Teaching Game Theory in College by Means of a Free Discussion Group

This paper describes the effect of inserting an associative discussion group within the teaching and assessment of a course dedicated to Game Theory in 2016. This course is included in the Master in Economics given at the ISEG School of Economics and Management (SEM) of the Universidade de Lisboa. From 2014 to 2016, the Game Theory course evolved from teaching through lectures and assessment made by a final examination to a situation where a group seminar was added to the lecture, with the rate of attendance to the group seminars counting for the student’s final score. We can distinguish three main effects caused by this pedagogical change. Firstly, the relationship between professor and students became more levelled, the students being able to assume the role of “teaching assistants” and even “program innovators” in the final stage of the course. Secondly, while lectures tended to be almost exclusively theoretical, group seminars led to a closer integration of mathematics and economic/real life interpretations, thus making the course more fitted to the needs of its patrons. Thirdly, the new kind of assessment decreased significantly the risk of failing to pass the examination, thus enhancing the degree of safety and trust (i.e. “holding”) that each students gets from the course. In addition, the free discussion group relaxed the implicit conflict among professor and students on which subjects were more important and interesting and should be assigned priority in learning. Consequently, the new pedagogical method almost eliminated drop-outs. The students who would take the examination in any case had a positive (although modest) gain in performance. This result confirms another experience of association of students to their own assessment done at ISEG SEM/Universidade de Lisboa in 1968.