to respond in writing to five Short Answer Questions (SAQs). These questions were derived from submitting the students’ slideshow scripts to ChatGPT, which was asked to generate ten SAQs that logically stemmed from the content of the students’ scripts. The idea was to create questions directly related to and flowing from the scripts, which the script authors should be able to answer logically.
The student editors then selected five of these questions for each student, which I subsequently uploaded to Class Companion. Each student was then provided with 50 minutes to respond to their SAQs. To reiterate, these SAQs were designed to be directly connected to the script that each student had developed for their slideshow presentation, ensuring that the questions were tailored to their individual work.
Class Companion was then used to score the responses and provide instant feedback based on a rubric that I had entered into the system. This approach ensured that each student received both personalized questions and feedback, enhancing the learning experience by directly engaging with the material they had developed.
The Final Exam
This exam consisted of five SAQs and fifty MCQs. Click here to view the MCQ bank. The SAQs are not publicly available.
The final exam seeks to test student understanding of the entire e-book, with the students’ SAQ scores weighted more heavily than their MCQ scores.
Students had four weeks to prepare for the exam (read all chapters, watch the videos, talk with the authors, and use ChatGPT for review sheets).
In the weeks leading up to the final exam, I would periodically “teach” certain key exam topics.
