[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Teaching Distinctions

## Details

**Authors** van Dongen

**Year** 2025

**Publisher** 21st Century Economics

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Education

**Kind of engagement** applications

[Read it](https://www.21steconomics.org/teaching-distinctions/)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

A classroom-methods post on teaching the Distinctions rule: introduce it through a short film, have learners practice naming what a thing is and is not, then apply it to new concepts.

### What they found (results)

The piece supplies sixteen textbook phrases that signal a conceptual boundary along with prompts to match, and argues the rule belongs woven through the curriculum rather than taught as its own unit.

## Commentary

### In short

Van Dongen develops a classroom approach for teaching the DSRP Distinction pattern, including identity/other reasoning, comparison, mental-model revision, and examples from economics.

**Patterns it shows** D

**Added** 2026-08-14

**How to cite this** van Dongen (2025). Teaching Distinctions. 21st Century Economics.