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Economics education makes good ‘cents’

While critics are busy lamenting the shortcomings of American public education in the third millennium, UHCL’s Center for Economic Education does something about them. Boasting a vast array of quality materials and active learning techniques, the center helps train Houston area school district in-service teachers to teach economics.

Most citizens assume their child’s teacher is fully qualified to teach every assigned subject. The truth is that Texas statutes now specify precisely the curriculum taught by subject area for all K-12 teachers. These curricular requirements are codified in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills legislation. For example, fourth-grade teachers must introduce subject matter on the free enterprise system including ideas like productivity, specialization and division of labor. They must then develop and submit lesson plans, present the material in class and respond to students’ questions.

The reality is that most elementary, middle or high school teachers have little or no formal academic training in economics. Even though the TEKS statutes were developed in good faith to enhance education for Texas children, they created a knowledge gap for entering and in-service teachers that must be closed.

At this point, CEE steps in to offer active learning workshops and deliver grade-appropriate materials at no or low cost to schools.

As CEE director, I lead the center’s teacher-training activities, during which I apply more than 30 years teaching experience in every workshop to communicate the discipline’s abstract ideas in fun and creative ways. No paper and pencil lectures in these workshops! In their place are focused games designed to highlight economic ideas in active learning engagements. Teachers usually enter their first workshop tense and tired, but leave energized and informed.

Schools or district offices make contact with the center to arrange in-service dates and times where teachers assigned to teach economics can gather for a half day or more. Teacher groups of 10 to 25 work best for these out-of-the-chair experiences. Sometimes a district’s social studies coordinator will network across districts to get enough teachers together for the desired workshop.

Many of the materials come from the wide selection of professional works published by the National Council on Economic Education. All courses and all grade levels have sound economic learning matter available.

The Texas Council on Economic Education is the guiding vehicle for each of the eight affiliated university centers in the state. Recently, the Texas council began publishing its own materials aimed at Texas-specific economic content such as Texas history.

The state council’s most recent publication, Economics for Educators, was written to make basic economic logic accessible to all teachers. The book contains 18 new active-learning games that can be played in less than one high school period.

In addition to my role as center director, I am a full-time faculty member teaching in the MBA program where research is part of the job. Teacher workshops often provide an ideal assessment environment to measure the effects of training techniques. One of my latest publications incorporates teacher input from a recent Texas council conference, attended by more than 300 teachers from across the state. A major part of my research program focuses on how teachers and students learn economics rather than how the subject is taught.

The Texas council’s vision is a nation of citizens possessing the knowledge and skills to make informed economic decisions. Last year, according to its published annual report, the council recorded 10,831 teacher, 534 student and 121 parent contacts, in which the UHCL center played a significant role.

To learn more, leave a message on the center’s phone at 281-283-3137, because I am probably out having great fun in a teacher workshop helping prepare teachers to further capitalism as they meet their TEKS requirements. Visit the council’s Web site at www.economicstexas.org.

Robert F. Hodgin is the director of the Center for Economic Education, an affiliate of the Texas Council on Economic Education, at UHCL, where he also serves as associate professor of economics in the School of Business and Pubic Administration. Hodgin holds a doctorate degree in economics from Illinois State University, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Florida. He has been a member of the UHCL faculty since 1981 and has published applied studies in the fields of economic education, industrial organization and regional economics. He is also the author of Economics for Educators (Texas Edition).