Teaching and Assessing Economic Education

Students at all grades, ability levels, and SES’s can learn about economics, therefore it is critical that a variety of approaches be taken when teaching economic education. I will focus on two programs discussed in Chapter 13 that build upon the integral role economics plays in the classroom purely through student interaction. I believe this is the best form of learning for young students.  The programs, Mini-Society and Kinder-Economy, present the concepts of economics through three types of lessons and are described as follows: 

                “First, students experience the concept in their own classroom society and decide how to solve the situation.  Second, the teacher helps the students debrief the situation to learn the names, definitions, and relationships between the economic concepts.  Third, the teacher provides reinforcing activities such as role-plays, games, exercise sheets, stories, and art projects for the students to complete"(p. 434).

These approaches are great because the students create the problems that need to be solved based on their own interactions once they have learned how to follow these lessons.  Teachers go from leaders to facilitators while students learn about concepts of money, scarcity, etc.  These approaches are also good for allowing the teacher to check in periodically and informally assess students.  By observing their interactions and whether or not they have incorporated the language taught during the de-briefing stage, teachers can determine whether students are grasping the concepts or not.  Both the approach and informal assessment provides students with genuine experiences and the ability to construct their own learning.  Assessment is taken beyond what happens in the classroom when teachers reinforce the learning through homework.  They inform the parents about the goals of the lessons and receive consent to allow students to bring items to school for either bartering, selling, or if they are of use. 

Thinking back on my own education, I experienced an approach such as this in my sixth-grade social studies classroom.  While we were focusing on medieval times, not modern, we were asked to bring in items from home that we would be willing to barter and trade.  The exercise allowed us to experience how the economy worked in medieval times, but also allowed us to make the decisions regarding what is a fair trade and so forth.  By giving students the chance to create genuine situations, they learn in a more concrete way.  The abstract concept of bartering, money, etc. becomes concrete and touchable.

                Taking various interactive approaches, such as games and role-playing, allows children to learn further beyond simple recognition of concepts.  Their actions in the classroom require them to use decision-making skills and to apply and analyze various instances. 

Further assessment options include:

·         Have students identify what they gain and what the give up when making a choice

·         Have students negotiate exchanges and identify the gains for not just themselves, but others

·         Explain things like: how changes in competition in different markets can affect them, how life in a world without money would be different, and explain how they participated in certain markets.

Overall, assessment of economic education can be done in multiple ways.  Students can role-play, play games, create writing pieces, make posters, and give presentations.  The most important aspect I have gained from reading this piece on economic education is that students should have hands-on experiences with the concepts!  We cannot teach these critical life concepts abstractly.  They need to dive in to it.