| Research Abstract |
In 2001, I visited several high schools to give introductory lectures on economics to high school students for the purpose of giving a smooth transition for them from high school education to university education. In doing so, I checked what are the topics in economics, which attract high school students. It became clear that they are interested in environmental problems and eager to know why the Japanese economy is in such a trouble for so long. Utilizing this occasion, I interviewed high school teachers, asking them what are the obstacles in teaching a high school course on introductory politics and economics, seiji-keizai. It became clear that many of them are not majoring in economics, so that explanation of price determination is quite difficult. Many of high school teachers in the field of social study (shakaika) majored in history at universities. They criticized that in preparing the lecture university text books are too small in number. This means that most of the textbooks have no variety in subjects and expositions, although there are many textbooks. Compared to this situation in economics, textbooks in history have variety in subjects and expositions
Thus, in 2002, I wrote a paper, in which how historical topics can be introduced into economic education in universities. In this year, taking account of the criticisms given by high school teachers, I began writing a textbook on economics. In microeconomics part environmental problem and trade problem are utilized to explain the standard subjects. In macroeconomics part, the bubble economy of the 1980s and its collapse and subsequent recession are utilized to explain the standard subjects. In this textbook atmost efforts are made to introduce current topics in magazines and newspapers. This book was published in 2004
|
