Teaching Resources for Economics at Community Colleges
Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1522234) and Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics.
Edited by Brian Lynch and Meena Beri
TRECC is an economics newsletter focused on teaching economics at the community college level. We seek to provide resources that will help instructors provide a dynamic and meaningful experience for their students. We also seek to unite instructors from across the country and open the lines of communication between us all.
foundation for economic education
One Stop Shop
Featured Teaching Resources
Make your teaching fun and interactive using economic marvels, swifty themed worksheets, Monday Morning Economist Classroom edition, and much more. Check this FEE Resource Page.
Professional Development
The Spirit of Liberty
FEE offers a variety of professional development. Choose from on demand, virtual, and in-person events.
FEE offers a variety of professional development. Choose from on demand, virtual, and in-person events.
ECON 1-0-WHAT
Dirk Mateer
Dirk's website has tips, tricks, easily avoidable mistakes, planning for worst case scenario, teaching cheatsheets, using media in class and much more. Find all this by clicking on the image.
Upcoming Summer Conferences
DES26
JETSET
CTREE
read more
read more
read more
Resources for Your Courses
ECON4EVERYONE
NGPF
Opportunity Insights
United for ALICE
More ECON Resources
Curated by colleagues in ECON
Monday Morning Economist
Econiful
Decode Econ
FTE
MRU
Viral Videos to Weekly Research - Sharing Two Interesting Reads
AI in Economics: A Weekly Research Roundup, starting with a Q1 2026 Summary
read more
By Kosali Simon, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
When Less Costs More: Understanding Shrinkflation and Skimpflation Through Viral Videos
read more
Wayne Geerling, Dirk Mateer, Nicola Thomas, Nathan Velte
Idea Exchange Interview
We interviewed Wayne Geerling from UT Austin for this edition. See our exchange on the next few pages.
Note: This interview has been shortened for editing purposes
Just to follow up on the teaching methods-they they come from Community College teachers, so I've always been very respectful because we take a lot of your best ideas and just run them in front of a bigger audience. So kudos to you guys for coming up with so many good ideas. For me,the Community College teachers are every bit as important as the rock star professors at a top university because we're all part of the same ecosystem. You guys do a great job of preparing them for four year institution
What are the creative ways you use to teach economics?
I mean, I like to think of teaching as driving a manual car, which is ironic because I don't actually drive. So a manual car has gears, so you need to work through different gears. So typically my lecture is 75 minutes. I like to shift gear probably every 10 or 15 minutes. So I use a range of different activities. I often have pre class music. I use in class experiments and demonstrations, Kahoot, media, everything from commercials to TV to film.
- Who was your mentor or who was your major influence on teaching?Two people stand out., Bill Murray, this crazy Scottish guy, and he was just so immersed in the history material. He'd get emotional during class when he was talking about certain historical persons So from Bill, I guess what I learned is that teaching in some respects is theatre Bill certainly got me interested in teaching. So my style in some respects mimics a lot of Bill.
So out of these, you know you use so many ways to engage students. Is there one that is your favorite?I do a fishing game to, I'm talking about Negative externalities and I use a fishing game to illustrate Tragedy of the Commons. So it's probably the demonstrations I think that stand out because sometimes they just go off and you know that you've nailed it, this amazing reaction from the audience and it feels like you're on stage in front of.
Interview
In terms of our economic community, the biggest influence has been Dirk Mateer. I'll tell you like a funny story about Dirk as well. The short version is we basically met online, through an initial email about advice on using pop culture. We've had a 20 year friendship ever since.So Dirk has been a Major influence in my career. He brought me out to Penn State and then left a year later, got me to Arizona, left a year later, got me to Texas.
Our styles are very similar. My language is a little bit more colorful and obviously I've got a broad Australian accent. I taught with Dirk, which was a career highlight three years ago.The class before Thanksgiving, we came dressed as the other person. So Dirk had the fake Mohawk and you know, I had the glasses and the shirt buttoned,and it was good fun. So yeah, Dirk has certainly been a major influence and it's led to plenty of collaboration as well.
Interview
What would you tell students who are unsure about majoring in economics (even if they really like the class)
So what is your favorite AI tool?
First is there's diverse career opportunities available in banking, business, government.
as analysts, consultants, and policy makers. The second point would be high earning potential. Econ majors they place right at the top of the charts, pretty much in line with like engineering and finance
- Third is the strong analytical and quantitative skills that you pick up. Students also learn coding. These are skills that can be transfered to lots of jobs
For students, they could use it this way:Here's some topics that are on the exam coming up. I'm gonna give you a sample exam. These are the questions that I'm struggling with. Can you generate new questions? And can you also show me the methodology? How do I get the right answer
I think ChatGPT is the best. In fact, Dirk, Jadrian and I published a paper on ChatGPT right when it came out. It's it's had It's like 260 citations already. Sometimes you just get very lucky with the project and you're there at the right time .So I use ChatGPT for my History of Economic Thought course. I have found it's very useful if you give it the right prompts.
Interview
So what is your favorite AI tool?
I'm pretty fortunate in that we have lots of undergrad TAS and grad TAS who help out, particularly the undergrad TAS. So a lot of the boring admin stuff that nobody wants to do is pretty much taken. The most important thing about research is just coming up with a good idea and then working with people who have good ideas. Sometimes people don't have much confidence that they haven't published before. . You got to start somewhere. You need good ideas, good people, positive reinforcement, and then once you get that, then it creates momentum. Once you have published, people want to work with you, so people will come to me with ideas sometimes. This has been great. I''ve really enjoyed it guys. Thank you, Wayne!
This paragraph is ready to be filled with incredible creativity, experiences, and stories.
Describe the topic and content you’re going to cover in class
Interactive visual communication step by step:
- Plan the structure of your content.
- Give visual weight to the key points and main points.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
Put here a highlighted title,
Interactive visual communication step by step:
- Plan the structure of your content.
- Give visual weight to the key points and main ones.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
The visual accompaniment
Interactive visual communication step by step:
- Plan the structure of your content.
- Give visual weight to the key points and main ones.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
Abajo el contenido aburrido y plano en tus clases:
The interactive visual communication step by step:
- Plan the structure of your content.
- Give visual weight to the key points and main points.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
Animate your content and take it to the next level
The interactive visual communication step by step:
- Plan the structure of your content.
- Give visual weight to the key points and main ones.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
TRECC Newsletter Spring-Summer 2026
Meenakshi Beri
Created on April 29, 2026
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Transcript
Teaching Resources for Economics at Community Colleges
Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1522234) and Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics.
Edited by Brian Lynch and Meena Beri
TRECC is an economics newsletter focused on teaching economics at the community college level. We seek to provide resources that will help instructors provide a dynamic and meaningful experience for their students. We also seek to unite instructors from across the country and open the lines of communication between us all.
foundation for economic education
One Stop Shop
Featured Teaching Resources
Make your teaching fun and interactive using economic marvels, swifty themed worksheets, Monday Morning Economist Classroom edition, and much more. Check this FEE Resource Page.
Professional Development
The Spirit of Liberty
FEE offers a variety of professional development. Choose from on demand, virtual, and in-person events.
FEE offers a variety of professional development. Choose from on demand, virtual, and in-person events.
ECON 1-0-WHAT
Dirk Mateer
Dirk's website has tips, tricks, easily avoidable mistakes, planning for worst case scenario, teaching cheatsheets, using media in class and much more. Find all this by clicking on the image.
Upcoming Summer Conferences
DES26
JETSET
CTREE
read more
read more
read more
Resources for Your Courses
ECON4EVERYONE
NGPF
Opportunity Insights
United for ALICE
More ECON Resources
Curated by colleagues in ECON
Monday Morning Economist
Econiful
Decode Econ
FTE
MRU
Viral Videos to Weekly Research - Sharing Two Interesting Reads
AI in Economics: A Weekly Research Roundup, starting with a Q1 2026 Summary
read more
By Kosali Simon, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
When Less Costs More: Understanding Shrinkflation and Skimpflation Through Viral Videos
read more
Wayne Geerling, Dirk Mateer, Nicola Thomas, Nathan Velte
Idea Exchange Interview
We interviewed Wayne Geerling from UT Austin for this edition. See our exchange on the next few pages.
Note: This interview has been shortened for editing purposes
Just to follow up on the teaching methods-they they come from Community College teachers, so I've always been very respectful because we take a lot of your best ideas and just run them in front of a bigger audience. So kudos to you guys for coming up with so many good ideas. For me,the Community College teachers are every bit as important as the rock star professors at a top university because we're all part of the same ecosystem. You guys do a great job of preparing them for four year institution
What are the creative ways you use to teach economics? I mean, I like to think of teaching as driving a manual car, which is ironic because I don't actually drive. So a manual car has gears, so you need to work through different gears. So typically my lecture is 75 minutes. I like to shift gear probably every 10 or 15 minutes. So I use a range of different activities. I often have pre class music. I use in class experiments and demonstrations, Kahoot, media, everything from commercials to TV to film.
So out of these, you know you use so many ways to engage students. Is there one that is your favorite?I do a fishing game to, I'm talking about Negative externalities and I use a fishing game to illustrate Tragedy of the Commons. So it's probably the demonstrations I think that stand out because sometimes they just go off and you know that you've nailed it, this amazing reaction from the audience and it feels like you're on stage in front of.
Interview
In terms of our economic community, the biggest influence has been Dirk Mateer. I'll tell you like a funny story about Dirk as well. The short version is we basically met online, through an initial email about advice on using pop culture. We've had a 20 year friendship ever since.So Dirk has been a Major influence in my career. He brought me out to Penn State and then left a year later, got me to Arizona, left a year later, got me to Texas.
Our styles are very similar. My language is a little bit more colorful and obviously I've got a broad Australian accent. I taught with Dirk, which was a career highlight three years ago.The class before Thanksgiving, we came dressed as the other person. So Dirk had the fake Mohawk and you know, I had the glasses and the shirt buttoned,and it was good fun. So yeah, Dirk has certainly been a major influence and it's led to plenty of collaboration as well.
Interview
What would you tell students who are unsure about majoring in economics (even if they really like the class)
So what is your favorite AI tool?
First is there's diverse career opportunities available in banking, business, government. as analysts, consultants, and policy makers. The second point would be high earning potential. Econ majors they place right at the top of the charts, pretty much in line with like engineering and finance
For students, they could use it this way:Here's some topics that are on the exam coming up. I'm gonna give you a sample exam. These are the questions that I'm struggling with. Can you generate new questions? And can you also show me the methodology? How do I get the right answer
I think ChatGPT is the best. In fact, Dirk, Jadrian and I published a paper on ChatGPT right when it came out. It's it's had It's like 260 citations already. Sometimes you just get very lucky with the project and you're there at the right time .So I use ChatGPT for my History of Economic Thought course. I have found it's very useful if you give it the right prompts.
Interview
So what is your favorite AI tool?
I'm pretty fortunate in that we have lots of undergrad TAS and grad TAS who help out, particularly the undergrad TAS. So a lot of the boring admin stuff that nobody wants to do is pretty much taken. The most important thing about research is just coming up with a good idea and then working with people who have good ideas. Sometimes people don't have much confidence that they haven't published before. . You got to start somewhere. You need good ideas, good people, positive reinforcement, and then once you get that, then it creates momentum. Once you have published, people want to work with you, so people will come to me with ideas sometimes. This has been great. I''ve really enjoyed it guys. Thank you, Wayne!
This paragraph is ready to be filled with incredible creativity, experiences, and stories.
Describe the topic and content you’re going to cover in class
Interactive visual communication step by step:
Put here a highlighted title,
Interactive visual communication step by step:
The visual accompaniment
Interactive visual communication step by step:
Abajo el contenido aburrido y plano en tus clases:
The interactive visual communication step by step:
Animate your content and take it to the next level
The interactive visual communication step by step: