HANDS-ON ECONOMICS - OVERVIEW
by Ken
Garwick - 6th grade teacher
Marlatt
Elementary School
Manhattan,
Kansas
My sixth grade students spend the school year
learning various economic concepts with a hands-on approach. Many situations are created where my
students get first hand practical experience.
I feel that by using this approach to teaching economics students can
more easily understand the concepts I am trying to teach.
Throughout the year, students are paid one
cigam a day for attending school. A
cigam is the monetary unit I use in my classroom. Cigam is magic spelled
backwards. I tell the students that my
job is to educate them and their job is to learn. I get paid for doing my job and feel that it is only fair that
they also get paid. I have various jobs
students do for a week that earns them another cigam every day.
Cigams are used at the beginning of the year
to purchase drinks of water, to use the restroom, and to sharpen pencils. There are times during the day where
students may do these things for free.
After two or three weeks of school I bring in
a pack of candy with four pieces. I ask
the students who would like to have some candy and of course just about
everyone wants some. Since my supply is
limited, I ask how I should solve the problem.
Students suggest breaking the candy, have a drawing, and other suggestions. Eventually somebody will offer to give me a
cigam for a piece. Another student will offer two and the bidding /auction is
on. The student with the highest offer
gets to pick the piece they want. I
then offer to restart the process. As
this is going on I constantly remind them that there are only three pieces and
they better get in on the action, which usually drives the price higher. This continues until all four pieces have
been sold. We then look at the amount
spent for each piece of candy and usually see that as the supply of candy
decreases, the price students are willing to pay for it increases (supply and
demand). Of course there are students
who do not have many cigams to bid with because they bought lots of extra
drinks of water and trips to the restroom.
I announce that I will sell candy again in two weeks in a similar
manner. Four more pieces of candy are
introduced to the class and bidding commences.
After the four pieces are gone, I pull out a chocolate bar which is also
for sale. Some students complain that
if they had known that there was chocolate, they wouldn't have spent all their
money earlier. We then discuss saving
money and not spending everything at one time.
The next auction item is a mystery
envelope. I don't reveal the contents
of the envelope, but let the class know that whoever bids the highest and gets
the envelope has the potential to make money.
The envelope contains a certificate allowing the bearer the right to
sell three items in class and keep all of the cigams earned from the sale. After this auction I then allow any student
to bring in one item to sell at our bi-weekly class auction.
Later on I have another mystery
envelope. I tell the students that it
contains US currency. When I shake it,
they do not hear any coins. All the
envelope has is paper money. Students
bid fast and furiously for the chance to get "real" money. The winner opens the envelope only to find
shredded currency. We then talk about
being good consumers and learn to ask important questions before buying
merchandise sight unseen.
With an increase in the amount of cigams some
students have, we eventually have missing cigams. Class discussion eventually leads to the development of a class
bank where the cigams can be protected.
Students are given a checkbook where they learn how to write checks,
make deposits and withdrawals, balance their accounts, and figure out interest
earned on the accounts.
The concept of paying rent is also introduced
to the students. They are initially
charged three cigams rent per week, one for their desk, one for their chair, and
one for the space they occupy in the room.
They can elect to not rent a desk or chair, but must pay for the space
they use. A problem occurs if a student
chooses to not rent their desk and chair.
Without a chair, they must sit on the floor and work at their desk. Those who do not rent a desk simply work on
the floor. They quickly realize the
mistake in not renting a desk when it is time to go to PE or music. As they line up to leave I inform them that
since they do not have a desk to store their books in, they must carry them
wherever they go. It is like they are
homeless. If items were left in the
open they may just disappear. After
going for half a day carrying all their materials I give them one chance to
reconsider whether or not they want to rent a desk. I have not had a student turn down this offer the second
time. Rent does go up during the year
as we talk about increased fuel expenses, taxes, etc.
In the spring I introduce the concept of
buying insurance. Students are given
the option of purchasing whole insurance for ten cigams, half insurance for
five cigams, or not purchasing insurance.
During the week the insurance commissioner (a different student each
week) draws three disasters and three student numbers twice a week. If the student drawn has whole insurance
they owe nothing from the disaster.
Half insurance pays for half the cost of the disaster and of course no
insurance means that the student is responsible for paying the entire bill. An example of a disaster is "Tissue
paper hot air balloon lands on neighbor's prize rose bush. It will cost you 50 cigams to replace the
bush."
This has been a very successful program for
me over the years. As students graduate
from high school and they come to visit me I find that many of them still have
some cigams stored in a desk drawer. I
even had a student write from West Point.
He told me that he was graduating and wondered if I still did the cigam
thing with my students. After all of
these years he still remembered that unit and the lessons it taught him.