| JMU Center for Economic Education

2012′s Economics Institute class

Economics in the summer: two workshops

Enrollment update: The personal finance institute is very nearly full, but you may still check on enrollment at the link listed below. The economics institute has been cancelled for 2013 because of lack of enrollment, but we do expect to be able to offer it in 2014.

There are two extended training opportunities available for summer 2013 at the JMU Center for Economic Education in economics and personal finance for high school teachers. Each of the two institutes is geared toward the required high school course:

Economics Institute beginning July 8: This institute includes six full days of instruction in economics, July 8-10 and July 15-17. That’s a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday format, with Thursday and Friday and the first weekend off, followed by a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday format for the second week. For more information and online registration, check the workshop page at vcee.org.
Personal Finance Institute beginning July 22: This five-day institute in personal finance runs 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.

Both institutes are free to participants, thanks to generous financial support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the BB&T Charitable Foundation, Capital One, the Genworth Foundation, Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc., the SunTrust Foundation, the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation and Wells Fargo.

Lots of buying and selling at the GEM Fair

GEM Fair set for March snowed out

The biggest snow of the season occurred on March 6, snowing out the annual Global Entrepreneurship Marketplace Fair (GEM Fair). The venue, Festival Conference Center at JMU, was not available for a makeup day, so smaller mini-fairs were held around the area for students who would have participated in the main GEM Fair. The date for next year’s full GEM Fair is March 12.

Stover lesson hits elementary SOL

JMU’s Lynne Stover reports that her Library Sparks lesson on Cesar Chavez, the farm union leader, continues to draw attention from elementary teachers interested in teaching the Standard of Learning on Chavez’s life and contributions. The standard, 3.11.b. in the third grade history and social science SOLs, also lists George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr., for coverage.

Here’s a link to the lesson, available free online at Library Sparks: Cesar Chavez lesson

Stover articles posted

Two articles by JMU’s Lynne Stover have been posted on the Canadian education site, Scholar’s Choice. In the first article, “Kids and Currency: Four Ways to Teach Common Cents,” Stover recommends activities that build familiarity with money. Here’s a link to the article: http://community.scholarschoice.ca/teacher/kids-and-currency-4-ways-to-teach-common-cents. A second article is on teaching money matters using popular culture. This article covers the use of The Lorax, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Fantastic Mr. Fox and is posted at http://community.scholarschoice.ca/teacher/5-ways-to-teach-money-matters-using-popular-culture-part-1. Be watching for a future article, set to cover two additional popular titles.

State economic education award competition open

The state economic education awards sponsored by the Virginia Council on Economic Education have been restructured. Here are this year’s competitions:

Virginia’s Outstanding Economic Educator for 2013, $1000 award to an educator with “a sustained history of commitment and contribution to economic and financial education.” Teachers or administrators are encouraged to nominate themselves or a colleague.

Outstanding Economics or Personal Finance Lesson or Unit K-12, awards of $1000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place. Entries may be a single lesson or unit of study.

VCEE Institute Graduate Award, a $1000 award for a lesson or unit developed and taught by a teacher who has completed a VCEE-sponsored economics or personal finance institute in 2010, 2011, or 2012, and has put the knowledge into practice

More information on all of the state awards is available in this online newsletter. The state awards were made possible by generous support from the Virginia Housing Development Authority and the Virginia Credit Union, in partnership with the Council and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Applications for all state awards are available here.

Local awards competition for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County remains unchanged. All of the local entries automatically go on to state competition.

JMU well represented in Social Education issue

The March-April issue of Social Education, a national journal for social studies educators, features a number of contributions from JMU this year. The entire issue is dedicated to the teaching of economics in world history.

The section features an article by Bruce Brunton of JMU’s economics faculty, “The East India Company: Lessons from the History of Business-Government Relations.” Brunton’s article shows how most of today’s issues in business-government relations were foreshadowed by the British government’s relationship with the powerful East India Company. The article also draws connections with American history, pointing out that the tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party was owned by the East India Company.

Also in the issue, JMU’s William C. Wood joins with coauthors Mark Schug and M. Scott Niederjohn in “Visions of Inflation in World History: Ghost Story III.” In this installment of the “Ghost Story” series, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is visited by the ghosts of departed economists John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman in a dream about inflation.

The special issue is co-edited by Schug and Wood. Social Education is the flagship journal of the National Council for the Social Studies.