A study of teaching methods and performance assessments in consumer education

ーBy means of teaching practice focusing on mail-orderー

Abstract

The object of this study is to develop teaching methods in consumer education. Two teaching methods were conducted with 44 junior high school students, focusing on mail-order. The first method assumed that taking the standpoint of a malicious retailers would help understanding of proper buying behavior. The second method utilized student interest in the teaching materials to heighten learner motivation. The effectiveness of the teaching method was measured by comparing the behavior of the students after the practice with what is thought to be common among consumer affairs professionals. Consequently, more students behaved the same way as the experts and their decision making process was improved, which showed the validity of the teaching methods.