This residential program presents the FTE Economic Issues curriculum units in a concentrated three-day setting. Each of the units is comprised of 5 – 7 lessons that include background content outline, student activities and simulations, and source lists. Economic Issues participants are introduced to the curriculum units through involvement in lessons and simulations from each of the units.

• $150 registration fee
• $600 participation stipend*
• $150 commuter stipend for participants who commute to and from the program site each day*
• 2 optional graduate credit hours available for $244 though the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

*To qualify for a stipend, participation or commuter, teachers must attend and actively participate in all sessions. There is no need to apply for a participation stipend. 

UPCOMING ECONOMIC ISSUES FOR TEACHERS PROGRAMS

TOPICS

Issues of International Trade

Trade issues have been at the forefront of recent current events: tariffs, trade deficits, Brexit, the global market, sweatshops, child labor, sanctions, embargoes, renegotiating NAFTA, the EU, WTO – the seemingly endless alphabet of interest groups, treaties, organizations, and trade agreements.

As a classroom topic, international trade has the great advantage of providing ready-made material for teachers wanting to engage student interest in current events. However, the complexity of the issues surrounding trade is daunting. While economic reasoning doesn’t guarantee resolution of the issues, it is a powerful tool of critical thinking that brings clarity to the discussion of current events. The ability to determine comparative advantage through opportunity cost, the ability to identify incentives and predict resulting behavior, and the ability to use supply and demand analysis of particular labor and resource markets, help students to set aside the emotion of international trade issues and cut through the rhetoric of media reports.

This workshop will offer examples and classroom activities that help students build a foundation for their opinions on the news of the day.

Visit Lesson Plans to review the curriculum.

Economic Demise of the Soviet Union

What happened in the former Soviet Union is surely one of the great events of modern history, an upheaval that will continue to have a monumental impact on global politics and trade.  During this program, Soviet history is the vehicle for teaching fundamental skills and principles of economic reasoning, which are then used to analyze the complexities of the intertwined economic, political-legal and moral-cultural components of Soviet society.  In addition to explaining why the Soviet economy collapsed, the lessons help students understand features of our own economy.

Curriculum : lessons with teacher background outlines and classroom activities, including:

• • Opportunity Cost: The Soviet Choice for Growth
  • Missing Markets and Missing Prices: The Task of the Planning Ministry
  • Incentives Matter: The Firm in the Soviet Economy
  • Property Rights: Soviet Farms
  • Transaction Costs: Life in a Soviet Household
  • Applying the Lessons of the Soviet Union

Economic concepts discussed during the course of this program can be found here.

Federal Budgets, Debts and Deficits

FTE is pleased to roll out a new economic issues program:  Federal Budgets, Debts, and Deficits. In response to COVID-19, the U.S. federal government has pushed the U.S. national debt to record levels.

Due to the potential economic implications of the national debt, it is important to understand what it is, how it is financed and what is driving changes in the debt over time. Economic reasoning principles can help provide clarity with those questions. The curriculum will focus on:

• the budget process – what it should be and what it is
• the specter of unfunded liabilities
• the debt and deficit – how bad is it?
• transparency in budgeting
• public choice theory and public debt
• what should students know about our debt?

As with all FTE programs, participants will leave the program with classroom activities.
Visit Lesson Plans to review the curriculum.