This past June, 28 middle and high school teachers in Delaware participated in a

two-day workshop at the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of Philadelphia, led by Dr. Andrew Hill, Economic Education Advisor of the FRB of Philadelphia and Barbara Emery, Program Coordinator of the CEEE. The workshop focused on Delaware Standard Two - macroeconomics.

On the first day, the participating teachers learned how the Federal Reserve affects everyday life as Dr. Hill presented The Federal Reserve and You, a DVD that highlights the purposes and functions of the Federal Reserve System and summarizes the history of central banking in the United States. The DVD consists of six discrete segments that can be implemented as needed to enhance classroom instruction about money and banking. The teachers also received lessons based on Common Core activities and classroom resources to supplement two of the DVD segments. One of the lessons uses primary sources to introduce the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over the First Bank of the United States. Another uses a simulation to explain how the fractional reserve system impacts the value of money.

The second day of the workshop was based on Economic Episodes in American History, a book coauthored by Drs. Mark C. Schug and William Wood. The text focuses on the economic way of thinking as a framework to analyze and understand significant events that shaped American history. Teachers received representative chapters of the book and related lessons on the economics of the Constitution, why both the North and South miscalculated the costs and benefits of the Civil War, and the impact of technological change on modes of transportation. They also participated in Making Money in Middle Village, a simulation on the creation of money, and received posters and PowerPoint presentations that accompany the simulation.