Students team up with Delegate Landes to win

Posted on by
Landes-students-computer 450
From left, Gabino Cruz-Hernandez and Davey Stone show Del. Landes their winning ranking on the computer, joined by teammate Joshua Varner.

Delegate Steve Landes (R-25th district) checked in at Turner Ashby High School May 14 to congratulate students who, paired with him in an investing contest, took first place statewide. The students turned $100,000 of computer money into a simulated $117,378.93 in 10 weeks.

Landes and the students took part in the spring semester “General Assembly Challenge” organized by the Virginia Council on Economic Education. The students on the winning team were Gabino Cruz-Hernandez, Davey Stone and Joshua Varner.

They competed against other General Assembly-student teams statewide, buying and selling stocks with virtual money. Winners will be recognized later this month at the statewide awards ceremony at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Delegate Landes congratulated teacher Chris Noll’s math students on their investment skills and ability to work together effectively as a team. “I have been impressed with how well you did as a team,” Landes told the students, “but the most important thing is the valuable real-world experiences you have gained.”

Noll’s team was supported locally with training and resources from the James Madison University Center for Economic Education, an affiliated center of the Virginia Council on Economic Education.

“This game is particularly engaging because students do research and then work as a team to make their investment decisions,” said Lynne Stover, teacher consultant with the JMU center. “And all along the way, it reinforces math and analytical skills, business concepts, and personal finance basics.”

“It’s great to see hard work pay off for Chris’s students,” said William C. Wood, director of the JMU center.

The Richmond-based VCEE coordinates the Stock Market GameTM in Virginia as one of several programs to promote K-12 economic and financial education and provide professional development for teachers. For more information about VCEE, visit www.VCEE.org.

Landes-Noll 450
Del. Landes hears Turner Ashby math teacher Chris Noll explain how students learned from studying investments and personal finance.

Summer institute planned

Posted on by

A five-day institute in personal finance is set for this summer from July 22 through July 26. In addition to receiving training directly applicable to the high school course, teachers will also take the W!SE Financial Literacy test and have the opportunity to earn this teacher certification at no charge. More information and online registration are available at the workshop page at vcee.org.

Enrollment update: This institute is very nearly full, but you may still check on enrollment at the workshop page at vcee.org. Originally a summer institute for the economics class had been offered, also in July, but it has now been cancelled because of lack of enrollment. We do plan to offer the economics institute in summer 2014.

Stover’s Hunger Games lesson published

Posted on by

JMU’s Lynne Stover has published a lesson based on The Hunger Games trilogy, the first book of which became a highly successful movie in 2012. The lesson appears in the Winter 2012 issue of Social Studies Research and Practice.

In the lesson, students use the story of Katniss Everdeen and her struggle against a tyrannical government to learn economic concepts. Stover’s lesson includes complete materials for a roundtable question activity, references, and linkages to national standards. Here is a link to the lesson (in .pdf form):

NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan: The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins

Lesson book copies set for giveaway

Posted on by

Here’s an announcement from the Council for Economic Education:

As teachers, you know personal finance skills are critical to your students’ future success, but educating them in a way that is as intriguing as texting and gaming can be a challenge.

H&R Block is committed to increasing teens’ financial fitness nationwide and has partnered with the Council for Economic Education to help. As part of the company’s H&R Block Dollars & Sense program, 650 teachers will receive free copies of Learning, Earning and Investing for a New Generation, the companion curriculum to Gen i Revolution. Lessons are designed to take full advantage of the free online game, however all the lessons are free-standing and may be used without the game as well. You can enroll your class for participation in Gen i Revolution missions at www.genirevolution.org. A teacher ID enables you to enroll classes, manage access to missions, and monitor student progress.

Throughout November, high school teachers can enter to win the free classroom materials at www.hrblockdollarsandsense.com. Through November 30, random drawings will determine winners who will be announced on the website and Facebook page.

Apply now for your chance to win!

Stover work highlighted in Kansas City newspaper

Posted on by

Lynne Stover’s work on teaching economics with children’s and young adult literature was highlighted in the October 19 issue of the Kansas City Star. The article, by Star reporter Steve Rosen, was headlined “Try Harry Potter to teach about money and economics.” Stover serves as teacher consultant in the JMU Center for Economic Education.

“Stover has spent much of her 35 years in classrooms exploring her two core passions — economic education and children’s literature,” Rosen wrote. “Over time, she’s compiled an extensive list of accomplishments as an expert in her field — and she’s reviewed an impressive list of books that teach elementary age children up through high school about saving money, setting goals, working hard, and dealing with hard times.”

Stover was interviewed by Rosen while attending the Council for Economic Education’s national meeting in Kansas City in October.

Here’s a link to the entire piece: Kansas City Star article.

GEM Fair set for March 6, 2013

Posted on by

The GEM Fair, JMU’s area-wide meeting of Mini-Economies for a simulated international marketplace, is set for March 6, 2013, at the Festival Conference Center on campus. This is a change of time and venue for the popular event: March instead of May, and the Festival instead of the Convocation Center. Further details will be posted as available on the GEM Fair page, but for now, save the day!

Workshop alumna starts econ camp

Posted on by

Kathleen Stakem, a sixth grade teacher at Oak Hill in Fairfax County, put her JMU Mini-Economy workshop training to work in a summer economics camp this year. Stakem teamed up with fellow Oak Hill teacher Jeannette O’Malley to establish the camp, which attracted 46 students. The camp, for fourth through seventh graders, focused on practical applications of economics. “We hope to make them aware that this is what happens in the real world,” she told the Herndon Connection. Here’s a link to the full article in the Connection.
Article on Oak Hill economics camp

Developed at JMU, now available

Posted on by

Learning, Earning, and Investing for a New Generation CoverThis new volume, Learning, Earning, and Investing for a New Generation, is now available for order from the Council for Economic Education. These high school lessons help teach about investing and personal finance. The lessons will be especially useful for Stock Market Game teachers. Building on the success of its 2004 predecessor, this new volume is thoroughly updated and revised to reflect lessons learned in the 2008 crisis and resulting financial market turmoil. This version is fully integrated with the Gen i Revolution free online game. JMU’s William C. Wood served as project director and also authored lessons, together with coauthors Mark Schug and Scott Niederjohn.

Lesson on economic recovery from U.Va.’s Miller Center

Posted on by

Here’s a free lesson titled “America’s Economic Recovery: Is It Built to Last?” This lesson on the economic recovery comes from the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. It’s part of a partnership between the Center and ABC News’ “This Week” that set up a series of national debates about important issues in the upcoming presidential election. The most recent debate, held on April 29, focused on the strength of America’s economic recovery and included the following participants:

  • Former Hewlett Packard Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina
  • Former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
  • New York Times op-ed columnist, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman
  • Google Executive Chairman Eric E. Schmidt
  • Former Comptroller General David Walker
  • Washington Post opinion writer and Nobel Prize-winning columnist George F. Will

The America’s Economic Recovery lesson was designed for high-school teachers to use when teaching how to examine the relevant indicators used to measure an economic recovery. It is nonpartisan in nature and adheres to the standards of learning in all 50 states.

Additional information about the debates can be found here: http://millercenter.org/public/debates.