Foundation+for+Teaching+Economics+(FTE)


 * Event Title:**
 * Date: June 2012**
 * Location: University of CO at Boulder**
 * Name(s) of Attendees: Jeremiah Rosenfels**

Description of Workshops, Classes, Institutes, Etc.:
Economics for Leaders (EFL) represents a unique experience in economics education that brings together teachers looking to improve their teaching skills in economics. The EFL one-week program is rigorous and encompasses 50+ hours of instruction. The goal of each EFL program is to provide teachers with lesson plans of simulations and activities, economics content instruction, and a networking opportunity with other teaching professionals. The combination of classroom instruction, question and answer sessions, small group discussion and workshops presents information in a rich and varied format, encouraging active participation. Economics professors selected nationwide for their expertise, along with skilled mentor teachers, provide content instruction and run simulations and activities that are designed to illustrate economic principles. Both new and experienced teachers will benefit from attending this program. A feature of EFL that past participants have found especially useful is the demonstrations: the EFL staff model the activities and simulations with high school students. Attending teachers gain direct experience with the lesson plans before they leave at the end of the week.

Participants learn that

 * People respond to incentives
 * Voluntary exchange provides mutual gains
 * Profits attract entrepreneurs
 * Competition encourages efficiency
 * Private property rights are essential in free societies
 * The fact of scarcity necessitates some form of rationing
 * Opportunity cost is the real cost of what we choose
 * Inflation depends on the money supply
 * Choices can cause negative effects
 * Economic change is inevitable

Morning Economics Seminars

 * Allow teachers to observe outstanding economics instruction
 * Encourage teachers to participate with students in simulations to take back to their own classrooms

Afternoon Workshops

 * In-depth examination of economic concepts
 * Question and answer sessions on the economic perspective of current events and issues
 * Demonstration and debriefing of classroom activities
 * Group work in developing new classroom activities

Evening Activities

 * Opportunity to interact with outstanding high school students in joint teacher-student simulations
 * Time to interact with colleagues
 * Social and recreational activities
 * Plenty of free time

How I Hope to Apply What I Learned At Ransom, and/or, What My Colleagues Might Try at Ransom:
Beyond simply expanding and deepening my Economics content knowledge, I have made and will make frequent use of the simulations that I took part in during the PD week. For example, I have used games/simulations to show how trade increases wealth, how groups that engage in collusion experience forces that can destroy the agreement, and how incentives can be used to drive self-interested behavior in predictable ways, how free markets generate a market-clearing price, how different types of occupations would be prized differently depending upon the society/context, and others.

Important Links, Resources, or Contacts:
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