Teaching with Pop Culture
For years I have struggled with the academic stigma of using media in the classroom. I think the only topic I have seen educators fight about more is whether or not to bring extra pencils to an exam in case a student forgets one (full disclosure: I bring pencils, cough drops, and tissues). There’s a mindset that teaching with media somehow diminishes the importance of what is being taught or that educator who use pop culture are just engaging in “edutainment.” I wholeheartedly disagree.
This academic debate isn’t really much different than the debates you see between “film and movies” or “classical and rock-n-roll music.” There’s an elitism at play that insinuates using pop culture is beneath them and their academic pedigree. I have met plenty of academics from much more reputable institutions than mine who find popular media an excellent tool for teaching, like the late Alan Krueger:
There are legitimate concerns that educators have about using media, but I don’t think I’m in a position to answer all of those in one article. The most common first set of concerns arise over copyright law and student accommodations. The one-sentence answer is you’re probably okay thanks to the TEACH Act and nearly all media sources include captioning. This is where your department librarian or instructional designer can really help!
Once you feel at ease with those issues, a new batch of concerns pops up! What media is appropriate to use in the classroom (R-rated vs G) and what is the assessment approach? The answer to these is based on your personal preferences and that of your audience. If you’re not comfortable with a video that includes adult language, don’t show the video. If you’re teaching 5th graders, maybe don’t show scenes from Breaking Bad. If you feel uncomfortable asking students to recall video clips on exams, don’t put them on your exam.
I will eventually share how I use media in class. As a preview, it closely matches my teaching philosophy. Have fun in class:
What media do I use in class?
I’ll show almost anything in class, but I avoid things that have racist/sexist undertones or an obnoxious number of curse words. Beyond playing TV/movie clips, I also play music videos (like Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night), stand-up comedy bits (like Seinfeld’s Morning Guy bit), and even commercials (Le Trèfle has a great one!). I use a lot of stuff from projects that I’ve worked on and I try to update clips each semester.
I also teach with popular press books, but that’s probably better saved for another post. There are a lot of great books recommended by economics educators, but here is a quick rundown of the ones I assign in my courses:
- Principles of Microeconomics: Think Like a Freak and The Why Axis
- Labor Economics: New Geography of Jobs and We Wanted Workers
- Economics of Crime: American Prison and Narconomics
- Natural Resource Economics: Endangered Economies and The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change
I know of 2 students who have enrolled in all four of those courses with me and it brings a little bit of joying knowing that they have consumed that much economics beyond a traditional lecture.
What other media is out there?
There is A LOT! I believe the most important thing is to use media you’re comfortable using. Even if a clip is an amazing example, don’t show it if you don’t like it. I think the best example of this is The Big Bang Theory. We have a lot of great resources on Bazinganomics, but if you’re one of those people who hate the show then I wouldn’t recommend the clips. This scene is perfect for introducing the concept of sunk costs, but if you hate canned laughter and make a face during the clip, your students will likely remember your facial expression more than the concept.
You can find entire websites devoted to movies and television shows like Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Superstore, Breaking Bad, Shark Tank, Modern Family, Star Wars, and my personal favorite, Parks and Recreation. There even websites dedicated to country music and Broadway shows. If you want an even wider range of resources then check out the Economics Media Library. There are over 500 clips that you can use to teach topics across the economics curriculum.
How do I use it in the classroom?
You may not love this answer, but it’s an honest answer. I use it in as many ways as I possibly can. I integrate media as much as I can. The easiest way is playing music before class, but making the songs themed to the lecture. If I’m teaching about sunk costs, I’ll play Old Dominion’s Break Up with With Him right before class starts. I’ll take some requests leading up to that, but the segue into the class is themed.
I’ll use a short clip before I introduce a topic, particularly if I know it’s a topic students may struggle with. I show this clip from Super Troopers to demonstrate marginal analysis and opportunity costs in my first lecture of the semester. There are no assessments tied to it during class and it really helps me set the tone for the semester.
Sometimes I’ll integrate media as part of a think-pair-share activity. I’ll show this interview with Evan Osnos on The Colbert Show when I’m covering externalities. I’ll teach the beginning of my externalities lesson one class, and then use the clip in the second class as a review of the previous class. After the clip is over, I’ll have students create a diagram for cashmere with an externality. I’ll have them turn-and-talk to see if their answers are different. I may ask a clicker question to see gauge their understanding and then invite a student up to the front to walk through their answer.
If I have a longer video, like this Adam Ruins Everything episode on manufacturing, I may edit the video in PowerPoint and create multiple smaller clips from that single segment. I weave response questions in between those breaks. Some of the questions I ask will be based on their opinions or predictions while others are a review of previous material. Instead of asking my students to watch a 9-minute video and ask questions at the end, I ask them to watch nine 1-minute videos with questions in between.
I do occasionally ask questions about the media I show in class on my midterm exams. Those questions are always worth the smallest weight on the exam and the questions are broad enough that a student should remember it if they were in class. I try not to ask pedantic questions that very specific to a particular. My goal is to keep it general and provide as many cues as I can.
Using media in the classroom is fun. I would never lie and say that it doesn’t make the class more engaging. I think what a lot of other educators miss is that it’s also fun for the educator. By this point, I’ve definitely lost the critics. If you’re still with me by this point, I’ve got you to at least consider using it or you’re using this article to reaffirm your use of media.
Using this media in the classroom is what keeps me engaged with the material each semester and it’s what keeps me excited to show up each day to lecture. I can’t wait to show them the great clips I’ve found. It took a few years, but students have finally started to point out that before almost every clip, I will tell them “this is my favorite video.” I don’t know when that started to happen, but I really do love every clip I play in my class.
As a reward for making it this far into the article, I’ll share a special part of my class with you. I put this montage together for the Fall 2020 semester as an introduction to how much media we’ll watch together. Each scene is only a few seconds long. Some occur more than once because I even show the same clip multiple times. By the end of the course, I share a special “Last Lecture” with them, but not before we watch this montage again. It’s great to see how much we’ve covered over the course of 15 weeks.
