To make learning more meaningful for my students, I create various opportunities for them to build connections between economic concepts they learn in the classroom and institutions and their experiences in the real world. The purpose of a pre-module activity, which students complete before the first lecture of each module (unit), is to prompt the students to think about the topics that will be covered in the unit through the lens of history, politics, and their every-day lives. 

I developed the following pre-module activities as the Macroeconomics instructor the Summer 2020 Principles of Economics course at the Columbia Summer School. The first page includes a brief description of the course structure and the schedule of the activities. 

Pre-module activities for Principles of Economics (Macro)

In the second half of the Principles of Macro course, I teach students about the economics of the Great Depression and the Great Recession. The course syllabus is organized such that students will have already reviewed and practiced building-block concepts (e.g., unemployment, interest rates, inflation/deflation, fiscal and monetary policy) in earlier lectures and will be prepared to apply them in a historical context. The lectures also provide some insight into the historical context of the crises and their impact both on global economies and the field of economics. 

I developed the following lectures as the macroeconomics instructor the Summer 2020 Principles of Economics course at the Columbia Summer School.

Lecture slides on the Great Depression

Lecture slides on the Great Recession  

Student feedback on lectures (from anonymous end-of-semester course evaluations; emphasis added throughout): 

"[...] I loved the lectures on the Great Depression and Great Recession - I gained a much deeper understanding of the two economic crises."

"[...] I also gained a solid grasp of economic crises like the Great Depression and the Great Recession, including what caused them, what impact they had, as well as what were the differences between them (especially policy differences).”

"[...] she [Tatyana] clearly explained how the central and commercial banking systems function and clearly explained the causes, significance, and policies behind the Great Depression and the Great Recession. I loved the use of videos to help explain some of the concepts like the fractional reserve banking system and the MBS's of Fannie Mae. [...]"

One of the most common assignments in upper-year elective economics courses is a research paper. In courses with a research paper component, I work with my students throughout the entire semester to help them master the skills and the self-confidence necessary to become producers of research. The semester begins with a review of past student papers that provide tangible examples of successful and achievable work and ends with one-on-one consultation sessions to provide feedback on students' drafts. During the course, I also conduct a guided in-person review session of the key elements required for a research paper. The review session also includes a data tutorial on how to find primary sources for the paper, in this case through a Japanese government database. The students then practice their research skills on several scaffolding assignments. On the guided problem set activity, students collect primary source data, describe data trends, and write a discussion of the results supported by secondary source evidence from lectures. On the paper outline, students come up with their own research question, describe the economic motivation for it, and explore existing research and potential data sources. These assignments provide valuable opportunities for students to receive feedback and improve prior to the final evaluation of their term paper. 

I developed the following materials as a teaching assistant for The Economic Development of Japan course at Columbia University. All materials were most recently updated in Fall 2020. 

Review session slides: how to write an economics research paper

Guided problem set activity

Paper outline assignment