Third Annual "Spotlight on Economics" Held in Little Rock

The Little Rock Branch recently held its third annual "Spotlight on Economics" seminar for elementary and high school teachers. Seminar topics included U.S. history, saving and investing, and labor markets in the United States. Teachers from Arkansas and Missouri came to this seminar designed to encourage the integration of economics into social studies, U.S. history, government, civics and consumer education subject areas.

“Economics has played a major role in the development of the United States, so why not teach economic concepts that occur naturally during all periods of U.S. history?” commented Billy Britt, Little Rock Branch economic education specialist. EconomicsArkansas (formally known as the Arkansas Council on Economic Education), and the Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education, supported the seminar in Little Rock and Fayetteville by providing activities and resources for teachers.

Dr. Michael Owyang, research economist from the St. Louis Fed, discussed labor and its role in the U.S. economy. Owyang gave anecdotal information that developed participants' knowledge of how labor works in a market economy. Activities showing how to integrate the lectures into different subjects were demonstrated. Participants in Little Rock read and discussed letters from young girls whose labor helped build the textile industry in Massachusetts. In Fayetteville, Dr. Rita Littrell illustrated the effects of supply and demand of salaries on labor in a market economy.

Teachers received the following for attending the workshop, which had Arkansas Department of Education approval:

• Materials from the Federal Reserve System that deal with the Fed’s role in history and lesson plans that teach about the Fed based on state education frameworks.
• Basics of Saving and Investing: Investor Education 2020, a teacher’s guide provided by the Arkansas Securities department.
• Two hours of technology training which meet state guidelines.

Curtis White, a seminar participant said, “I wish that I had come to all three days of the seminar. This workshop was designed with teachers in mind. This type of workshop is what teachers need to get economics into classrooms.”