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This newsletter is designed to keep you abreast of the range of activities and programs offered by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship in Delaware. Each issue highlights news events, staff, sponsored programs and special events. We hope you'll find it a useful resource in promoting what we expect to be our common goal: furthering economics, personal finance and entrepreneurship education. |
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Teacher Workshop
Fourth through twelfth grade teachers participated in a Stock Market Game training workshop sponsored by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at the University of Delaware in September. The workshop demonstrated how to play the Stock Market Game, implement it in the classroom and use related curriculum materials. It also provided an overview of how financial markets work and capital is raised to fund business growth.
The Stock Market Game is a ten-week educational simulation developed and administered by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and offered in Delaware by the CEEE since 1983. Teams of three to six students in grades four through twelve invest a hypothetical $100,000 in securities listed on the New York, American and NASDAQ exchanges. Students research public companies and their stock, enter trades on the Stock Market Game website at real-time prices and monitor the value of their portfolios and their rankings. At the end of the game, the team in each of the three grade-level divisions (4-6, 7-8 and 9-12) that achieves the greatest portfolio growth is declared a winner. Students on the winning teams are honored at an awards reception hosted by the CEEE at the University of Delaware. Each year, more than 2,400 students in Delaware learn about the world of investing by participating in the Stock Market Game.
Dates of the Stock Market Game this school year are October 8 to December 14, 2012 and March 4 to May 10, 2013.
Congratulations to the following spring winners:
Stock Market Game
Elementary Division - Naomi Dawkins, Jessica Martin and Brianna Miles from Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
Middle School Division- Benjamin Britton, Keja Dobson and Jackie Kozloski from P.S. duPont Middle School
High School Division - Richard Werbe from The Tatnall School
InvestWrite
Elementary Division- Jack Werb from North Star Elementary School
High School Division - Lauren Camp from Appoquinimink High School
A very special congratulations:
Middle School Division - Lucas Attia, from H.B. duPont Middle School, not only won the Delaware division, but took sixth place nationally. |
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The CEEE, in partnership with The Delaware Financial Literacy Institute (DFLI), presented Mini-Society Training, a free four-day economic and entrepreneurship education program for teachers of grades two through five. The training program is designed to help teachers implement Mini-Society, a system in which children learn economic, financial and entrepreneurial skills by developing and managing their own businesses in a society that they create.
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Teachers Learn First Hand about Running a Mini-Society Business |
To prepare teachers to introduce Mini-Society in the classroom, the training program provided them with a background in economics, entrepreneurship and how a society functions. Then, effective strategies to integrate Mini-Society into the curriculum were modeled. Finally, teachers developed their own societies with the necessary commercial, financial and political institutions to ensure their well-being. Teachers received lessons and children's books to reinforce and extend the economic and entrepreneurial concepts that are the foundation of Mini-Society. They also received nine hours of professional development credit.
Each year, hundreds of students in Delaware's elementary schools participate in Mini-Society, creating their own societies with names, flags and currencies. The students take on roles as employers, employees, producers, consumers and voting citizens in the businesses and institutions that they establish to provide goods and essential services for their society.
Chase Bank provided funding to DFLI, with additional support from United Way of Delaware.
Teachers who attended Mini-Society Training said, "It is a valuable workshop that teaches basic economics and entrepreneurship in a way that can be easily replicated and that kids will enjoy," "best workshop I've taken in years" and "very useful."
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Instructors Enhance Education through CEEE Master's Program
The CEEE continued to promote greater opportunity for interdisciplinary work, as 24 educators completed their second four-week summer session of content and pedagogy focusing on economics, entrepreneurship and financial education.
Educators working to earn a Master of Arts in Economics and Entrepreneurship for Educators (MAEEE) completed online lectures and assignments before arriving on the University's Newark campus to complete the summer session, which explored the development of economic education, financial education and entrepreneurship programs around the world. This MAEEE class was the first in the history of the program, which started in 1981,
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Director, James O'Neill,
Established the MAEEE Program in 1981 |
to engage in online instruction.
James O'Neill, professor of economics and director of the CEEE, said the program is designed to strengthen the economic, entrepreneurial and financial content of instruction at the primary and secondary school level.
The CEEE collaborates with the Council for Economic Education in order to promote economic literacy in students and their teachers by establishing a network of educators who can assist teachers in their home regions with effective methods of teaching economics and entrepreneurship in elementary and secondary schools. According to O'Neill the philosophy of the program revolves around the idea that one highly motivated and skilled individual can have a positive influence on many others.
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The Summer Session Included a Tour of the NY Stock Exchange |
During the program, educators had an opportunity to meet with a variety of experts including JPMorgan Chase executives and Federal Reserve representatives. University of Delaware professors also exposed the educators to complex issues and a breadth of information on the logistics of economic theory.
James Buchanan, who teaches basic economics and personal finance at Collier High School in Wickatunk, NJ, said he was never formally trained or enlightened from an intellectual standpoint in the art of economics until he joined the program.
"The MAEEE program has answered many of those questions that I have had over the years," said Buchanan. "Dr. O'Neill had every aspect of the economic equation covered so that our experience was comprehensive."
Bonnie Kelly, who teaches Advanced Placement (AP) government
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Teachers Modeled Effective Methods of Teaching Economics |
courses at Fairfax (VA) High School, said that there was a lot of talk about what educators teach and how they teach it, and she noted it was helpful to have a program tailored to teachers that gave them the chance to work with each other.
Carrie J. McIndoe, president and CEO of Economic Ventures, Inc., who presented to the group during the summer, emphasized the importance of spreading youth entrepreneurship programs nationwide and how the MAEEE program helps that cause. |
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Money Talk$ Institute
 | | Lance Werner, Chase, Talks with Teachers about Credit Scores |
Money Talk$ Institute, a free five-day financial education program for teachers, non-profit professionals and community leaders, was held at Junior Achievement of Delaware from June 18 to 22. Now in its ninth year, it was established to enhance participants' understanding of financial concepts such as savings, credit, investing, debt management, asset building and banking, and to provide them with the tools to teach these concepts to students.
During the recent Money Talk$ Institute, distinguished members of the Delaware financial community spoke on a variety of topics such as "Banks and the Future of Banking Services," "Pay-Day and Predatory Lending," "Using Credit Wisely," "Wealth Creation" and "Identity Theft." Educators with extensive classroom experience demonstrated ways for teachers to integrate the financial information presented by the speakers into the curriculum at various grade levels. Participating teachers received grade-appropriate instructional materials and resources free of charge, as well as 30 hours of professional development credit.
The Money Talk$ Institute was presented by the CEEE in partnership with the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute (DFLI), Delaware Money School, Delaware Council on Economic Education and Junior Achievement of Delaware. Chase Bank provided funding to DFLI, with additional support from United Way of Delaware.
A teacher who attended the five-day program said, "This was awesome! Power packed and many 'WOW' and 'OMG' moments. I know for a fact that everyone should take this training for their students and for themselves!" |
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Personal Finance Refresher
In August, the CEEE presented a one-day program in Dover to update 26 Delaware teachers of personal finance and economics about recent changes in the financial marketplace. The program focused on new financial products, services, and credit card regulations, as well as ways to protect against fraud and scams. Program speakers were The Honorable Robert Glen, State Bank Commissioner; Terri Hasson, Regional Director of Community Relations at Citi; and Craig Weldon, Consumer Fraud Special Investigator in the Delaware Department of Justice.
Participating teachers observed demonstrations of two recent additions to the high school personal finance curriculum called Keys to Financial Success: budgeting for senior year and calculating the return on investment in a college education, with focus on debt vs. projected income. A teacher roundtable provided input into the development of an Economics/Personal Finance Toolkit that the Center will produce for the teachers of these classes.
Barbara Emery, Program Coordinator at the CEEE, described three opportunities available to high school students enrolled in personal finance classes that use the Keys curriculum: 1) two $2,500 scholarships sponsored by the Delaware Bankers Association, 2) the Personal Finance Challenge competition at the University of Delaware in April and 3) a contest for students to produce an award-winning personal finance video.
Currently, 2,545 Delaware high school students are enrolled in a required full-year personal finance and economics course and another 1,820 students are enrolled in personal finance electives. This school year, personal finance and economics are offered in a total of 24 out of 33 public and three private and parochial high schools in Delaware.
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