Economics+Resources


 * [|Choices! Choices!][|Mises Website]Please add your economic resources below

Website Resource:** [] This website contains teaching children about money in spending, saving, and earning money, and organising personal finance. The website provides resources for teachers and parents with teaching materials, activities and games to support children how to manage money, and other relevant financial skills. Lydia Kwak (3017356)

[] : Activity sheets – complete set

The economics resource I have chosen is founded on the educational advice found in the article // __Serving Up Economics__ // (Vowels, 1999) which I wrote my précis on and the précis written by Dannielle Fisher on //__Teaching Basic Economics to Fifth Graders__// (Foulkes, 2006). Vowels (1999) recommended that “teaching economics is the key ingredient in helping them (students) become **effective citizens, workers, voters, consumers, investors, and participants in a healthy economy**” and therefore it is important for them to “learn economics in **real-life settings** ”. Dannielle wrote that “economics stems from **ordinary everyday human behaviour**” and listed 5 example lessons on trade, money, savings, competition, and price. The website I have above is to the Australian Government’s ‘Austrade’ which has developed a range of school teaching and learning resources in its 'Exporting for the Future' program. The resources cover topics such as international trade, business enterprise, exporting and marketing, globalisation and the global economy. A lot of the resources are aimed at secondary/high school however, the complete set of **activity sheets** which I am recommending, are intended for upper primary. The activity sheets guide the students’ exploration of our global connections including the social, economic and political aspects. The activity sheets could be used in conjunction with or in isolation of the lessons suggested in Foulks (2006) article, as they provide real life/everyday activities for the students to do at home or at school.

* Foulkes, A., (2006)., //Teaching Basic Economics to Fifth Graders//. (Accessed at: [] ) * Vowels, J., (1999) //Serving Up Economics// Instructor-Intermediate, 10495851, Jan/Feb99, Vol. 108, Issue 5 (Accessed through the University of Canberra’s Library database, EBSCOhost : Education Research Complete)


 * Sarah Desmond (3026218)**

**Website Resource:** Making Cents Upper Primary unit - Calculating the cost  **Curriculum links:**  ELA 24 the student makes informed choices about money and finance **Description:**  The Making Cents website has a link for teachers, offering resources for each state and territory based on their curriculum documents. I looked specifically at the Australian Capital Territory page. The resources are split into three groups, lower primary, middle primary and upper primary. The resource comes in the form of a unit, and I have looked specifically at the [|Upper Primary Unit –Calculating the cost], which is for years 5 and 6. The online resources include a complete teaching booklet, teacher professional development powerpoint, and teacher professional development booklet. The [|complete teaching booklet] offers materials that provide a program of classroom learning for the last two year of school.
 * Suitable age range:** 5/6

Click here for the full resource recommendation

Lauren Miller (u3026149)


 * Books:**

Kourilsky, M. L.(1983) //MIni-Society: Experiencing Real-World Economics in the Elemenary School Classroom.// Addison-Wesley Innovative Division: USA

This economics resource that I have chosen is a step by step guide on how to build an effective and economical society into the elementary classroom. It uses the economy as a behaviour management strategy but more than that, it is a concept that will engage and motivate students to be effecient and knowledgeable members to society. This strategy allows students to have the opportunity to practice, make mistakes and learn aspects of real-world economic situations in a safe environment. Through reading and writing a precis from chapter 13 in the textbook //Elementary and Middle School Social Studies// by Pamela J. Farris 2007, I discovered that although economics is a large and indepth topic it can be taught easily to students through literature Also, upon reading the precis by Lauren Miller on Classroom economics by Catherine Morcom, I discovered that economics can be used to engage students in economics by using an accounting system and was an effective behaviour management strategy that incorporated the use of both mathematics and economics. This resource provides a more detailed look into the strategy used in the article by Catherine Morcom as it provides examples, scenarios, check-lists and templates for you to use in the classroom at each stage in the process of creating your mini-society. It provides you with a detailed insight into what the teacher and students roles and responsibilities should be at each stage. For example, the teacher plays a major role at the start of the process to set up the society and as the students get more involved the teacher takes a back seat and becomes a facilitator of learning.

Morcome, C. (2008).//Classroom// [|//Economics//]//. Prime Numbe//r. Vol. 23, No. 3, 2008: 12-14. Available from http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=237843599133954;res=IELHS

Laura Andreazza (u3025243)

__**Week Four Précis**__ Melissa Dixon. Student ID: 3025265 Rodgers, Y., Hawthorne, S., & Wheeler, R. (2007). //Teaching// [|//Economics//] // through Children’s Literature in the Primary Grades //. Reading Teacher, 61(1), 46-55. Accessed from Education Research Complete 17/6/10 at [] Farris, P. J. (2007) //Elementary and Middle School Social Studies: An Interdisciplinary, Multicultural Approach//. Waveland Press: IL The article, “Teaching Economics through Children’s Literature in the Primary Grades”, by the US educational researchers Yana Rodgers, Shelby Hawthorne and Ronald Wheeler, talks about the use of reading strategies as an effective way to teach economics to primary-aged students. This approach allows teachers to concurrently teach reading strategies and empower their students to understand economics. These days, this technique is gaining popularity. One of the common approaches towards this technique is for teachers to combine literature and economics into classroom time dedicated to reading aloud to children or to reading instruction. Also, this concept of using reading-strategies for teaching economics can add to student motivation. In the text, //Elementary and Middle School Social Studies: An Interdisciplinary, Multicultural Approach,// economics is described as the analysis of what goods and services should be produced, how they are produced, how much is produced, and for who are the goods and services are produced (Allen and Stevens 1998; Warmke and Mussig 1980). Within the curriculum area to gain a basic level of knowledge students study: - Production - Distribution - Exchange - <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Consumption - <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">problem solving These content areas are provided to equip students with the knowledge and skills to become informed and competent citizens. Primary school economics is about choices and decision-making.

Economics can be clarified through the characters and plot of a good book. Literature can be used to illustrate real life situations for students, and can portray the different aspects of economics. In the text, Farris provides examples of literature which can be used to teach economics. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> __Resource__ //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Uncle Jed’s Barbershop //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> by [|Margaree King Mitchell]. Baker & Taylor, CATS, 2009 This story by Margaree Mitchell describes Uncle Jed’s decision to donate his savings, intended to buy his own barbershop, to his niece for an operation. Hard times hit again when he loses his job savings to the Great Depression. He continues working until he has saved enough to start his own barbershop business. This children’s’ book ties in with concepts from both my readings as it is a source of literature which supports the education of economics in the classroom. It discusses concepts such as opportunity, cost, saving, banks and entrepreneurship which are all vital in the teaching of economics today.


 * DVD/Video's:

Other: Making Choices: Economics for everbody, Curriculum support materials for teaching economics, Curriculum Corporation

I found this resource very useful to put economics into a classroom. I have realised that economics can be very simply and be supported by literature and maths. This resource gives you 14 lesson type teacher notes on a range of economic areas, including dollars and sense, Choices, and government. It tells you the aim, objectives focus, outcomes and teacher strategies as well as many more. I really enjoyed this resource as it helped me understand that economics can be taught to everybody, even if you dont think that it can. I feel that this is a vaulable resource for the younger primary levels, by giving the ground work that you can extend on as they grow through the years. This resource also makes strong connections to literature which you could use to help your students grasp concepts of economics. Rodger, Hawthorn and Wheeler recongise that childrens literature can be a valuable resource for teaching economics, and for me putting that information and this resource together makes me feel confident in effectively teaching economics to my future students.

Eloise Harding (3027404)**

The resource I have added can be used for other areas of SOSE as well as for Economics. It incorporates different levels and abilities, has a lot of different activities and also provides assistnace for teachers. It is catered for all levels of schooling. It includes games that allow the students to test their understanding and ability. All of the activities and resources are not on the one page, but you can use the links to find the pages that you need. It is fairly easy to use.

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Dannielle Fisher

__The resource I have chosen is called ‘Points of origin: budget outfit. This resource teachers students several of the concepts discussed in the economics’ articles. These include budgeting, prices, money, and profit. This resource is an interactive ICT game, that involves buying items of clothing to assemble an outfit with a budget of $24. Students select items from around the world and assess the prices to meet their $24 budget. Students are then asked to sell their products to retail making a profit. This retail shop will increase the price to sell their product to the public also making a profit. Throughout this activity, students use the economics concepts linked to a real life situation of buying and selling. Students learn about where different items of clothing are made and bought, as well as how businesses make profit. Both Laney, (1999) and Farris, (2007) highlight the importance of making financial economics teaching meaningful to students lives. This is meaningful to children’s lives as students living in Australia buy products that are made all around the world.

[]

Shiri Marx (3034360)

Internet Resource:__

// New Insights into Early Childhood Development Implications for Policy and Service //// Teaching [|Economics] through Children’s Literature in the Primary Grades // (Rodgers et.al. 2007), // 'This OR That' not 'This AND That' // Toys for Me: A poem written by the author of this lesson, C.D. Crain, and is available as a printable or interactive version. Scarcity (character within the poem) does not understand the difference between “this AND that” and “this OR that”. What is the difference? Why can’t she have everything? What would happen if Scarcity did get everything?

Assessment strategies that may be used to coincide with this activity include listing 5 choices that were made in that day and outline their opportunity cost.

Instructorweb - Toys for Me : A lesson of Choice, Crain, C.D. n.d. Retrieved July 4, 2010 from Rodgers, Y., Hawthorne, S., & Wheeler, R. (2007). //Teaching [|Economics] through Children’s Literature in the Primary Grades//. Reading Teacher, 61 (1), 46-55. Accessed from Education Research Complete 17/6/10 at [|http://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=26406172&site=ehost-live]
 * References: **
 * Alyssa Whalan 3031763 **

= James Green Economics Resource - Coinland =

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Coinland is an online program developed by the Commonwealth Bank for students as a commitment to increasing the national level of financial literacy skills (earning, saving and investing money). This [|article] explains the bank’s commitment (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2009).======

I’m not sure if people remember Dollarmites when they were at school but Coinland is the Commonwealths Banks adaptation to make them relevant and exciting to young children in the 21st century. Coinland is a virtual world where children can explore the benefits of earning, saving and investing money by completing jobs/tasks for the Dollarmites (characters in the game) in Coinland. Children can then choose to either save their coins by depositing them in the bank or spend them on items that open more games and rewards. Dollarmites assist children’s learning by explaining values, terms, positives and negatives of spending and saving through a series of fun and interesting videos.

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­**-**When a milestone is reached in the game an e-mail is sent to notify parents of a child’s progress. This allows opportunities for the home discussion to revolve around developing and placing importance on solid financial literacy. -**At the moment the videos need a quite good internet connection to stream without being interrupted.
 * Main Benefits**
 * -**The Coinland environment is incredible engaging and easy to use. I have currently saved 31 coins, opened a bank account and have a Savings Goal of $88.00 to buy a skateboard haha. To date I have had the notions of saving and spending and had terms such as deposit and interest explained.
 * Main Disadvantages
 * -**If using the resource keep in mind that it has been developed by the Commonwealth Bank. Is it appropriate for large corporations to be involved in child education or should it be left to Government? I’m not too sure, I can see benefits and dangers to both sides. The commonwealth Bank has been successfully running similar programs for the past 80 years, in which time has strengthened many people’s financial literacy skills however also serves the banks advertising and customer acquisition goals.

** FAQ’s **
= ** Who is it for? ** Coinland is aimed at children between years 5-10. = ===** Is Coinland Safe? ** The virtual environment has been designed so that children can communicate with others in the game through pre-determined messages. Children are unable to create their own responses and share any personal details within the Coinland environment. ===

Understanding Money []
 * Two other websites that I have found very useful.**

Financial Literacy []

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (2009). //Coinland.// Retrieved July 12, 2010, from <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">[] Commonwealth Bank of Australia (2009). //Commonwealth Bank determined to bring financial literacy to one million kids.// Retrieved July 12, 2010, from []
 * References**

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Decision Making and Economics - Jillian Hosking
The Paradox of Choice: Barry Schwartz (Category: SoSE, economics/needs/wants, 20 minute podcast) Retrievied July 19,2010 from [|SOSE.ED.2]
 * 1)** Barry Schwartz's podcast/article is inpinged upon a key central notion, that what we compare things too (essentially choices made from comparisons) defines what we truely value. This understanding is examined from a top-down perspective, as it is assumed that the skills and understandings that are required to engage in this perspective have already been taught. It explores the idea of choices being either negative or positive and relating directly to indepth understandings of the way material affluence enables Economic choices in western society.

__Arthur Foulkes., (2006)., //Teaching Basic [|Economics] to Fifth Graders//.__ Retrieved 2 July 2010 from [] What is interesting is that both articles that come from polar opposite methods highlight the necessity and importance of valuing decision making. Thus also connecting Values Education within the Economical context as it is teaching students to question the development of western society and the choices which they themselves can make.
 * 2)** Foulkes however examines Economics from the opposite avenue - bottom up perspective. His article is central to revealing how to begin teaching Economical concepts and understandings in 5 in-depth sequenced lessons. Thus developing the students basic understanding and sense of the importance of Economical 'choices' through their own understanding by the concept of 'decision making'.

[|Everyday Opportunities Lessons]
 * Resource:** A teaching resource that is good for understanding 'decison making'/choices is this website (below) that identifies a range of ideas for lessons to use. One lesson allows for students to 'choose' the order of the things they do in the school day. Then discussing the order of choices they made once the day is finished identifying 'good' decisions that were made vs. choices that were not good. A worksheet which can be adapted is [|Choices!] and it is really good resource as it allows for the students to show their own personal knowledge they have learnt regarding decision making in everyday opportunities.