Fifteen Minutes of Fame and a Lot More: Some Thoughts on Teaching High School Economics and the NASDAQ/NCEE Teaching Awards

Social Studies Review, Fall 2003 by Ochi, Karl

On a Sunday in April of 2002, my wife and I checked into the Manhattan's Plaza Hotel, showered and rested, got dressed and headed off to dinner at the Tavern on the Green, long one of New York City's better known restaurants, and a classic for special occasions. Strangely, I was not on vacation; all this was taking place during what is, perhaps, the busiest time of the school year, especially for those who teach graduating seniors who plan to take Advanced Placement exams during the first two weeks of May. Four other teachers from around the country were also experiencing this event, the celebrations of which would continue for the next two days. As regional winners of the NASDAQ/NCEE National Teaching Awards, we were being honored for our work in economics education in a very substantial and meaningful way. So often it is the case that recognition and appreciation given schoolteachers comes in the form of a photocopied "Certificate of Appreciation" or as an award that goes not so much to the teacher as an acknowledgement of personal achievement, but to the teacher's students or school. While fine and necessary gestures, neither of these formally recognizes, in a personal and individual way, the teacher herself for the very specialized work she does. The NASDAQ/ NCEE Teaching Awards Program is extraordinary in its no-holds-barred recognition of teachers who work to develop students who are able to think in the economic way. While the range of work submitted for the award by teachers is diverse- from economics in history, to entrepreneurship and investing, to economic theory, it became clear to me that all the winning teachers, in their different ways, were effective in conveying the importance of economic decision making to their students in ways that would empower them throughout their lives.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the award program is the hard look the application forces one to take of his teaching. A competitive entry will take a good amount of time and some real thought, and the process of putting together an application will really make one consider, refine, and evaluate what one does in one's classroom, processes that are always important to the personal growth of an educator. It is important to remember that most teachers will develop something pre-existing from their course and craft that into a submission, rather than to create a new project with the express purpose of entering the NASDAQ Teaching Awards. In my case, I submitted what is largely a methodology of teaching economic concepts and thinking. I have developed this methodology and the activities that support it over the last twelve years as part of my underlying philosophy of teaching and learning economics.

In many ways, the required components of the application including an abstract of just what it is one does, analysis of how the submission addresses and helps students to meet standards, field-tested lesson plans, and actual evaluation evidence forced me to consider, evaluate, and even defend and my economics course in terms of what is considered good teaching practice. In my experience as both a "contestant" and a judge (I was a reader and evaluator of submissions in my region in the year following my award), I have found that many teachers' entries are largely a write-up of a particular unit or ongoing project in which students participate. Oftentimes, the submission details a culminating activity in which students demonstrate their learning. It is important to note, however, that entries need not represent a full-semester's course, or even profile a unit from a stand-alone economics course. Good entries, at a fundamental level, do three things. First, they address each component of the application both directly and thoroughly. Second, they provide convincing evidence that students both learn and benefit from what they have learned. Finally, it is my personal belief that a good application should faithfully depict an innovative or uncommon way of teaching economics such that students learn fundamental economic concepts that they will be able to make broad and relevant application of beyond the lesson, unit, or course.

What follows is an overview of the work I submitted for the NASDAQ/NCEE Teaching Awards in the 2001-2002 school year. Following that I have also included some specific suggestions about submitting an entry.

THE MAKING OF AN ECONOMIC THINKER

The Economic Metaphor and Analogy Approach to teaching economics is a means by which the instructor deconstructs the key concepts of economic theory and reconstructs them in the form of readily understood analogies and metaphors. The traditionally taught concepts of scarcity, cost-benefit, marginalism, markets, supply and demand, market structures, national income, consumption/ investment/saving, fiscal and monetary policy, and international trade and exchange that comprise a good part of the current state and national standards for the twelfth grade economics course are all addressed through this approach. Because economic analysis can be so abstract, it is important that we make economic concepts relevant and tangible for students, in order to put economic reasoning at their disposal. The use of analogy, visual demonstration, and active participation can go a long way toward making economics understandable, relevant, and entertaining. The teacher's own fluency with economic concepts will determine, to a large extent, the degree to which students understand concepts taught in class. The process of developing and using economic analogies can help a teacher develop and strengthen his own understanding of economics, and this allows the teacher to teach the basics with greater efficiency and with greater attention to delivery and more emphasis on application. The use of metaphor and analogy, as well as the physical demonstration of abstraction will help bring to life, for both teacher and student, much of the economics that lies passive or dead within the pages of the textbook. Certainly, there are concepts whose understanding ultimately requires that students deal head-on with abstraction; metaphor and analogy, however, go a long way toward getting the student "in the ballpark" such that they are in a position to digest greater complexity and develop deeper understanding.