Join me as I try to provide some ideas, resources and pedagogical approaches for teachers of Economics. In this month’s post, we will look at how to center Economic Thinking Concepts while exploring current issues. This lesson looks at the Gig/ Sharing economy through the lens of Economic Perspective. As we know, different stakeholders are affected differently in any given issue. There will be some who do well while others may be disadvantaged. The entire lesson is available here. Do note that I have not taught the course since 2017 so the articles and videos are older, but I have tried to include some updated sources as well.
Students begin by getting a good definition of the Gig economy before choosing one case study to explore more thoroughly. This specific lesson uses Airbnb and Uber, but you could substitute other examples. It is a good idea to vary the types of media you incorporate so as to be as accessible as possible. I tend to use short (ideally 10-12 minute) videos; cartoons, images, infographics; texts such as news articles.
Students dive more deeply into one case study using multiple sources with different economic perspectives and draw their own conclusions about whether the Gig economy is beneficial and about who benefits and who does not. I am not a fan of worksheets, but an organiser can be helpful for students to track their thinking, but they are free to use whatever notetaking strategy works for them.
The key is to provide examples from a variety of perspectives as that is the focus.
If you have topics, or approaches you would like to see addressed here, let me know! You can comment here.
