How to Effectively Teach Diagrams in IB Economics 

October 17, 2025

This week I want to focus on what I believe is the single most important skill in IB Economics...

Drawing effective diagrams.

I don’t say that lightly. 

After years in the classroom, I’ve come to realize that diagrams are the most critical skill students must master in IB Economics. 

They aren’t just pictures. 

They aren’t just lines on a graph. 

They are the window through which students can begin to understand human behavior.

Diagrams tell a story. 

They show us how consumers and producers interact, how governments intervene, how policies ripple through an economy. 

They give us the vocabulary we need to talk like economists, the structure we need to write an analysis, and the framework we need to connect to real-life examples.

In short, if a student can confidently draw, label, and explain the diagrams, they are well on their way to success in IB Economics.

Why Diagrams Matter So Much

Think about it. Every one of the other essential skills we teach—language, calculations, analysis, evaluation—flows through the diagrams.

The language is literally written on them: equilibrium, surplus, subsidy, marginal social cost, tariff.

The calculations often emerge from them: elasticity, profit, unemployment, inflation.

The analysis is an explanation of what happens to a diagram when an “event” occurs: a tax, a tariff, a shift in demand.

The evaluation is grounded in them: short-run vs. long-run effects, advantages vs. disadvantages, winners vs. losers.

When you strip it all down, the diagrams are the foundation. They are the organizing mechanism of the course.

And they must be mastered.

Teach the Base Diagrams First

My best advice is to teach the base diagrams until your students can draw them cold.

In fact, I say this so often that teachers I work with probably got tired of hearing it...

Teach the base diagrams. Teach the base diagrams. Teach the base diagrams.

Why? 

Because nearly all of the 90+ diagrams in the course come from just a handful of base diagrams:

  • Microeconomics - Demand & Supply Diagram
  • Microeconomics - Market Failure Diagram
  • Market Power - Price Taker’s Profit & Price Maker’s Profit Diagrams
  • Macroeconomics - Neoclassical Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Diagram
  • Macroeconomics - Keynesian Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Diagram
  • The Global Economy - The Free Trade Diagram


Once students master these, the rest is easy. Add a shift, add a policy, add a curve, and suddenly they can produce the indirect tax diagram, the per-unit subsidy diagram, the protective tariff diagram, the demand-pull inflation diagram, and on and on.

Are there exceptions?  

Yes, for sure.  There's the Lorenz Curve, the Phillips Curve, the Price Elasticity of Demand Diagram, the Labor Market Diagram.

But those are the outliers, but nearly all of the rest can be expressed by beginning with one of those base diagrams.

So my strategy always is that these base diagrams must be memorized.  Known.  Drawn at will.  

If students can do that, then the rest of them,   isn't memorization, but rather logical expressions of the human behavior that we are discussing in class.  It's pretty cool.  And when students see that, they really get it.

Practice, Practice, Practice..

Yes, we're talking about practice.

Have students practice drawing every day. Just five minutes at the start of class. Whiteboards work wonders.

Insist on perfection in labeling. Axes, curves, shifts, equilibrium points—all must be crystal clear.

Connect every diagram to a relevant real-world example if possible. If they can’t see the application of it, it won’t stick as well.

Tie diagrams back to language acquisition. Every label is a vocabulary word they need to know.

Treat diagrams as frameworks for writing. Tell students: “If you can draw it, you can analyze it.”

The Big Takeaway

Here’s what I want to leave you with this week...

Diagrams are not just one of the five essential skills—they are the essential skill.

They are the foundation. They are the window through which students understand human behavior. They are the structure around which language, analysis, evaluation, and real-world application all emerge.

I hope that was helpful.

See you next week.




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