Summary: Troy, Flad, and Martina at CEE Annual Conference in Washington, D. C.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Annual CEE Conference
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Graphs for AP Macroeconomics
Summary: A site with hundreds of graphs.
If you think a graph organizes data into a meaningful way for students, you might like Chartporn. You will find interactive graphs, fun charts, and more. Graphs enhance creativity and thus require higher order thinking skills to interpret. I thank Tim Schilling for this link.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Perfect Competition in AP Microeconomics
Summary: Outline for teaching perfect competition and study guides.
If you are teaching AP Microeconomics for the first time and want an outline, click here. I found that students want to know exactly what will be covered so an outline gives them the big picture.
Jason Welker has study guides here. Both his description and graphical representation will complement the notes from the outline link above. There's no need to carry a heavy textbook around for this unit--just use the links above.
The Advanced Placement Economics, by John Morton, has devoted unit 3 to perfect competition.
When I teach perfect competition, I stress the role of competition that drives the prices to long-run equilibrium and normal profits.
A YouTube Video is here.
What do you do to teach perfect competition that would enhance this blog offering?
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He blogs at Mikeroeconomics and and believes that perfect competition is microeconomics' major contribution to economics.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
In Plain English
Summary: AP Macroeconomics resource for teaching about the Federal Reserve.
The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank has a 14-minute DVD that gives the big picture of the Federal Reserve System. This DVD is free and highly recommended. For ordering information and to watch part of the DVD, click here.This resource rapidly explains the structure of the Federal Reserve. For time crunched students, this DVD can be a life saver. For the teacher who likes to teach a mile deep, there's free online "edutainment" activities that reinforce the basic concepts.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author and blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Free to Choose
Summary: YouTube videos where Milton Friedman discusses economics.
Who makes a pencil? In this video, Nobel Laurate, Milton Friedman, discusses how incentives in the market produce a pencil. The entire series can be found with a Google or YouTube search.About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, blogs at Mikeroeconomics, and believes in free market outcomes.
Fifty Nifty Econ Cards
Summary: Vocabulary cards to develop economic literacy.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City provides free the Fifty Nifty Econ Cards for educators. The cards are meant to develop vocabulary skills for k - 6 grades. I have found that my AP students benefit from the flashcards too.Activities that are included in the cards include: Word of the Week, Fill the "Econ Jar", Econ Pictionary, Econ in the News, and Creative Story Starter.
Games included are: Econ Bingo, Popcorn Economics, Econ Memory, Hang Mouse, 20 Econ Questions, and Econ Word Wiz.
These cards help English Language Learners master economic concepts in a non-threatening way. The Fifty Nifty can be used while you are taking attendance or giving make-up work. For a full resource guide click here.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Marginal Product Calculation for AP Microeconomics
Summary: What happens to output when a firm adds more and more of a variable input to a fixed input? Eventually diminishing marginal returns set in.
In Favorite Ways to Learn Economics by David Anderson and James Chasey have an experiment "Econville Links Factory" in which students make links. I have modified the experiement so that students have to make "M's" for Muscatine. Students graph total product and marginal product and learn how marginal cost is related to marginal product. Here are the steps I used to make the M's.
1. I have a stack of 4" X 4" paper squares, a pair of scissors, and a purple marker. The work is completed on a desk. My rule is that a worker has to be at least touching the desk to be in the factory.
2. I add one worker and give the worker 30 seconds to make as many M's as possible.
3. After tbe round I record the total amount produced.
4. I repeat steps 2 and 3 until I have hired six workers.
Typical results are: 4, 10, 18, 24, 28, and 30.
I then ask students to look at the total product curve and identify when diminishing marginal returns set in. I show how specialization lead to a greater production of goods with less resources. I always thank Mr. Anderson for this lesson has it is also used to show a difficult concept.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. Mr. Fladlien believes that a solid background in economics is the foundation for all decisions.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Paul Solman Videos on GATE Discussion Board
Summary: Videos for class use.
For Global Association of Teachers of Economics, GATE, Paul Solman videos are online for use in your classroom. Membership to GATE is free and entitles you to discounts on teacher training materials like Virtural Economics. Start here to join. You'll find the videos on the discussion board after joining.After joining you'll find a lesson plan on unemployment. The plan uses multimedia and "hands on" activities. If anyone else has used these videos and written lesson plans, will you share in the comment section?
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, blogs at Mikeroeconomics. Currently, he is working to infuse financial literacy in the Iowa Core Curriculum.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Total Product and Marginal Product Curves
Summary: Using a Livescribe Pen to record my lecture and graphs, I show how to construct the total and marginal product curves for AP Microeconomics.
I wanted to show readers a technology that might be of benefit. In this lecture I use a Livescribe Pen to record my lecture. It's automatically uploaded to Facebook. This is excellent for make up work and for students who need a review of the concepts.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Hands on Banking
Summary: Free materials to teach banking
Wells Fargo has prepared a free DVD for teachers who teach general business on banking. Financial literacy is a 21st skill. In Iowa, the core curriculum mandates that banking be taught to all students. This DVD offers "hands-on" learning as you can see in the demo. The URL is: http://www.handsonlearning.org/. From the site, you can obtain your copy. You will also be interested to know, that the program is easy to implement for busy teachers. Copies are available in Spanish too.
I obtained my copy at the Council for Economic Education Annual Conference in Washington, D. C. last week. This conference was the best one I've ever attended. I ended up paying extra to bring back all of the materials given to me at booths. In the next week, I will blog about all of the materials I received and blog about the comments from Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Federal Reserve Bank President, Jeffrey M. Lacker.
As an AP economics teacher, you often see students who have by-passed general ed classes. Do you feel you have an obligation to teach banking basic like how to write a check or use a debit card?
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa.
Using Cartoons in AP Economics
Summary: Stand up Economist, Yoram Bauman, promotes learning economics with humor and cartoons.
A link to the author's website is here. Mr. Bauman believes in free markets and welcomes any competition to his claim that he's the only "the world’s first and only stand-up economist". He believes that competition increases the quantity of a good produced, lowers the prices of the good, and increases consumer's surlus.
Do you use cartoons in class? I have found cartoons to be a great way to stimulate discussion and motivate students to dig into the work.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. After returning from the GATE Annual Conference, Mr. Fladlien is both inspired and awed by the work of teachers around the country.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Federal Reserve Resources for AP Macroeconomics
Summary: A link to videos, publications, student and teacher resources from the Federal Reserve Bank.
The FED has complied a one-stop website for busy teachers wanting to find economic resources. Instead of bouncing around the 12 banks, you can visit Federal Reserve Education for all of your monetary policy needs.About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogsMikeroeconomics. He is currently attending the GATE Annual Conference and is awed by the talent and dedication of the teachers attending this conference.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tips for new AP Economics Teachers
Summary: Veteran AP Economics teacher, Jim Spellicy, offers tip on preparation and instruction.
The link is on the College Board website and is here. Passion for teaching the content is how teachers reveal their preferences for the class. Ruby Payne explains in her book Understanding Poverty, that low-income students interpret and respond to nonverbal cues. With these learners how you teach is important to the acquistion of AP Economics concepts and skills.About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and you can hear some of his passionate lectures on his blog, Mikeroeconomics.
Monday, October 5, 2009
EconTalk with Russ Roberts
Summary: A weekly podcast with George Mason University Professor, Russ Roberts.
This description is from the Library of Economics and Liberty:"The Library of Economics and Liberty carries a weekly podcast, EconTalk, hosted by Russ Roberts. The talk show features one-on-one discussions with an eclectic mix of authors, professors, Nobel Laureates, entrepreneurs, leaders of charities and businesses, and people on the street. The emphases are on using topical books and the news to illustrate economic principles. Exploring how economics emerges in practice is a primary theme.
Listeners are able to comment online on recent podcasts. All podcasts are archived and available free of charge. Podcast Listening Guides for classroom use are offered on selected podcasts.
EconTalk was voted Best Podcast in the 2008 Weblog Awards. It took 2nd place for Best Podcast two years in a row in the 2007 Weblog Awards and 2006 Weblog Awards.
EconTalk got started in March 2006 with podcasts every two weeks, and went weekly in the summer of 2006. New podcasts are released on Monday mornings. They are available for listening on any computer, and are also available through iTunes and other intermediary services. "
I download the show to my iPod and listen to it when I am on long drives or sometimes when I'm working out at the Community Y. I learn better when I can read the material so I refer to the annotated notes following each podcast. After listening to a podcast, I am rejuvenated to learn more about economics as I can see more and more applications of theory to practice. In a future blog, I will highlight Mr. Roberts book, The Price of Everything, and have a lesson plan that can be given as summer reading.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. Autumn is his favorite time of the year. He believes that economics provides a basis for rational decision making.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
National Debt -- AP Macroeconomic Lesson Plan
Summary: Students opine about who bears the burden of the public debt after looking at the data.
National Debt Clocks are a good way to arouse student interest in the public debt. Click here, here, and here. Often the debt clocks break down the debt per person.
John B. Taylor, has an excellent graph here on "Alarming Debt Charts." HT to Gregory Mankiw.
Discuss who bears the burden of the debt. Below are my thoughts. Please add your own and disagree.
Current generation owes the debt: As the government devotes more and more of its spending on public works, there's an opportunity costs in consumer goods. So this argument says that current consumption is given up so the future generation can have more goods later. I also believe that we owe the debt to ourselves. That is, the older generation pays both the principal and interest back to the older generation--those who bought the debt.
Future generation owes the debt. Some argue that higher taxes in the future shifts the debt to the younger generation. Since the bondholders who bought the debt, say 30 years ago, are repaid, all they did was swap assets. The future generation has to bear the burden of higher taxes.
When the government builds roads, schools, and funds military intervention, many U. S. citizens reap all of the benefits but none of the cost. These are the so-called "free riders" who share the consumption of a good who are non-excludable. It's hard to measure the impact on a higher national debt on free riders.
Also, income is unevenly distributed and those in the highest quintile pay a hefty share of the debt relative to those in the second quintile.
I look forward to your discussion.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. He has a passion for Haiku that is often posted on Twitter.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
AP Economics Website -- David Mayer
Summary: A look at one teacher's website to develop economic skills for teachers and students.
When a teacher has passion for a subject, it shows in their teaching. David Mayer is a teacher with a passion for economics. Mr. Mayer uses every tool for reaching his students. Who else would plan a trip to Costa Rica for his students!“Check out what we did on Facebook last May. I put together a Facebook AP Macro/Micro review for the two evenings before the AP Exam. We had 100’s of posts from all over the United States and the world,” writes Mayer in an email. His website is here.
If you have a question on multipliers or GDP, Mr. Mayer has a Virtual Tutor in which you interact directly with him. You’ll also find videos, lesson plans, PowerPoints, and more.
I have found that teaching economics must include what to teach, how to teach it, and what audience is your instruction targeted for. In addition, textbooks and materials reflect each author's philisophical interpretation. Public schools often have many institutional challenges such as state testing that might interrupt daily instruction. So I have found that I need every resource all of the time to meet the needs of my students. Mr. Mayer's website is one of those resources.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. Currently, Mr. Fladlien is waiting for the release of his iPod app--EconExamCram due shortly.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Audience Response in AP Economics
Summary: i-Clickers provide a way of involving students in the learning process and providing real-time feedback to the teacher.
How do you actively engage your students in the classroom? You might want to consider using an Audience Response System such as the i-Clicker in your classroom to poll and collect student responses to your questions.My textbook representative, Richard Rosenlof, set up the system and used a flash drive to transfer my questions into the system in minutes. All Mr. Rosenlof did was plug into my USB port and minutes later I was quizzing students. I distributed a remote to groups of students and minutes later I was quizzing students on price controls. I was able to tabulate the results and students instantly received feedback on why their response was correct or incorrect. I know that once a student publicly commits to an answer, they will recall all information to validate their response. Much research backs up the use of response systems.
If you have shy students, the i-Clickers also allows them a chance to answer. The clickers can be used to take attendance and even administer quizzes. Listen to a podcast by Stephen Buckles, Vanderbilt University on how he uses i-Clickers.
Sarah Martin, an i-Clicker representative, said that are “Plug and Play” meaning that the audience response system are easy to learn. Ms. Martin says that teachers like the ease of use for teachers. “There’s no software to install and runs on any computer platform.” The main advantage of i-Clickers is that it's a non-proprietory product. That is, whether you have PowerPoint, a Flash animation, Test Bank, or any application running, the clicker sits on top of the application without interference. And there's nothing to install.
The i-Clickers allow for easy on-the-fly editing. “Teachers like the spontaneity and flexibility to add questions when something unexpected comes up in the classroom,” said Martin. In addition, “Students can be nodding but not really getting it.” With the response system, you get immediate knowledge of instruction.
I liked the reinforment students felt from answering a question. As a group of students answered more and more questions correctly, their motivation increased to answer the next question. Using an audience response system like the i>clicker will enhance the utility of classroom instruction for both the teacher and the student.
Turning Technologies, , Padgett, and irespond, are other companies that provide response systems.
About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and blogs at Mikeroeconomics. Mr. Fladlien thinks that mobile devices will enhance competitive markets. In 2008, he was ISEA Teacher of the Year Finalist. He lives in Muscatine where writer Mark Twain wrote about the beauty of the sunsets.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
