Center for Economic Education

Recent Operations

*We are currently planning the 3rd Annual Conference. The tentative date is June 24, 2013 from 11:30 to 1 pm. Check back here for details and make plans to attend!

*On March 4, 2013 the Center for Economic Education partnered with the Missouri Council on Economic Education to run the Mad City Money Simulation at Skyline High School in Urbana, Missouri. Drs. David Mitchell, John Stuart Rabon, and five economics majors all helped to run the simulation playing the role of different merchants. Approximately 75 high school students participated. Students take on the role of an adult and are randomly assigned a job, income, family, and debt. The students then visit different merchants to select different types (and costs!!) of transportation, housing, food, household necessities, clothing, day care, and other wants and needs during the simulation. Throughout this time, students must use economic reasoning and personal responsibility skills where they learn concepts such as opportunity cost, budgeting, and balancing wants with needs. The merchants try to get the participants to purchase a bigger car, larger house, take the extravagant vacation to Hawaii, etc. and students are allowed to make mistakes and suffer the consequences of their choices in a safe, but realistic, environment. Students are surprised to learn that they can’t afford a “big house with an expensive car all while paying for groceries and day care” on their salary. In addition, students get to experience fate in the form on an unexpected bill, such as car repair, or an unexpected windfall, such as winning a beauty contest. The students then have to readjust their budget and spending to account for this ‘visit by fate’. The Center for Economic Education is planning to replicate the Mad City Money simulation in 2 to 3 high schools in Springfield in the Fall of 2013.

*Drs. Self and Gallaway have offered teacher training conferences focusing on the economics of globalization and its impact on our lives. These seminars are a great opportunity for secondary teachers and teachers-in-training to learn more about globalization and provides them with supplemental material that they can use in their classroom.

*In June of 2010, the Center for Economic Education ran the “Springfield Financial Fitness for Life” Seminar. This seminar was sponsored by the National Council on Economic Education. The seminar covered topics and teaching methods that were of interest to K-12 teachers of personal finance and economics.

*In April of 2010, the Center for Economic Education aided in the set up and operations of the Personal Financial Challenge Regional Competition. Twenty teams of high school juniors and seniors (81 students total) from the Southwest Missouri Region participated with the top teams in the competition going to the State Competition.

*In March of 2010, The Center for Economic Education Director, Dr. David Mitchell, attended a seminar in Kansas City entitled “Millennials and Money Forum” which was sponsored by Commerce Bank. This conference had as its intended audience directors of centers that engage in the creation and delivery of economic/financial literacy workshops which are aimed at secondary teachers and college students. I got several ideas not only for conferences, but methods as to how best to run seminars and conferences in the local area.

*In December of 2010, the Center for Economic Education applied for and received a competitive grant in the amount of $5,250 from the National Council on Economic Education for a teacher workshop focusing on Globalization. Topics to be discussed included: the supply and demand of domestic and foreign goods and services, trade agreements and organizations, barriers to international trade, globalization and the environment, comparative advantage and its importance to international trade, and immigration’s impact on the domestic economy. The workshop will be conducted by Dr. Sharmista Self and Dr. Julie Gallaway, both of the MSU economics department. The scheduled date is April 1, 2011.

*In September of 2009, the Center for Economic Education participated in a statewide seminar for teachers on the 2008 Financial Crisis. Dr. Terrel Gallaway of the Missouri State University Economics Department represented the Center for Economic Education at the seminar and was compensated $350. This seminar discussed an overview and timeline of the crisis, a discussion of how the national market for housing had been impacted, a discussion of how the crisis had impacted Missouri as a whole, and a discussion of resources that were available for teachers to use in the classroom.