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Economists in the Schools |
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Economists in the Schools |
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“We swim in a sea of economics, our goal is to help them understand how that works” ~Dr. Richard Butler, founder of the EIS program
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The Goal of EIS is to promote economic education by creating partnerships between Trinity University and San Antonio public schools. The program reaches teachers, prospective teachers, school students, and economics majors to develop their conceptual understanding of economics and apply the knowledge in meaningful ways.
Trinity students of all majors may register for this semester course. Each semester the Trinity students are grouped into teams of three and are assigned a teacher and a class at a school. Students are advised by Professors, Dr. Richard Butler and Dr. Elizabeth Watson, as well as a student advisor on how to bring economic concepts to life in a class room. The advisors focus on refining the teams’ comparative advantage, creativity and enthusiasm, in hands on active learning. The teams emphasize collaborative learning and small – group work in the classrooms. For more information about the program model check out this article Economists in the School. Each team is required to meet with their advisor for a rehearsal prior to the actual classroom performance. Their lesson plans must be reviewed and submitted to ensure quality and effective classroom instruction.
The Trinity teams teach a lesson every other week for ten weeks. There is no fixed curriculum. The topics are determined by the high school teacher and the college students. These lessons focus on how to use basic economic concepts to understand and address real – world policy. In the past Trinity students have created a mock Federal Open Market Committee meeting in the classroom as well as a mock antitrust trial.
The middle school teams make five teaching visits to their assigned class. This program focuses on hands on activities as well as applied lessons to the middle school social studies curriculum. The curriculum focuses around concepts in scarcity, opportunity cost and tradeoffs; resources, specialization and comparative advantage; trade and the global economy; supply and demand – shortages/surpluses; and the economics of going to college. Many Trinity students have incorporated applied a theme to all five lessons to enhance interactive learning. For example, a middle school team carried out a mission impossible theme throughout the semester.
The elementary teams teach two classes and make four visits to each class. The curriculum for the elementary teams was developed with fifth grade teachers at the pilot school, Harmony Hills Elementary, in San Antonio. The four concepts are scarcity/choice/opportunity cost; specialization and trade; supply and demand; and the economics of going to college. This model focuses on many activities and examples and a multisensory approach to teaching. Trinity students usually try to develop teaching methods that put the economics concepts in real world/life terms for the elementary students.
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