Make History Come Alive: Economics and Common Core Midwest Economic Education Conference May 23-24, 2013 Grant Black UMSL Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education

Common Core Highlights Reading and writing across the curriculum Increased emphasis on informational reading Comprehension and collaboration Presentation of knowledge and ideas Content-specific vocabulary Problem solving and reasoning Focused mathematical processes and proficiency

Economics and Common Core Interdisciplinary connections Analytical thinking and reasoning Problem solving Informational texts Content vocabulary Math applications Data analysis Research

Examples Two elementary curricula using economics to address social studies and Common Core standards – The Louisiana Expansion – Kaleidoscope, USA – pcs.umsl.edu/econed pcs.umsl.edu/econed

The Louisiana Expansion Thematic, interdisciplinary unit that brings this historical event to life for students 8 interactive lessons: stand alone or as a unit Teaching strategies and activities include: games, plays, creating a timeline, journaling, worksheets, discussions, group presentations, critical thinking, mathematical calculations and reasoning

Common Core Connections: Speaking and listening Reading for Informational Text Writing Math

Sample Lesson 8: Worth the Trouble? Students learn about Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Look at current day GDP for the US and GDP in the 13 states that were part of the Louisiana Territory Student learn about resources and the circular flow of the economy Students work in groups to research information about the 13 states

GDP Activity Divide into groups of ~5 Each group represents a country with its own economy Each group should name its country Each group gets an “economy bag” Each group calculates its own GDP – Calculate market value for each good Market Value = Quantity x Price – Calculate GDP by adding up market values for all goods Each group calculates per capita GDP – Per capita GDP = GDP / population

Price List Buttons15 ₵ Cotton swabs 10₵ Pipe cleaners 5₵ Colored sticks25₵ Foam cutouts30₵ Toothpicks 2₵

Calculating GDP (Activity 8.1) GoodQuantity ProducedPriceTotal Example: Button215₵30₵ Our Country’s GDP ___________

GDP Report (Visual 8.1) CountryGross Domestic ProductPer Capita GDP

Kaleidoscope, USA Thematic, interdisciplinary unit in which students live history as community developers from colonial period onwards 12 interactive lessons in 5 units Students use economics, geography, language arts, science and math skills to develop their own fictitious community from a proprietor colony into an industrialized community and eventually into a community of the future Teaching strategies and activities include role playing, making choices about colony sites, developing advertisements, writing persuasive letters, predicting the community of the future, and developing land-use graphs

Common Core Connections: Speaking and listening Reading for Informational Texts and Literature Writing Math

Sample Lesson: Incentives Students identify resources needed in the colonies Students explore colonists’ opportunity costs Students learn about economic incentives and their effect on behavior Students analyze incentives that motivated people to settle colonies in the 1600s Students write advertisements, based on particular incentives, to entice particular people to their colony

Incentives Activity Divide into same groups Each group is the proprietors of a colony Each group reads one of three vignettes about why some people came to the colonies Each group answers these questions: – Why may the people be willing to leave their home and move to a new colony? – What opportunity costs may those people have faced by moving to a colony? Each group develops a written advertisement using the incentives identified in the vignettes to entice people to move to its colony

Thanks Questions? More information: – UMSL Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education – – – pcs.umsl.edu/econed pcs.umsl.edu/econed