Bill Goffe

About

I'm a Teaching Professor in the Economics Department at Penn State. Most semesters I teach roughly 1,000 students. I'm quite involved in the economics education community and I have a particular interest in applying concepts from cognitive science and from STEM education research to teach economics.

Students will find information on their classes in Canvas.

Publications (selected)

"Beyond the Flipped Class: The Impact of Research-Based Teaching Methods in a Macroeconomics Principles Class," (with Austin Boyle), American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 2018. [link] (The "Online Appendix" is a long version of this paper.)

"A Survey of Principles Instructors: Why Lecture Prevails" (with David Kauper), Journal of Economic Education, 2014. [link]

"Computer Network Resources for Economists" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1994. [link]

"Global Optimization of Statistical Functions with Simulated Annealing," (with Gary Ferrier and John Rogers) Journal of Econometrics, 1994. [link]

Service (selected)

Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Education, 2008 to now

American Economic Association Committe on Economic Education, 2018-2021

Co-chair of both the Liberal Arts Teaching Group (a faculty learning community) and Innovative Teaching at Penn State (a monthly seminar series) at Penn State

Keynotes and Plenary Talks

"Enhance Your Teaching with Recent Discoveries about How We Learn," St. Louis Fed Professors Conference, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, November 14, 2019.

"Managing Diversity in Classroom: Best approaches to Teach Diverse Students," Australasian Teaching Economics Conference, Department of Economics, University of Melbourne, July 17, 2019.

"How to Use Results from the Science of Learning in Your Classroom," Economics Teaching Workshop, Economics Department, University of Kentucky, April 13, 2019.

Other Talks (selected)

"Cognitive Science Teaching Strategies and Literacy-Targeted Economics Complementarities," with Scott A. Wolla, Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 8, 2022.

"Educational Technology for Teaching Economics -- Where to Start and How to Grow?" Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 7, 2022.

"Enhance Your Teaching with What is Known About How Humans Learn," Department Teaching Seminar, Arizona State University Department of Economics, January 10, 2020.

"How to Use Results from the Science of Learning in Your Classroom," Department Teaching Seminar, University of Toronto Economics Department, May 17, 2019

Other

Economics Education Writing Group, Summer 2022 [link]

Reading Group for Economists Interested in Physics Education Research, Summer 2021 [link]

"Preconceptions of Principles Students" (working paper with Douglas Bice, Elisabeth S. Curtis, Wayne Geerling, Adam Hoffer, Solina Lindahl, Mark Maier, Brain Peterson, and Wendy Stock) [link]