I. ASCRC General Education Form
(revised 1/27/11)
Use to propose new general education courses (except writing courses), to change existing gen ed courses and to remove designations for existing gen ed courses.
Note: One-time-only general education designation may be requested for experimental courses
(X91-previously X95), granted only for the semester taught. A NEW request must be submitted for the course to receive subsequent general education status .
III. Language VII: Social Sciences Group
(submit separate forms
III Exception: Symbolic Systems *
IV: Expressive Arts
VIII: Ethics & Human Values
IX: American & European
X if requesting more than one
V: Literary & Artistic Studies X: Indigenous & Global general education
VI: Historical & Cultural Studies XI: Natural Sciences w/ lab  w/out lab  group designation)
*Courses proposed for this designation must be standing requirements of majors that qualify for exceptions to the modern and classical language requirement
Dept/Program Department of Economics Course # ECNS 201
Course Title Principles of Microeconomics
Prerequisite
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Credits
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Instructor
Please type / print name Signature
Derek Kellenberg, Chair
Phone / Email (on behalf of the department)
Program Chair Derek Kellenberg
Dean Chris Comer
III. Type of request
New One-time Only Renew X
Reason for Gen Ed inclusion, change or deletion
Change
3
Date
Remove
Description of change
IV. Description and purpose of new general education course: General Education courses must be introductory and foundational within the offering department or within the General
Education Group. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course content to students’ future lives: See Preamble: http://umt.edu/facultysenate/archives/minutes/gened/GE_preamble.aspx
V. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See: http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
1. systematically study individuals, groups, or social institutions;
2. analyze individuals, groups, or social problems and structures; and/or
The market system is a key U.S. social institution.
The course addresses successes and failures of the market system and the social problems and structures inherent in the U.S. marketbased economy.

3. give considerable attention to ways in which conclusions and generalizations are developed and justified as well as the methods of data collection and analysis.
1. Students taking courses in the Social Sciences
Perspective will be able to: Describe the nature, structure, and historical development of human behavior, organizations, social phenomena, and/or relationships;
2. use theory in explaining these individual, group, or social phenomena; and/or
The course pays considerable attention to the ways economic models are used to draw conclusions and generalizations. It also illustrates the role of data in economic models.
VI. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning goals. See: http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
The student will gain enough insight to demonstrate how economic theory gives insights into important issues in the world today.
3. understand, assess, and evaluate how conclusions and generalizations are justified based on data
Students, using the issues approach, should master the basic economic theory necessary to explore a variety of real world issues.
Students understand and evaluate how data from the financial press is consistent with or contradictory to the predictions of economic models.
VII. Justification: Normally, general education courses will not carry pre-requisites, will carry at least 3 credits, and will be numbered at the 100-200 level.
If the course has more than one pre-requisite, carries fewer than three credits, or is upper division (numbered above the 200 level), provide rationale for exception(s).
VIII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.

The syllabus should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
Attached
Please note: Approved general education changes will take effect next fall.
General education instructors will be expected to provide sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.

P RINCIPLES OF M ICROECONOMICS
ECNS 201, S ECTION 01
S PRING 2012
C OURSE I NFORMATION
Professor:
Office :
Email :
Phone :
Helen Naughton, Ph.D.
Liberal Arts 412 helen.naughton@umontana.edu
(406) 243-4586
Office Hours: WF 8:30-9:30 AM and by appointment.
Class Times & Location: MWF 10:10-11:00 in CHEM 123
Teaching Assistant:
Office :
Email:
Phone :
Office Hours:
Luke Anderson
Liberal Arts 409
Luke1.Anderson@umontana.edu
(505) 239-2587
Tuesdays 2:10-5PM in LA 409.
C OURSE R ELEVANCE :
Do you like to engage in active debates about current events? This course provides you some basic tools that are necessary to understand economics embedded in news and journal articles. You might find that economics is invaluable in formalizing your own worldviews.
E XPECTED S TUDENT L EARNING O UTCOMES :
1.
Understand the role of incentives in decision-making.
2.
Analyze individual and firm decisions on the margin.
3.
Distinguish between explicit costs and implicit costs.
4.
Use the demand and supply model.
5.
Explain what we mean by efficiency in the market.
6.
Explain why markets sometimes fail to achieve efficiency.
7.
Distinguish between economic profit and accounting profit.
8.
Analyze firm activity in different industries.
C HECK Y OUR M ATH B ACKGROUND :
This course is fairly mathematical. In order to succeed in this course you should have a good grasp of how to use graphs, geometry and basic algebra. We will review the essential math concepts during the first week of class. I expect you already have a working knowledge of the math concepts that I review. It is your responsibility to talk to me as soon as possible if your math skills are not up to the expectation for the course.
R EQUIRED T EXTBOOK :
Mankiw, N. Gregory (2009).
Principles of Microeconomics , 5 th ed., Southwestern.
M OODLE AND E MAIL :
I will use Moodle ( http://umonline.umt.edu/ ) to post course materials (such as practice questions related to each chapter), conduct surveys, make announcements and send emails. Please make sure that you have set up your email account so that you are receiving the email sent to your firstname.lastname@umontana.edu
address. Check Moodle and your email often.
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G RADING P OLICY :
25% 5 best Quizzes (5% each)
25% Exam 1 or Part 1 of Optional Final
25% Exam 2 or Part 2 of Optional Final
25% Exam 3 or Part 3 of Optional Final
I will not use +/- grading.
A=100%-90%, B=89%-80%, C=79%-70%, D=69%-60% and F=59% and below.
Q
UIZZES
:
There will be 6 quizzes throughout the term. The quizzes comprise 10 multiple choice questions directly from practice questions that I have posted on Moodle. To do well on the quizzes you have to work through all the practice questions before class. The lowest quiz score (or one missed quiz score) will be dropped.
E XAMS :
There will be three non-cumulative exams, but please note that material in each subsequent exam draws on earlier material. To help you prepare for the multiple-choice exams work through practice problems for each chapter. The exam questions will be different from but fairly similar in format to practice questions.
No early or make-up exams will be provided (outside the optional final).
A missed exam due to an emergency or other reasons can be made up during the optional final.
O PTIONAL F INAL :
The optional final exam will be divided into three parts:
Part 1 from 10:10-10:50AM Exam 1 material.
Part 2 from 10:50-11:30AM Exam 2 material.
Part 3 from 11:30-12:10AM Exam 3 material.
You can take one, two or three parts of the final exam but you can take each part only at the appropriate 40-minute interval. During the last day of class I will give you your course grade if you do not take the final exam. If you would like to take final exam, please sign up for the appropriate part on the last day of class.
If you do not sign up for the final I may not have a copy of the final for you to take. If you are satisfied with your grade for the course prior to the final you do not need to take the final exam. Taking the final cannot lower your course grade.
B
RING TO
E
XAMS
:
(1) Skinny red S CANTRON (with 100 questions on each side),
(2) #2 lead pencils,
(3) Good eraser,
(4) Calculator (no cell phones or iPods or other smarter gadgets allowed),
(5) Notes on a small note card (3 by 5 inches) to help you with the exam. Notes have to be hand written—that means no Xerox copies or printed material of any sort.
Other forms of assistance or sources of information are prohibited. Violations of academic integrity involving an exam will result in a failing grade for the course. All cell phones must be turned off.
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E XPERIMENTS FOR E XTRA C REDIT :
We will have at least one class experiment. The particular date of the experiment depends on the pace of the class and may not be pre-announced. Because experiments only work if there are incentives to participate, participants will receive extra credit. This extra credit will be between 0.5% and 1% of course grade. There is no way to “make up” the experiment even if your absence is excused.
U NIVERSITY G UIDELINES :
(1) Academic Dishonesty : University policy requires that I include the following statement: All students must practice academic honesty. Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by the University. All students must be familiar with the Student Conduct Code. The Code is available for review online at http://life.umt.edu/VPSA/student_conduct.php
(2) Disabilities : The University of Montana assures equal access to instruction through collaboration between students with disabilities, instructors, and Disability Services for Students
(DSS). If you think you may have a disability adversely affecting your academic performance, and you have not already registered with DSS, please contact DSS in Lommasson 154. I will work with you and DSS to provide an appropriate accommodation.
T ENTATIVE O UTLINE OF T OPICS :
The following calendar outlines the topics for the term. We may move a little faster or a little slower than the schedule. Therefore, you should always come to class to figure out what topics are covered.
Page 3 of 4

Week 1:
Starting Jan. 23
Week 2:
Starting Jan. 30
Week 3:
Starting Feb. 6
Week 4:
Starting Feb. 13
Week 5:
Starting Feb. 20
Week 6:
Starting Feb. 27
Week 7:
Starting Mar. 5
Week 8:
Starting Mar. 12
Week 9:
Starting Mar. 19
Week 10:
Starting Mar. 26
Week 11:
Starting Apr. 2
Week 12:
Starting Apr. 9
Week 13:
Starting Apr. 16
Week 14:
Starting Apr. 23
Week 15:
Starting Apr. 30
Finals Week:
Starting May 7
Tentative Topic by Week
Course Overview
Principles of Microeconomics
Math Review
Basic Concepts
Gains from trade
Demand and Supply
Demand and Supply
Elasticity
Monday, Feb. 20—Presidents’ Day, No Class
Wednesday, Feb. 22—Exam 1
Government policies
Welfare economics
Costs of taxation
Externalities
Spring Break
Public goods and common resources
Costs of production
Costs of production
Wednesday, Mar. 28—Exam 2
Perfect competition
Monopoly
Oligopoly
Thursday, Apr. 26, 8PM, UC Ballroom, Dr. J.K. Galbraith
“The Great Financial Crisis and the Dismal Science”
Wednesday, May 2—Exam 3
Friday—Sign up and review for Optional Final
Optional Final on Wednesday, May 9 th , 10:10-12:10
(time depends on which part of the final you are taking)
Page 4 of 4
Ch. 13
Ch. 14
Ch. 15
Ch. 17
Reading
Syllabus
Ch. 1
Ch. 2 App. (pp. 38-46)
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
Ch. 4
Ch. 4
Ch. 5
Exams
Wednesday—Quiz 1
Wednesday—Quiz 2
Ch. 6 Wednesday—Exam 1
Ch. 7
Ch. 8
Ch. 10
Ch. 11
Ch. 13
Wednesday—Quiz 3
Wednesday—Quiz 4
Wednesday—Exam 2
Wednesday—Quiz 5
Wednesday—Quiz 6
Wednesday—Exam 3
Wednesday: Optional Final in regular classroom