Economics workshops planned
A non-profit organization that helps Pennsylvania teachers prepare economics education curriculum is planning training workshops for teachers in Fayette, Washington and Greene counties. Economics Pennsylvania President Fritz M. Heinemann said the hands-on curriculum, which has been approved by the state Department of Education, could be used in a few lessons or for a semester-long course.
The curriculum involves a variety of activities that also can be incorporated into history, children’s literature, civics and math classes, he said.
“Through what we’ve done with our approach, we hear less and less that economics is a boring subject,” Heinemann said.
He said teachers from 400 of the state’s 501 school districts have received Economics Pennsylvania training, which counts toward Act 48 continuing-education credits.
For most teachers that enroll in the training, it is their first economics class, he said.
But, the goal is to help students grow into sound decision-makers and entrepreneurs.
Among the most popular activities that teachers learn to apply is a 10-week-long stock market game for teams of students from grades four through 12.
The Herald-Standard and its Newspapers In Education program has agreed to provide newspapers for students to use in the stocks game.
Heinemann said participants start with a hypothetical $100,000 to invest in the stock market and are taught how to analyze and research potential investments. Using teamwork, they decide what to buy and trade. The team with the most profitable portfolio at the end of the 10-week period wins.
Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy presented an award to a seventh-grader who turned his starting cash into $180,000.
Regional and state contests are held for the business plan competition, and business professionals and educators judge the plans.
“It promotes business development and hopefully encourages them to stay in Pennsylvania and their home communities,” Heinemann said.
He said Economics Pennsylvania is 53 years old and receives funding from the Heinz Endowment, Parker Hunter, PPG, Alcoa and other corporations and foundations. It is affiliated with the National Council on Economic Education
Patrick J. Litzinger, an economics professor at Robert Morris University and a regional program director for Economics Pennsylvania, said two workshops have been scheduled through Intermediate Unit 1.
The first is scheduled for Aug. 20 in a suite at Falconi Field in Washington.
It will offer classroom lessons that use professional sports and related business issues to teach economic principles.
He said 30 teachers already are registered, and there is room for 20 more.
A workshop for the stocks game will be held Sept. 20 at the Intermediate Unit, located in California.
Information is available from the organization’s Web site, EconomicsPA.org, or from the Intermediate Unit.