University Offers Economics Workshop

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   The University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Center for Economic Education will offer two workshops for K-12 educators in February. “Financial Fitness for Life: K-8,” which focuses on personal money management, will take place Feb. 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at a site on the campus of UA-Pine Bluff. A second workshop, “Understanding Economics in U.S. History,” will take place Feb. 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., in conference room A of the Fred J. Taylor Library and Technology Center on the UAM campus.   

   Both workshops feature hands-on training in curriculum developed by the National Council on Economic Education. Participants in each workshop will receive a copy of the NCEE curriculum, a $50 stipend and a letter for six hours of staff development credit. 

   “Financial Fitness for Life: K-8” uses curriculum to help students apply economic principles and decision-making skills to the real-world issues of earning an income, spending and saving, using credit wisely and managing money. The workshop is designed for K-8 educators in all content areas. The Bank of America co-sponsors this workshop.   

   “Understanding Economics in U.S. History” features 39 activity-based lessons that will help U.S. history teachers and students develop a better understanding of events in our history by using basic economic reasoning.  The curriculum approaches U.S. history not as a series of events that happened in the past, but as a set of choices with associated costs and benefits that confronted our forefathers in their present. The workshop is appropriate for secondary history and social studies teachers. The Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis co-sponsors this workshop. 

   Online registration is available at the ACEE website, www.arkeconed.org. Registrants will receive a confirmation letter with site-specific details. The registration deadline is Feb. 15 for the Pine Bluff workshop and Feb. 19 for the Monticello workshop. Additional information about both workshops may be obtained by contacting Marsha Clayton, center director, at (870) 460-1673 or the ACEE at (501) 682-4230.  

   The UAM Center for Economic Education is affiliated with the Arkansas Council on Economic Education (ACEE). The ACEE and its affiliated centers assist K-12 teachers in preparing students to become fully-participating citizens and productive members of society by providing resources and training that will enable educators to teach the fourth ‘R’, real-life economics.