Determinants of Achievement of Economics Concepts by Elementary School Students

Research spanning more than two decades has provided abundant evidence that elementary school students are capable of learning economic concepts. This work includes general studies and surveys of students' learning (Kourilsky 1987; Lawson and O'Donnell 1986; Larkins and Shaver 1969; Schug and Walstad 1991), studies of students' performance after using particular curricular materials (Bennett 1985; Cassuto 1980; David 1989; Kourilsky 1977; Morgan 1991), studies focusing on students' learning of selected concepts (Ajello et al. 1987; Kourilsky and Graff 1986; Laney 1988), and studies focusing on learning theory, teaching strategies, or cognitive development of students (Berti, Bombi, and Beni, 1986; Kourilsky and Wittrock 1987; Laney 1990, 1993a, 1993b; Ryan and Carlson 1973; Schug 1983, 1987; Schug and Armento 1985; Schug and Birkey 1985). A national task force in 1961 identified economics content appropriate for precollege economics (Bach et al. 1961). Concepts suitable for elementary grade levels are identified in Master Curriculum Guide in Economics: What and When, Scope and Sequence Guidelines, K-12 (Gilliard et al. 1988), and related curriculum materials have been created by the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) and others. However, little research has since been done by grade level on the validity of these concepts, and additional evidence of their suitability is needed (e.g., Schug and Walstad 1991). Our objectives are to report and explain the extent of elementary students' learning of four major groups of economics concepts: basic, economic systems, markets and prices, and macro and international economics. We relate learning to the extent that the components of these concept groups are taught and to the characteristics of students in a production-function-of-learning model. Although this model has been applied to high school and college students in a wide variety of studies (see the next section), the only uses in elementary grades appear to be studies of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders by Walstad (1979, 1980), who focused on overall learning and on attitudes and differences in teacher training rather than on learning specific economic concepts. He showed that this model can be use-