Classroom Expernomics Vol. The intermediate micro class may be the best place in the curriculum for full integration of experiments as pedagogical device. Most students in the intermediate class are coming from a principles experience which is much more descriptive, and, as a result, many are wrestling with a level of abstraction having no obvious anchor in either their experience or in observable behavior. Adding to this difficulty is the attitude that theory is not useful in the sense that students who can and do use economic theory to answer questions on an exam, will give an entirely different explanation when asked to analyze an economic event away from the classroom environment.
Experiments can do three things for the instructor.
First, they can provide the anchor for the theoretical constructs used, especially if the experiments are conducted prior to introducing the concepts in the classroom. The reports are particularly important because they identify what the students know, and often highlight fallacious reasoning held by a surprisingly large proportion of the students. The data from these experiments is not research quality nor should it be. There will be some students who won't understand the instructions no matter how clearly they are written or how carefully you explain them. Don't worry about it.