Seeing Is Believing: Mathematics Visualization In Economics Education

Abstract

Visualization through the use of physical objects is an important method that instructors can use to convey and solidify an understanding of economic principles in their novice students of economics. This paper outlines three simple examples which have been successful in the classroom, each taking a question that students frequently ask --- why we build models, what a model looks like, and what we learn from a model --- and answering them with images of airplanes, watermelons and windows.