Active Learning in Economics: A Comparative Analysis of challenge-based learning and team-based learning impact on students’ satisfaction

In the contemporary academic system, a substantial body of literature emphasizes the central role of active learning in fostering inclusion. This study compares two different teaching approaches focused on the active engagement of students: challenge-based learning (CBL) and team-based learning (TBL). These two teaching methodologies have several similarities including the fact that students work in small heterogeneous groups to solve problems and brainstorm together. In a nutshell, in the CBL application analysed in this paper each team deals with a specific spinoff project in order to get an in-depth understanding of and empathise with real user/customer needs and prototype impactful service experiences, whereas with the TBL application, the analysed students attending a Macroeconomics undergraduate course address problems in small teams as the final step of a sequence of tests involving both individual and team work. The study analyses the impact of these teaching methodologies on three bachelor-degree classes in different economics courses by focusing on students’ satisfaction with the teaching activity and their perceptions about it. Preliminary results confirm an overall general satisfaction with the experience which differs in its sub-components according to the students’ characteristics and the teaching methodology. The inclusive dimension of the experimented active learning strategies can be found in the greater satisfaction shown by students in minority groups (in terms of gender, ethnicity or lower previously acquired hard skills) with a different statistical significance and size in the courses analysed.