Inventory System
Active Learning Exercises to Enhance Synthesis and Evaluation Skills in Financial Accounting
Louella Moore, Arkansas State University Additional Background on the Cases Synthesis and evaluation are skills essential to accounting work. Yet education specialists (Cline & Fay 1990; Pricer 2008; Hodgkinson 2009; Somers & Stettle 2010) suggest that today’s millennial students have grown up in a culture that discourages independent thinking and formation of reasoned opinions. The problem is compounded in the accounting profession by financial accounting textbooks which emphasize structured learning objectives aimed at learning the rules promulgated by standard setters. Emphasizing current rules without an opportunity for reflection on alternative approaches does not help students understand the underlying issues, problems, and evolving compromises inherent in financial accounting standards. Without an opportunity for students to actively think about differences in accounting presentation in order to synthesize and reflect on key concepts, they may memorize the rules but fail to really understand the fundamental problems inherent in modern accounting practice. Finding an efficient mechanism to incorporate activities that stimulate higher order thinking skills should be an essential ingredient in training programs for accounting professionals. One approach to education is to find the students dominant learning style and cater to that style. For many fields this has resulted in textbooks with more pictures and fewer words. One has to question whether this is really serving the best interests of accounting employers. While some research suggests that personality and learning styles are basically fixed and that students will perform better if instructors use techniques that match the student’s learning style, closer reading of some of the pioneering works suggests that with experience one can gradually become comfortable with multiple approaches. (Kolb 1984 & 1985, Scott
Louella Moore, Arkansas State University Additional Background on the Cases Synthesis and evaluation are skills essential to accounting work. Yet education specialists (Cline & Fay 1990; Pricer 2008; Hodgkinson 2009; Somers & Stettle 2010) suggest that today’s millennial students have grown up in a culture that discourages independent thinking and formation of reasoned opinions. The problem is compounded in the accounting profession by financial accounting textbooks which emphasize structured learning objectives aimed at learning the rules promulgated by standard setters. Emphasizing current rules without an opportunity for reflection on alternative approaches does not help students understand the underlying issues, problems, and evolving compromises inherent in financial accounting standards. Without an opportunity for students to actively think about differences in accounting presentation in order to synthesize and reflect on key concepts, they may memorize the rules but fail to really understand the fundamental problems inherent in modern accounting practice. Finding an efficient mechanism to incorporate activities that stimulate higher order thinking skills should be an essential ingredient in training programs for accounting professionals. One approach to education is to find the students dominant learning style and cater to that style. For many fields this has resulted in textbooks with more pictures and fewer words. One has to question whether this is really serving the best interests of accounting employers. While some research suggests that personality and learning styles are basically fixed and that students will perform better if instructors use techniques that match the student’s learning style, closer reading of some of the pioneering works suggests that with experience one can gradually become comfortable with multiple approaches. (Kolb 1984 & 1985, Scott
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