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EconomicsInternational®

Old MacDonald to Uncle Sam

Lesson Plans from Writers around the World

As more countries converge towards market-oriented economies, the need for economic education has become increasingly apparent to elementary and secondary teachers in those nations. Publications of the Council for Economic Education have been well received by educators from a wide range of countries. The active-learning approach, emphasized by the Council for Economic Education network of state councils and centers for economic education, holds strong appeal for many educators.

Economic education that uses active learning has expanded from the United States to emerging market economies in the former Soviet Union and eastern and central Europe. Educational materials created for schools in the United States, however, are not always appropriate for use in other countries because of language, economic, and cultural differences. Although economic educators in those countries have written textbooks, a need for relevant active-learning lesson plans was recognized.

To address this need, the Council for Economic Education asked us develop a publication to help teachers write better lessons, Connecting the Pieces: Building a Better Economics Lesson. The publication shows potential writers how to identify the economics appropriate for K-12 students; integrate economics into other subject matter; include thinking skills, active-learning instructional models, and assessment into a lesson; format lessons; and conduct pilot tests.

Grants from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, for the CEEP provided the funding for Connecting the Pieces as well as annual Training of Writers programs. As the faculty of this innovative program, we have had the privilege of working with many creative teachers from the United States and countries of the former Soviet Union and eastern and central Europe, who aspired to become better writers of economics lessons.

This publication includes six lesson plans developed by participants in the international Training of Writers program provided by the Council for Economic Education through the Department of Education grants. International groups developed some lessons during the training seminars; individual writers developed other lessons after the seminars. Two lessons each are provided at the elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.

We hope that you and your fellow teachers will find these lesson plans useful and rewarding.

Sarapage McCorkle: University of Missouri-St. Louis
Bonnie T. Meszaros: University of Delaware
Mary C. Suiter: University of Missouri-St. Louis

Foreword

It is a great pleasure to introduce Old MacDonald to Uncle Sam. This publication contains six lessons for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms developed by writers from Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Russia, and the United States. The authors of these lessons were participants in the Training of Writers program developed and conducted by the Council for Economic Education, as part of the Cooperative Education Exchange Program (formerly known as the International Education Exchange Program). Since 1996 the Writers program has helped teachers from both the U.S. and the emerging market democracies learn how to write instructional materials, through intensive writing exercises, expert guidance, feedback from peers, and follow-up work by e-mail.

The development of this publication was made possible through a grant to the Council for Economic Education from the United States Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement under PR Grant # R304A010003. The Council for Economic Education extends its appreciation to the Department of Education for its support of Cooperative Education Exchange Program (formerly known as the International Education Exchange Program).

The Council for Economic Education is also grateful that the United States Congress had the foresight to recognize the need for economic education in the emerging market economies and the vision to see how an international education exchange program such as the CEEP could benefit U.S. students and teachers.

Special thanks are extended to the editors, Sarapage McCorkle and Mary Suiter, Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Bonnie Meszaros, Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware, for conceptualizing this publication and their perseverance and dedication in bringing it to press, and to Patricia K. Elder, Barbara R. DeVita, and Mary K. Blanusa, Council for Economic Education, for their support of the Writers program and this publication.

Robert F. Duvall
President and Chief Executive Officer

Acknowledgements

Writers

Aleksandr Balkunov Kyrgyzstan	Liudmila Guinkel Russia	Stephenie Stevens Idaho, USA
Jadranka Bernik Croatia	Martha Hopkins Virginia, USA	Lynne Stover Virginia, USA
Vernon Dobis Minnesota, USA	Agota Matyas Hungary	Jennifer Taunton Arkansas, USA
Lessie Freeman Virginia, USA	Jeanine Kaczorowski Moore Delaware, USA	Cathy Trana Minnesota, USA
Gerogeta Georgescu Romania	Brenda Smith Colorado, USA	Svetlana Yurkovskaya Belarus

Cover design by Martin Baragiola

The Council for Economic Education gratefully acknowledges the funding of this publication by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, under PR Grant # R304A010003. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Education.

All rights reserved. The activities and worksheets may be duplicated for classroom use. Notice of copyright must appear on all pages. With the exception of activities and visuals, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN 1-56183-133-6

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