TIPS FOR TEACHING THE HIGH SCHOOL ECONOMICS COURSE
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.orgTIPS FOR TEACHING THE HIGH SCHOOL ECONOMICS COURSEDon R. LeetCalifornia State University, FresnoJane S. LopusCalifornia State University, East BayBecause economics is increasing in importance in the high school curriculum, it is criticallyimportant that it is taught well by well-trained teachers. We offer suggestions for teaching highschool economics in the areas of content, methodology, materials, and professional development.We address what content to include, the use of textbooks and supplementary materials, andinnovative approaches for teaching economics. The use of literature, film, music, and activitybased lessons are discussed. Teachers are encouraged to seek out professional developmentopportunities through the Council for Economic Education and networking opportunitiesthrough the Global Association of Teachers of Economics. Although teaching high schooleconomics can be challenging, there are many helpful materials and resources available.Key Words: Economics, teachers, high school, resources, content, methodologyIntroductionSince the inception of the national economic education movement in the middle of thetwentieth century, the prominence of economics has grown in our public schools. Today, everystate except Rhode Island includes economics as a part of its public school curriculum. Forty ofthese states now include specific economics standards. Part of this “rising tide” is manifested instate requirements for high school economics courses. As of 2009, 21 states required thatstudents take a high school economics course as a graduation requirement, up from 17 states in2007 (Council for Economic Education, 2009.) The increased importance of economics in highschools means it is critically important that it be taught well and that teachers are well-trained toteach it.The importance of teacher training in economics has been a topic of discussion for manyyears. A 1966 report to the California State Department of Education stressed the importance ofteacher preparation when its authors wrote:If we are to achieve success in economic education throughout the United States,we must now focus on the economics preparation of future teachers in ourschools. Local school systems and state departments of education, no matter howwell motivated, and how well supplied with texts, curriculum materials, andconsulting economists, simply cannot move forward in economic educationwithout a substantially increased supply of teachers adequately prepared ineconomics through both pre-service and in-service training in the colleges. (p. 1)9Volume 7 Number 1Spring 2012
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.orgIn their article on improving pre-service economics teacher training, Mackey, Glenn andLewis (1977) stress some of the specific recommendations of the Advisory Seminar to theCalifornia Department of Education concerning teacher preparation for three specific groups.According to the Advisory Report, for example, all future teachers should have a basic threesemester-unit course in introductory economics. In addition, those who plan on being socialstudies teachers should take a nine-unit sequence in economics as undergraduates, while thoseplanning on teaching economics at the high school level should be prepared to take an academicminor comprised of 21 semester units.Although one would hope that these recommendations were widely discussed andeventually implemented, we find that this was not the case. In the teacher preparation program atCalifornia State University - Fresno, for example, a student who takes the approved program insocial studies will be officially qualified to teach economics at the high school level with aminimum of six semester units of economics: a one semester introduction to economics courseand a choice of either an upper division course in US Economic History or an upper divisioncourse in the History of Economic Thought. Regional studies in Atlanta and St. Louis found thatthe typical high school economics teachers had only two economics courses during theirundergraduate preparation (Bosshardt et al., 2011.)Given the cursory nature of teacher preparation in economics, it is good to know thatteachers have a variety of opportunities to improve their economic knowledge and improve theirtechniques for teaching their students. Some of these opportunities and techniques are our focushere. A recent paper directed to new high school economics teachers made 12 suggestions aboutwhat every first year high school economics teacher should know (Lopus, 2011.) These twelvesuggestions are listed in Table1. The suggestions are divided into categories of content,methodology, materials, and professional development. We also offer tips for teachingeconomics. Following a brief discussion of the Council for Economic Education network andthe training opportunities for teachers, we discuss what content to include in a high schooleconomics class, using textbooks, supplementary materials, and some innovative approaches forteaching economics.Table 1Twelve Suggestions for First-Year High School Economics TeachersTwelve Suggestions for First-Year High School Economics TeachersTeaching the Content:1. Focus on economics as a way of thinking.2. Do not be frightened of the subject matter of economics.3. Focus on economic literacy as outlined in the Voluntary National Content Standards inEconomics.10Volume 7 Number 1Spring 2012
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.org4. Consider using the sample outline (included as Table Three in this paper) to organize yourcourse.5. Use current events to make economics relevant.6. Give careful consideration to the role of personal finance.Methodology for Teaching High School Economics:7. Use activity-based lessons.Materials for Teaching High School Economics:8. Use one of the many good high school economics textbooks available.9. Take advantage of the many good supplementary materials available for teaching economics.Professional Development: Formal and Informal:10. Obtain copies of mainstream college-level principles of economics textbooks in bothmicroeconomics and macroeconomics.11. Find a mentor.12. Participate in professional development programs in economics.Source: Lopus (2011)COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION NETWORKThe Council for Economic Education (CEE), formerly the National Council on EconomicEducation, is a non-profit New York-based organization dedicated to providing materials andtraining for Kindergarten-12 teachers of economics, personal finance, and entrepreneurship.Many of the CEE programs are delivered through university-based Centers and Councils forEconomic Education that are located throughout the country. The CEE-sponsored teachertraining workshops aim to improve economics instruction in the nation's schools. Teachers needonly to go to the Council for Economic Education website (see Web Based References) to locateteaching materials and to locate the nearest Center or Council offering relevant trainingprograms. Research results on the efficacy of these teacher training opportunities found thatknowledge of both the teachers who participate (Bosshardt et al., 2011) and their students(Allgood & Walstad, 1999; Swinton et al, 2010) improves significantly after the training iscompleted.To connect with other high school economics teachers around the world, teachers shouldjoin the Global Association of Teachers of Economics (GATE). The Council for EconomicEducation sponsors this organization to help economics teachers, and others interested in11Volume 7 Number 1Spring 2012
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.orgeconomics education, connect with one another throughout the world. Membership is free, andGATE members receive discounts on CEE materials. The CEE maintains an online discussiongroup for GATE members.WHAT CONTENT TO INCLUDE?It should be comforting for high school economics teachers to learn that they are notalone since the CEE national economic education network provides a set of opportunities to learnhow to apply economics knowledge in a classroom. But, what is the starting point? In planningwhat content to teach, many teachers begin with the required standards in their state. Many statestandards are closely aligned with the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics(CEE, 2010.) The Voluntary National Content Standards consist of 20 standards first publishedin 1997 then revised in 2009. They, along with grade-level benchmarks, were designed torepresent the essential principles of economics that economically literate students should know ingrades 4, 8, and upon graduating from high school. The major concepts included in the 20standards are listed in Table2.Table 2Voluntary National Content Standards in EconomicsVoluntary National Content Standards in Economics1. Scarcity2. Decision Making3. Allocation4. Incentives5. Trade6. Specialization7. Markets and Prices8. Role of Prices9. Competition and Market Structure10. Institutions11. Money and Inflation12. Interest Rates13. Income14. Entrepreneurship15. Economic Growth16. Role of Government and Market Failure17. Government Failure18. Economic Fluctuations19. Unemployment and Inflation20. Fiscal and Monetary PolicySource: CEE 201012Volume 7 Number 1Spring 2012
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.orgHow should the content be organized? In order to answer this question we presentTable3, which includes a traditional outline for an economics course. Although abbreviated, thesuggested content in the outline reflects the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economicsand most state standards that do not focus on personal finance. Those teaching a unit on personalfinance within a traditional high school economics course would need to make adjustments tothis content outline. The content order in the outline also corresponds to that presented in mosthigh school economics textbooks.One caveat on the order of the outline: teachers might want to intersperse the “WorldEconomy” topics within the micro and macro sections. It would be a shame to teach this courseand then run out of time before covering any of the important global issues that will affect highschool students throughout their lives. A related point worth emphasizing is that the suggestedtime for the section on Markets, Supply, and Demand is three weeks, or one-sixth of the course.In our experience, many teachers devote so much time to the concepts of supply and demand thatboth macroeconomic and international economics topics are short-changed. Whileunderstanding markets and prices is undeniably important, we believe that high school studentsneed to be exposed to the macroeconomic and international topics that dominate the news. Formany students, the high school economics course provides the only formal training they willreceive in economics. Understanding economics topics in the news will help to achieve the goalof educating students to be informed citizens in our democracy.Table 3Sample Outline of a One-Semester High School Economics CourseI. Introduction to Economics and Economic Systems (2 weeks)Major economic concepts: Scarcity, opportunity costs, decision making, incentives, marketeconomic system, command economic system, traditional economic system, economicinstitutions.II. Markets, Supply, and Demand (3 weeks)Major economic concepts: Markets and prices, supply and demand, controls on prices.III. Business, Labor, and Market Structure (3 weeks)Major economic concepts: Productivity, profit, competition, monopoly, entrepreneurs, forms ofbusiness organizations, stock market, labor unions, income, human capital.IV. The Role of Government (2 weeks)Major economic concepts: Role of government in a market-based economic system, marketfailures, government failures.V. Macroeconomics (5 weeks)Major economic concepts: Gross domestic product, investment, unemployment, money, interestrates, inflation and deflation, Federal Reserve, monetary policy, fiscal policy, national debt.13Volume 7 Number 1Spring 2012
Social Studies Research and Practicewww.socstrp.orgVI. The World Economy (3 weeks)Major economic concepts: Comparative advantage, voluntary trade/exchange, barriers to trade,exchange rates, trade deficits and surpluses, international organizations.Source: NCEE (1985).USING A TEXTBOOKA good high school textbook with strong support materials can help structure a courseand the course content, as well as provide suggestions for enhancing student learning. A recentsurvey of the existing high school textbooks (Leet & Lopus, 2007) found more similarities thandifferences among most of the textbooks, although there were differences in content emphasis.Some teachers choose to use college-level textbooks. While a university level text is obviouslyappropriate for Advanced Placement economics classes, we do not recommend using one in atraditional high school economics class. The reading level and mathematics rigor of collegeeconomics texts will make them incomprehensible to some students, and just plain frustrating toothers. The encyclopedic nature of most university texts, moreover, may present content that isreally more appropriate for the university classroom.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALSAlthough textbooks are valuable for course content and structure, textbooks bythemselves are probably insufficient in creating a high school economics course that engagesstudents and addresses a variety of learning styles. We recommend investigating and using someof the many free and low-cost materials available to serve as supplements to textbooks in highschool economics classes. The Council on Economic Education (CEE) is the source of manymaterials, which may be ordered (at a cost) from their website. The CEE also sponsorsEconEdLink (see Web Based References), a free, searchable online library with over 400lessons. Teachers may search EconEdLink by concept, by the Voluntary National ContentStandards, by grade level, by lesson typ
Social Studies Research and Practice www.socstrp.org 14 Volume 7 Number 1 Spring 2012 VI. The World Economy (3 weeks) Major economic concepts: Comparative advantage, voluntary trade/exchange, barriers to trade, exchange rates, trade deficits and surpluses, internati onal organizations.
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