Funding for this publication was provided byNational Council on Economic Education - NCEE(New York, NY, USA) through a grant from theUnited States Department of Education, Office ofEducational Research and Improvement

Finan]area acestei publica]ii a fost oferit` deNational Council on Economic Education - NCEE(New York, NY, USA) printr-un grant acordat de De-partamentul pentru Educa]ie al Statelor Unite, Ofi-ciul pentru Cercetare [i Perfec]ionare Profesional`

Through the hard work of a capable, experi-enced, enthusiastic, devoted team,

With the support of much helpful organizations,such as: the US National Council on Economic Ed-ucation, the Romanian Ministry of Education, theTeacher Corps House in Bucharest and some othercities around the country, and many other alike,

Following an inspiring dream and a realisticstrategy,

Taking advantage of a bit of luck, which it ap-parently is deserving,

CREE has had important accomplishments in the area of the Romania’s economic education,in the last three years, for which speak the belowfigures:• 12 qualified trainers• 27 teacher workshops with 630 participants who

have been trained in 378 sessions totally• 1,308 more teachers have been provided with ac-

tive strategy teaching materials• 114,000 students of all grades have benefited of

the effective, updated economic education in theclassroom

• 420 students participated in the economic literacysurvey

• 20,000 to 30,000 hits yearly to the CREE web site• 3 Economics lesson writing contests with 37 teach-

ers totally awarded for their works• 7 publications with 115 Economics lessons and

other teaching materials - Economics glossary,content standards on Economics teaching, Ec-nomics lesson writing guide, etc.

• A Crucial Choice:The EffectiveEconomic Education pag. 2

• CREE Hosted 2003-2004 Writers pag. 3

• A Winning Cause: Economic Education In The ElementarySchool pag. 4-5

• Assessment on TheStudent EconomicKnowledge pag. 6

• Fifth Grade Students Who Deserve theTitle of „BestEconomist“ pag. 7

• A Real Hard Slog:Piloting The „Economic Educationfor Middle School“Program pag. 8-9

• The Middle School Program To Be Expanded

pag. 10-11

• CREE Is EncouragingStudents’ Performance andCreativity pag. 12

• The Teacher ContestGala pag. 12

• A Challenge for HighSchool Teachers

pag. 14-15

• The First AdvancedTraining Workshopfor High SchoolTeachers pag. 15

No. 10/2005 CENTRUL ROMÅN PENTRU EDUCA}IE ECONOMIC~ ROMANIAN CENTER FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION

Learn, Compete and Benefit

CREE Achievements as of 2004CREE Achievements as of 2004

While CREE is mainly targeting the teachers for torapidly and successfully fuel the refreshment andenrichment of the economic education, the K-12grade students are primarily those who gain from theCREE programs – may those be teacher trainingworkshops, education material development, teach-ing experience exchange, teacher and student com-petition, etc.What our, your, everyone’s children in Romania maybenefit as a consequence of getting achieved theCREE programs? Here is what the children get more able to do:- They properly understand how the market economy

works, what the rules of the market game are, andhow to profit from it while comply with.

- They learn how to make at their best the right deci-sions as employees, managers, investors, con-sumers, owners, tax payers, citizens, and success-fully act within the competitive environment of themarket economy.

- They learn and practice the ways to use the mech-anisms of the market economy, and of the free, de-mocratic society as well, and get able to help thosefunction correctly, get strengthen and improved.

- They get progressively and consciously connected tothe global economy development, contribute to andtake advantage from its advancement, both individ-ually and through the communities they belong.

CHILDREN’S BENEFITS FROM CREE PROGRAMS

Everyone agrees that the younger gen-eration needs a modern, pragmatic ori-ented economic education, which canmeet the reality of the market economy.

Nobody doubts that the economiceducation that should offer to our chil-dren must be active, participative, andattractive, following their level of un-derstanding, their needs, aspirationsand life experience.

The Gloomy, Deficient and Artificial Economics

But not everybody understandsthat the monotonous and boring wayin which the economic education is of-ten delivered in our schools reachesonly accidentally our students’ mindsbut never their hearts.

Almost nobody worries about theguilt we all have for the spread of ‘theeconomic iliteracy’ that affects theyounger generation after finishing school.

Too many people hope situation isnot that bad and the youngster educationmay get improved over time, graduallyand by themselves. But this is just that sortof risky illusion, similar to „the gradualtransition to the market economy’ –which after ten years resulted in a kind ofa doubtful capitalism that might need tenmore years to come to a decent condition.

Our Children’s Natural Right toThe Proper Economic Education

If there were any real hope to im-

prove things, one of them would be togive the younger generation an effec-tive, proper and useful economic edu-cation and start doing it right now, notsome time in the future.

If the older generations can dosomething to fix their mistakes, theymust give the young people all thechances they can benefit of – includingthe one for the decent, right economiceducation. This way, they will be ableto succeed in where we failed.

Our teachers could successfullyteach Economics their students if theyget themselves taught how to achieve it.Our students could even fall in love with

Economics if we enlighten them whatintriguingly is good at. The economicway of thinking could become their sec-ond nature if we provide them with thatkind of economic education they canunderstand and under the condition usto give up the prejudice that Economicsis some pure subject - one that fits bestto universities and academies.

Will You, Could You, WouldYou Try?

CREE doesn’t aim at providing finalanswers as the economic education isconcerned. Nevertheless, the educatorsin the CREE team have experiencedand get skilled with the true, active andvaluable economic education, reward-ingly put into service wherever tried to.All those who have the opportunity toget acquainted with it and make use ofit decides ultimately to adopt it. Thesuccess of the CREE programs is con-firming the professional quality of theeducational solution it is delivering.

What the CREE educators really be-lieve in is this – there is neither time,nor the case to hesitate about what todo; what we need to do, if generallywe’re willing to do anything, is to putextensively into operation an economiceducation mode that has been attestedas valid and much effectual.

It is not the CREE that has createdthis Economics learning mode, but is itsteam that really knows how to put it in-to practice and how to hand it on. Thisis the most important contribution ofCREE to the development of the effec-tive economic education the Romanianstudents to be provided with.

Would you like to play a role inmaking the economic education ofyour children becoming functional?

In CREE’s vision, the process of renewing the eco-nomic education shouldn’t get delayed any longer.On the contrary, it must get built up promptly andextensively, without forfeit in any way the qualityof the result. Below may see the few high-priority CREE pro-grams for which the funding to be identified yet.Would you like to give a hand?• The Training of Trainers Program – this is a

series of 4 one-week seminars that aims to cre-ate 10 four-trainer teams in 10 major cities.They would train Economics teachers through-out the country and make the effective econom-ic education reach thousands of students in thevery first years. The investment in such programwould result in a very low-cost delivery of eco-nomic education through the 10 regional train-ing centers.

• The Financial Education Program: ‘The Se-cret of Money’ - this is about managing per-sonal financial resources and it aims to developknowledge, skills and abilities related to savingmoney, managing the personal budget, invest-

ing, planning and creating resources, makingdecisions on expenditure, family budget, etc.The program has a great educational value andinvolves the participation of the students, teach-ers and parents at the same time. The programhas three discrete parts – for elementary, mid-dle, and high school, and each of those entailscurriculum, teacher material and student work-book development, and parents’ as well, andteacher training workshops.

• ‘Content Standards and Performance Indica-tors for The Effective Economic Education’Publication – this is to establish the learningobjectives, competencies and skills to get builtthrough economic education, and evaluationtools to measure student learning performanceat all educational levels.

• High School Student Economic LiteracySurvey – this is to determine the studentprogress, teacher capability, current economiceducation needs, identify priorities and ways toimprove the economic education provided in theRomanian schools.

UPCOMING PROJECTS: NOW OR NEVER, SOONER OR LATER

A Crucial Choice: The EffectiveEconomic Education

2

These 6th graders from the ‘Carmen Sylva’ High School in Timisoara do successfully learn Economics. Would the other teens have the right to?

3

Among the international programsof the National Council on EconomicEducation (NCEE), the main partner ofthe Romanian Center for Economic Ed-ucation (CREE), Training of Writers hasa special place. This program is basedon creativity and proved participant out-come in other training programs ofNCEE; it is always set in a location that ismeant to provide a substantial culturalinput too; and it is the opportunity for12 American teachers and 12 Central-East-European teachers to meet, ex-change and work together.

The European teachers are very care-fully selected from the hundreds ofalumni in the most important, hardworking but rewarding program ofNCEE – the Training of Trainers (ToT).During the last years, NCEE has devel-oped this program simultaneously inthree different places in Eastern Eu-rope, Russia and Central Asia, with

more than 50 participants each; thus,teachers selected from the above-men-tioned locations were invited to partici-pate in the Writers Seminar inBucharest, September 22-27, 2003.

The 6-day seminar was conducted byUS faculty – Mary Suiter, University ofMissouri, St. Louis, and BonnieMeszaros, University of Delaware. The24 participants learn and practice writ-ing good economic education materialsbased on active learning strategies. Allthe post-seminar work get completedon-line, through the Writers group list-serv. The participants are expected tosubmit a full-standard complied Eco-nomics lesson to the faculty in 45 daysfrom the seminar end. The materialsare then revised and finally classroomtested, while the best of them are select-ed for to get published by NCEE.

It’been a real joy and honor forCREE to be the host of the 2003-2004 se-

ries of the Writers Seminar; the previousones had taken place in Prague, Rigaand Vilnius. Being aware from their ownexperience about the amount of workthe participants in this seminar are ex-pected to provide in order to completetheir assignments, the CREE team mem-bers have tried their best to balance theirguests’ efforts with an enjoyable stay andan interesting program.

During their free afternoons andevenings – when any, and in the culturaldedicated part of the program schedule,the participants visited the Prahova Val-ley and The Peles Castle, The Palace ofParliament, The Peasant Museum andThe Village Museum, Count Dracula’sClub, The Romanian Athenaeum –where they had the opportunity to at-tend a concert in the Enescu Festival.

They developed a passion for walksin Bucharest, the Romanian kitchenspecialties and the traditional localhandicraft. Before their departure, theyonly complained about three things:having had too little sleep, having eatentoo much and having to go back home.They did not leave without dedicating alittle song to us, on the Beatles’ music.In the end, Mary Suiter, the programcoordinator, came to the following con-clusion: „This was the best organizedand the most pleasant seminar of all theWriters seminars we’ve had so far. Andthis is not a simple flattering remark. Wewant to come back here!“

• Maria Lacatus• Alin Cercea• Christina Marta Suciu• Paul Lacatus• Georgeta Georgescu• Valentin Ghiata• Valerica Mihaila• Mircea Busuiocescu

ROMANIAN ALUMNI OFTHE WRITERS PROGRAM

CREE Hosted Writers2003 -2004 Economics Teachers From 12 Countries Met In Bucharest

The Writers Seminar in Bucharest wasthe best in the history of the program,

according to the faculty

The world gets smaller whenwrite Economics lessons

(Contemporarily remixed in the Trainingof Writers Program, Bucharest, Septem-ber 2003)

Yesterday, everybody came for faraway,Now it looks like we’re to stay,Oh, leaving day came suddenly!

Everyday, training, writing, working very hard, Sleeping not as much as eating, but,Enjoying it, oh, such a fun!

Why we have to go?!We don’t want to go, oh, NO!Back to school again.We’ll remember every day!

YESTERDAY

4

A Winning Cause: Economic Education In The Elementary School

CREE and The Teacher Corps House in Bucharest haverun two new training workshops in the Economic Education inThe Elementary School Program series, in the winter-springtime 2004. In this joint program, which is appointed by theMinistry of Education and Reasearch for the 2003 – 2007 peri-od, CREE is providing the program itself – agenda, curricu-lum, education material, trainers, workshop conducting, whileThe Teacher Corps House is providing the coordination andthe workshop facilities.

As much as 67 elementary teachers from the capital city at-tended the workshops, which took place in January 12 – March10 (Group 1) and March 12 – May 10, 2004 (Group 2), at anaverage pace of 3 sessions every Monday.

The seminars were conducted by the CREE trainers – MariaLacatus, coordinator faculty, and Luminita Craciun – elemen-tary school teacher, and had a unique agenda, with 24 sessions(40 hours), 39 lessons, activities and teaching materials.

The most appreciated lessons were „The Opportunity Cost:Daniel’s Present’ (67% of the participant votes); „Trade: ATrading Day’ (60%); „Money: The Story of Money’ (42%).

Luminita Craciun, Elementary Teacher,Central High School, CREE Trainer:„During the two workshops of Econom-ic Education the teachers have showedcuriousity and interest to learn teachingmethods for a very new content at thiseducational level – 1-4 grades. Thework activities have been much appre-ciated as they proved that students inthe elementary school can also be ableto learn certain economic concepts,they can get asked to make decisionsand they can have their own opinionconcerning various situations and cir-cumstances within the society. Thequality of the teaching materials deter-mined the teachers to be willing to runa one-year elective class of EconomicEducation in their elementary schools.“

1. Introduction and Pretesting. Presentation of theseminar. About CREE and NCEE. Initial testing. Con-tent standards for economic education. Main Econom-ics concepts that are being taught in school. (DI, A, D)

2. The Opportunity Cost: The Chocolate Mountain.Options, opportunity cost. (DI, GA, IA)

3. The Opportunity Cost: Daniel’s Present. Options,opportunity cost. (DI, D, GA)

4. Decision Making: All or Nothing. Making decisions,opportunity cost, compromise. (DI, D)

5. Scarcity: In The Green Emperor’s Country. Scarcity,options, alternatives, opportunity cost. (DI, D, GA)

6. Goods And Services: Let’s Choose Some Goods.Resources, goods, services, consumer, scarcity, op-portunity cost, market economy. (DI, D, GA)

7. Goods And Services: Paid With A Smile. Productiveresources, human resources, natural resources, capi-tal goods, goods, services. (S, D)

8. Economic Systems: Who? What? How? ForWhom? Distribution, economic system. (S, D, GA)

9. The Market: Create A Market. Consumer, producer,market. (S, RP, D)

10. Trade: A Trading Day. Trade, barter. (S, D)11. Money: Money Can’t Grow As Fruits In A Tree

Anyway. Money, means of payment, measure of thevalue, money deposit. (S, GA, D)

12. Money: The Rooster and the Beans. Money, trade,monetary mass, barter, functions of money. (S, D, DI)

13. Money: The Story of Money. Coins, banknotes. (D, DI)14. The Demand: What If...? Consumer, demand, price,

quantity demanded, the law of demand. (CS, D, DI)15. The Supply: Input – Output. Output (products), input

(resources), human resources, natural resources (theland), entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneur. (DI, GA, D)

16. The Supply: Souvenir Factory. Price, productioncost, supply, quantity supplied, the law of supply.(DI, D, GA)

17. The Supply: Salary for Reading. Opportunity cost,supply, quantity supplied, the law of supply. (DI, D, GA)

18. The Market Equilibrium: More or Less? Market,price, equilibrium, instability. (DI, D)

19. Competition: A Classroom Contest. Competition,incentives. (DI, D)

20. Economic Flows: A Trip Along with Mr. Lion.Goods, services, productive resources, market, eco-nomic flows, income. (RP, D, IA)

21. The Economic Role Of Government: Masked AndUnmasked. Governmental policies, costs and bene-fits.(RP, D)

22. Public Goods And Services: What Does My TownLook Like? Public goods and services, taxes. (D, DI, IA)

23. Seminar Evaluation. Conclusions, answers, conceptand method review, summary of the seminar, futureprojects. (D, IA, A, DI)

24. Seminar Post-testing. Final testing. (D, IA, A, DI)(A=Assessment; DI=Direct Instruction; GA=Group Activities;D=Discussions; S=Simulations; IA=Individual Activities;CS=Case Study; RP=Role Play.)

THE SEMINAR AGENDA

THE EDUCATION MATERIALMAKES THE DIFFERENCE

5

„Most of the content delivered through these les-sons is necessary to children in their every daylife. Moreover, the lessons are attractive and in-novative“. (Elena Niculae, School no 156)

„The content was new and many of that would beaccessible to the elementary students. The les-sons can be used in elective classes“. (ZanaStanescu, School no 84 „Nicolae Balcescu’)

„The work activities to be set in the economic ed-ucation classes would help students to act in vari-ous circumstances“. (Domnica Fratiman, Schoolno 24)

„I often find myself in the situation of making de-cisions in the name of my students. I think thatthe students who will participate in the economiceducation classes can learn how to make deci-sions by themselves, and when and how and whyto give up on certain things“. (Marilena Calin, ‘Eu-gen Lovinescu’ High School)

„The lesson about the opportunity cost and mak-ing decisions is an example of how to bring thecontent from the concept to the understandinglevel of the little elementary students“. (CristinaGeorgescu, School no 79)

PARTICIPANT TESTIMONY: Brings Content to Little Student Understanding

Group 1 • 52% of the teachers appreciated the

activities of the seminar as good andvery good.

• For 85%, the content of the coursewas new.

• The methods that were used provedto be new for 52% of the partici-pants; 60% have been thinking thatthose are useful; and 55% think theycan apply those in the classroom.

• 74% of the participants have consid-ered the course as a useful one,while 70% have considered it ascomprehensible.

Group 2• 78% of the teachers have appreciat-

ed the activities as good and verygood.

• For 90% of the participants, the con-tent of the course was new.

• The methods that were used provedto be new for 70% of the partici-pants; 65% have been thinking thatthose are useful; and 52% think theycan apply those in the classroom.

• 85% of the participants have appre-ciated the course as being useful,and accessible.

WORKSHOP EVALUATION: New, Useful, Accessible

The Economic Education in ElementarySchool Program to progress with onemore, critical step – the 6-day work-shop, to take place in March 2005,which has been planned to reach mul-tiple objectives:• To train 40 elementary teachers in order

them to provide their students with theunderstanding and the ability to operatewith the economic fundamentals of thedemocratic society, and to participatefurther in the training process of otherelementary teachers.

• To reach at least 1,000 elementary stu-dents in the first school year to followthe workshop, in order them to get pro-vided with the understanding and theability to operate with the economicfundamentals of the democratic society.

• To instruct the 40 teachers for them topilot the Elementary Curriculum overthe 2005-2006 school year in order toachieve the necessary classroom test-ing and to reach the Curriculum finaldraft to be largely delivered in Roman-ian elementary schools.

• To get the 40 teachers acquainted withsome basic training techniques andform 10 trained teacher teams for themto contribute further to largely deliverthe Economic Education Program in theelementary schools nationally wide,from the regional centers located in 10major cities, the capital city included.

The workshop, Democracy Advancethrough Market Economy-based Edu-cation in Elementary School’ is fundedby the Embassy of the U.S.A. through theDemocracy Commission – Small GrantProgram. The Economic Education in ElementarySchool Program is also supported, finan-cially included, by the U. S. NationalCouncil on Economic Education (NCEE),based in New York, and the RomanianMinistry of Education and Research.The curriculum has been developedfrom the materials granted by the U. S.National Council on Economic Education(NCEE), and the U.S. SPEC Publishers. In the post-piloting period – to endwith a final evaluation provided by theteachers and the pilot coordinators, thecurriculum will be reviewed, enhanced,and re-published. It is the expectationof CREE the Economic Education in Ele-mentary School Program to be adoptedafterward by the Ministry of Educationand Research, and the curriculum to beofficially recommended by the Ministry,as an elective course for the Romanianelementary schools, similarly to the ap-pointment of another successful pro-gram of CREE – the Economic Educa-tion in Middle School, which has beenappointed by the Ministry in September2004. The Economic Education in ElementarySchool Program is highly illustrative tothe CREE mission – to help Romanianyounger generation develop a marketeconomy-based way of thinking and theassociate skills.

ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM PILOTING TO START

The Teacher Corps Housein Bucharest has becomea traditional host for theCREE workshops

6

Assessment on The Economic Knowledge ofThe High School Students

The research „Assessment of TheEconomic Knowledge of High SchoolStudents“ has been a project of theCenter for Economic Education fromthe University of Bloomington, Indi-ana, USA. CREE participated in thisproject along with similar organiza-tions from America and Central-EastEurope.

The purpose of the research was toevaluate comparatively, through a setof tests, the economic level of theknowledge of students selected fromthe different countries.

The students were given a knowl-edge test with 20 items selected from alarger set of 40 items; each test was a 4-choice question, out of which only onewas the right answer. The test wasmade in July 2000 by a group of Eco-nomics teachers from the UnitedStates of America and from Centraland East Europe, who were coordinat-ed by Ken Rebeck, professor at theState University from Saint Cloud,U.S.A.

At the end of the 2000-2001 schoolyear, the test was distributed in fourcountries – Belarus, Kirghizstan, Russiaand Ukraine. In the second round, at

the end of the 2001-2002 school year,the test was distributed in other fivecountries – Albania, Croatia, Latvia,Romania and U.S.A. The filled in testforms were electronically scanned andthen processed under the coordina-tion of professor Phillip Saunders fromthe Department of Economic Studiesof the University of Bloomington, Indi-ana.

In Romania the testing involved400 students and 15 Romanian teach-ers from the districts of Bacau, Galati,Bihor, Cluj, Constanta, Dolj, Hune-doara, Gorj, Iasi and Satu Mare. TheRomanian students came from nation-al colleges, regular high schools, eco-nomic high schools and vocationalschools. They have been given the testat the end of a school year duringwhich they had studied Economicsduring at least 34 classes. Additionally,the teachers responsible with distribut-ing and collecting the tests have beenasked information about their educa-tional background and further qualifi-cations as well as about the trainingcourses they attended.

The results have proven that theRomanian students have the basic eco-nomic knowledge and they are able touse them in analyzing and explainingparticular situations. The average per-centage of the right answers given bythe Romanian students was a quitehigh one: 79%.

Overall these results lead to the fol-lowing conclusions about the Roman-ian students knowledge on Economics:

• 90% of the tested students under-stand correctly the relation betweenthe level of salaries and the level of la-bor productivity.

• 82% know that in any society theavailable natural resources are limitedand must be used efficiently.

• 90% understand that in order tobuild a school, people must give upother goods and services.

• 81% know that at certain time,the production possibilities of an econ-omy depend on the available re-sources, including the quality of thehuman resources.

• 85% know that if there is competi-tion among producers, the quality ofthe goods and services available in themarket will increase and the prices de-crease.

On some other topics the Romanianstudents’ answers were under average.

• 42% don’t know which are the ef-fects of the decrease of interest rate.

• 33% don’t know what generallydetermines the increase of the pricesfor goods and services.

• 31% don’t know when the aggre-gate demand rises.

• 31% don’t know what may gainthe producers who have a comparativeadvantage relatively to other producersof a certain good.

The tests were like the one below.Read the question below and choosethe right answer:The exchange rate of the US Dollar rela-tive to Euro changes from 1$=1,25 Eu-ro to 1$=1,1 Euro. This means that:

A. for the German people the Americanproducts will be more expensive;

B. for the American people the Germanproducts will be more expensive;

C. U.S.A. will import more from Ger-many;

D. Germany will import less from theU.S.A.

CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• Limited nature of the natural re-sources

• Economic systems• Opportunity cost• Producers’ specialization• Interest rate• Profit• Economic utility• Producer and consumer interests• Competition• Market, demand, supply and price• Salary• Economic activity and pollution• Gross domestic product• Aggregate demand and supply• Taxes and duties to Government• Inflation• International labor division• Comparative advantage• Exchange rate

ECONOMIC CONTENT THAT WASSUBJECT TO TESTING

THE ROMANIAN STUDENTS PERFORMED QUITE WELL

The average of the right answers given bythe Romanian students (79%) can be com-pared to the right answer average of theAmerican students who learn IntensiveEconomics (72%), and is above the rightanswer average of the American studentsfrom regular classes (59%), Albanian stu-dents (55%), Croatian students (53%) orLatvian students (67%).

7

The teacherMarga Panait from„Mihai Viteazul“High School inBailesti is just oneof the 40 teacherswho have pilotedthe Middle SchoolCurriculum for

Economics, after having participated inthe training seminar in Sinaia, April2003. Our colleague’s testimony aboutthe classroom work shows the usefulnessand the success of this economic educa-tion program.

They were only in the 5th grade, and I hadnever taught in middle school before, but onlyin high school. I was afraid we would be in-compatible and that my intentions to teachthem so early the economic way of thinkingwould be unsuccessful.

The first classes were more like testing andadaptation ones. After two classes, we realizedwhat we wanted from each other and how weshould behave to each other. I was afraid thatthe children would not understand me and thecontent I wanted to introduce them, but then Irealized from their answers that they were ableto understand everything I had explained themand that the economic language was becomingmore and more familiar to them. Then I knewthat we would be able to go on together.

What they like mostly are stories andgames. In the lesson about the entrepreneur,‘The Path I Didn’t Choose“, they had manyquestions about Maria and her daughter,about the things they went through. Theywould have liked the story not to end.

When we studied the lesson ‘The Jungle Ex-pedition“ and they had to choose the thingsthey wanted to take with them and decide whatto leave home, the children were the most seri-ous explorers. They were excited they had tomake up teams, they argued about whichname their team would take, and finally thegroups competed under names such as ‘WorldResearchers“, ‘Godzilla“, ‘Jungle Conquerors“and ‘Mystery Detectives“. What they loved andmotivated them mostly was that they were con-tinuously competing with themselves and withthe others, too. Who makes the fastest choice?Who wins? Who will be honored?

However, the lessons were much more thangames. They participated in serious discus-sions; they answered the questions and filled intheir evaluation forms. Thus, I was happy tofind out that by playing, the students learned

about the opportunity cost, about scarcity,about how to make a good choice and make thebest decision possible in a given context. WhenI asked them what exactly they learned from theactivity ‘The Jungle Expedition“, one of thegirls told me: ‘Now I’ve finally understoodwhat the cost of opportunity is“.

Before having taught this course of econom-ic education for middle school, I had never an-ticipated that I might discuss about economicsystems with 11-year old students, and theywould even get to like such a lesson. Yet, thattruly happened. They liked it, I liked it, andmy colleagues - members of the social scienceboard, liked it too. It’s true - the students didn’thave to listen to long lectures about the marketand command economy, but they played ‘thebadge game“, and they had certain roles - pro-ducers who had to either make decisions or putinto operation the State’s decisions. This way,they experienced themselves the condition of aproducer in a command economy and in amarket economy respectively.

The presence of the other teachers who werein the class room did not intimidate the chil-dren at all. Moreover, they proved to be sur-prisingly creative and original, at least for me,when they worked under the conditions of themarket economy. They had all sort of ideasabout how to design the badges – shaped as abutterfly, flower, heart and so on. During the

class, I had the feeling that they wouldn’t agreeabout how to cut, draw and color them, buteach team finally adopted a prototype. Thenthey participated in the discussion with thesame seriousness and completely aware of whatthey were talking about; they compared the dif-ferent situations they had gone through andthey identified the particular occurrences of acertain economic system.

‘I thought that the lesson would be no morethan confusion and dispute – confessed me acolleague afterward. I was amazed to observethat the students could learn about the differ-ences between the production modes in a com-mand and a market economy respectively. Andthey had such a rich vocabulary for 5thgraders! I wouldn’t have thought that childrencould learn so many things by playing.“

I felt proud with my students and the suc-cess of our program and, in our next class Itold them they deserved the title of ‘Best Econo-mist“. Now my students from the 5th grade arelooking forward to their Economics classes onFridays, to see “what game are we going to playthis time“. I don’t know if they will become thebest economists, but I think this course of eco-nomic education will influence their way ofthinking and their behavior, as well as theirfuture careers. And if things happen like this, Iwill be even more proud and pleased withthem.

The Middle School Economic Education Course Proves To Be A Success

Fifth Grade Students Who Deserve The Title of „Best Economist“

They start playing games, they go on with market competing practice, and theycame to compare the economic systems.

8

The Piloting Center 1: Bacau-Brasov-Galati

The piloting seminar (November 7-8,2003) was hosted by „M. Dragan“ Schoolfrom Bacau. The demonstration lesson„Decision Making. Alexandra Goes toHigh School“ took place in a 6th gradeclass, with George Florin Nica as teacher.In the seminar also participated MariaLacatus, CREE; Valentin Ghiata, CREE;Polixenia Simion, Supervisor, ISJ Bacau;Duta Sburlan, „Gr. C. Moisil“ HighSchool, Onesti, CREE local coordinator;Rodica Havarneanu, „Dimitrie Can-temir“ High School, Iasi; Rodica Doices-cu, „G. M. Cancicov“ School, Bacau;Iuliea Lazar, „Costache Negri“ Pedagog-ic High School, Galati; Mariana Bulbuc,Andrei Saguna „National College“,Brasov; Magdalena Mardare, The Eco-nomic College, Bacau; Sonia Duhalmu,„A. Saligny“ Technical College, Bacau.

The Piloting Center 2: Iasi-Suceava

The seminar took place at the„Costache Negruzzi“ National College

in Iasi, in January 19-20, 2004. Thedemonstration lesson was held at a 6thgrade class with teacher Doina Tofan. Inthe seminar participated: Maria Lacatus,CREE; Mihai Nazdravan, CREE; RodicaHavarneanu, „Dimitrie Cantemir“ HighSchool, Iasi; Lucia Afloroaei, The Na-tional College, Iasi; Ioan Cezar Anutei,„Mihai Eminescu“ National College,Suceava; Corvin Bejenariu, „EuxodiuHurmuzachi“ National College, Radau-ti; Stefan Colibaba, „Euroed“ VocationalSchool, Iasi; Iuliana Scripcaru, „Alexan-dru Ioan Cuza“ School, Falticeni;Loredana Stegaru, „D. Sturdza“ School,Iasi.

The Piloting Center 3: Cluj-Sibiu

The piloting seminar was held at the„Mihai Viteazul“ National College inTurda, in January 25-26, 2004. Thedemonstration lesson was „Cost, Profit,Loss: The Toy Factory“, at a 6th gradeclass; teacher, Viorica Maria Felezeu. Inthe seminar participated 30 teachers,class masters, school principals, educa-tion supervisors from 4 districts, profes-

sors from the University of Cluj. FromCREE participated Maria Lacatus andMaria Tomoiu; the teachers participat-ing in the program were: Viorica MariaFelezeu, „Mihai Viteazul“ National Col-lege, Turda; Laura Borbe, „Mihai Emi-nescu“ High School, Cluj; Elena Olariu,„Simion Barnutiu“ School, Cluj; MirelaNicoara, „A. Saligny“ Technical College,Cluj; Gabriela Prodan, „Pavel Dan“High School, Campia Turzii; OctavianPop, „Samuel von Brukenthal“ NationalCollege, Sibiu.

The Piloting Center 4: Constan-ta-Calarasi-Dolj-Mehedinti

The seminar took place in Craiova,at the „Nicolae Titulescu“ National Col-lege, Craiova, in February 22-23, 2004.Georgeta Ivanovici, CREE local coordi-nator, taught the demonstration lessonto the 6th grade. CREE was representedby Maria Lacatus and Georgeta Georges-cu. The Economics course for middleschool had a generous presentation inthe newsletter edited by the two localeducation establishments – the Educa-tion Supervision Board and the Teacher

A Real Hard Slog: Piloting The„Economic Education for Midd

‘M. Dragan’ School, Bacau: children have to solve adecision making problem

‘Mihai Viteazul’ NationalCollege, Turda: the win-ning team in the ‘ToyFactory’ activity

‘CostacheNegruzzi’National

College, Iasi: the fever ofprofit and loss

The training workshop for the teachers who pilotedthe Economics curriculum for middle school hadended with an important procedural preparation: re-sponsibilities have been distributed to designated re-gional piloting centers, according to the geographicalallocation of certain CREE members and to otheralumni of CREE programs; a clear agenda with thepiloting steps was handed out and discussed; the pur-pose and the rules of the process, as well as the re-quirements and the expectations of CREE have beenhighlighted and explained.Finally, the piloting process involved 41 teachersfrom 21 cities, so that the economic education pro-gram reached 47 middle school classes. The leadersof the six teams established following geographical

criteria were in constant contact with the program co-ordinator, Maria Lacatus, who received periodicallydetailed evaluation reports on the piloting. The two-day regional seminars organized in each of the pilot-ing centers had the an assessment role and a screen-ing one as well. These meetings also created the op-portunity to have an extremely useful discussion withall the persons involved or interested in the CREEmiddle school program, from students, teachers andparents to principals, education supervisors, facultyand representatives of the local community.The program piloting was a true success: it providedthe required testing to validate the curriculum and itproved to be an excellent – though not intended, advo-cacy campaign for the cause of economic education.

9

Corps House. The head of the pilotingcenter, Victor Mihalascu, „Ovidius“ HighSchool, Constanta, had one of the mostdispersed but also motivated group ofteachers, in which took part: FlorentaAvram, School no 31, Craiova; VivianaMustata, School no 24, Craiova; MargaPanait, „Mihai Viteazul“ High School,Bailesti; Cecilia Bararu, School no 29,Constanta; Alexandru Bujenita, Princi-pal, „I. Cotovu“ High School, Harsova;Livia Anastasescu, School no 14, Drobe-ta Turnu-Severin.

The Piloting Center 5: Timis-Alba-Hunedoara

The seminar was hosted at the „Car-men Sylva“ Pedagogical High School,Timisoara, in March 21-22, 2004, andthe demonstration lesson „Money: TheRooster and The Beans“ was taught at a5th grade class by the coordinator of thepiloting group, teacher Dimitrie Spilca.In the seminar also participated: MariaLacatus and Georgeta Georgescu fromCREE; Rodica Jeican, „I. M. Clain“ Na-tional College, Blaj; Olivia Nitescu, Su-pervisor, ISJ Hunedoara; Laura Mircea,„W. Shakespeare“ High School,Timisoara. The ISJ Timis was represent-ed by dr. Avram Florea, General Supervi-sor; Maria Stefan, Supervisor; Petru San-dor, Special Supervisor. There were alsoattending: Alin Cercea, Supervisor, ISJHunedoara, as well as teachers from theWest University in Timisoara: dr. StefanBuzarnescu, dr. Gabriela Coltescu, dr.Ion Talcos, Constantin Strunga, MariaCasovan. The presence of the local rep-resentatives of the educational fieldturned the seminar in Timisoara into apublic event, and was reported in the lo-cal press.

The Piloting Center 6: Bucuresti

The team from the capital city, whichwas in permanent contact with the pro-gram coordinator, Maria Lacatus, estab-lished and had monthly meetings withthe teachers who participated in the pro-gram. Each school organized a demon-stration lesson and introduced elementsto enhance the teaching – such as, mate-rials, handouts, etc. In November 2003,teacher Luiza Cristea, „Matei Basarab“National College taught the lesson „TheMarket: You Can’t Play With It“ to the6th grade. In January 2004, Florica Du-mitrescu, „D. Bolintineanu“ HighSchool taught the lesson „Productivity:The Secret of The Paper Tea Cups“ tothe 6th grade. In February 2004, Stefa-nia Calinescu-Andrei, School no 135,taught the lesson „Unemployment:We’re Hiring A President“ to the 7thgrade. In March 2004, Ana Negulescu,„Dante Alighieri“ High School, taughtthe lesson „International Trade: GoingAround The Earth for Some Labels“. InApril 2004, Adriana Constantin, Schoolno 75, taught the lesson „The HumanCapital: Why Do We Go To School?“

e dle School“ Program

CREE PROGRAM IS WELCOMEIN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

‘Dante Alighieri’ National College, Bucuresti: a trade trip around the world

‘NicolaeTitulescu’National College,

Craiova: the diffi-cult issue of cost

calculation

‘Carmen Sylva’ Pe-dagogical High School,

Timisoara: the secret ofmoney get discovered

through gaming

Many parents of the students whowere taught the Economics course areaware of the long term benefits thatthis brought to their children: a highersense of responsibility, a better man-agement of their time, an upper judg-ment on facts, and also the utility for afuture possible business career. As forthe students and the principals, hereare some of their thoughts:

„In our school, the economic educationclasses are welcome. During these class-es, students learn about the main con-cepts of the market economy. We will in-clude in our education offer such electivecourses in middle school as well as inhigh school.“ (Iuliana Vlad, Principal,„Costache Negruzzi“ National College,Iasi)„The most attractive thing in the econom-ic education class is that we have workactivities.“ (Tudor Livada, student, Schoolno 1, Onesti)„We are honored that the first curricu-lum of economic education for middleschool get run in our school, too. Theelective course of economic educationfor middle school is successfully devel-oping useful economic skills. We alsotrust in the positive effects of the col-laboration between the middle schoolan the high school.“ (Viorel Marta, Prin-cipal, School no 1, Onesti)„Economic education is essential foreverybody and I think that every personneeds to receive this kind of educationeven from his childhood, so that he canhave a decent future“. (Alexandra Motei,student, „M. Dragan“ School, Bacau).

10

Questions That Were Stirred Up AtThe Evaluation Seminar: • Which lessons were best conducted and

why?• Which lessons created learning incon-

veniences and why? • What other kind of inconveniences oc-

curred during the pilot teaching andwhy?

• What solutions were figured out? Werethose put into operation? What result-ed those in?

• When and why the solutions weren’tput into practice?

• What kind of suggestions and proposi-tion have been found to improve thecurriculum?

• How will the program of economic ed-ucation in the middle school continueduring the following school years?

The participants in the seminar hadthe opportunity to give CREE a feedbackregarding the effectiveness of the pro-gram and the possible means to improveit; yet, it is important to mention that on-

The Middle School Program To Be ExTeachers Concluded In The Final Eval

Session I: Introduction. Presentation ofthe agenda. Piloting the curriculum ofeconomic education in middle school, inthe 2003-2004 school year. Regional co-ordinator reports: Duta Sburlan (Bacau-Brasov-Galati), Viorica-Maria Felezeu(Cluj-Sibiu), Victor Mihalascu (Constanta-Calarasi-Dolj-Mehedinti), Lucia Afloroaei(Iasi-Suceava), Dimitrie Spilca (Timis-Al-ba-Hundeoara).Sessions II and III: The economic educa-tion lessons for middle school. Group de-bates led by the trainers. Presentationsand discussions based upon the reportsof the groups.Session IV: Issues concerning the eco-nomic education delivery in the middleschool classes. Debates.Session V: Economics learning activityand lesson proposals submitted by theteachers who piloted the curriculum.Group work and presentations. Session VI: Economic education in mid-dle school in the next school year - 2004-2005. Debates. Sessions VII and VIII: Economic educa-tion build up strategies.Session IX: Conclusions concerning thepiloting of the curriculum for economiceducation in the middle school. Session X: Economic education programsto be possibly developed by CREE in thelocal centers. Closing of the seminar.

THE SEMINAR AGENDA

• 20 hours of workshop in 3 days and10 sessions respectively.

• 36 participant teachers who complet-ed the one-year curriculum piloting.

• 10 demonstration lessons – whichhad been conducted over the schoolyear (out of which 5 in Bucharestwhile the rest of 5 in Bacau, Craiova,Iasi, Timisoara, Turda) were thor-oughly analyzed.

• A small exhibition with materialshand-made by the students duringthe classes of economic education:

dolls, painted eggs, maps, masks,flowers, drawings, pictures, badges,etc.

• 20 Economics lessons – illustratingthe curiculum, were examined for toget validated.

• 51 references and handouts were cir-culated.

• 5 new lesson proposals and 4 newlearning activity proposals were sub-mitted and discussed.

• An extended – two-year, curriculumwas wished-for in the future.

SEMINAR BRIEF REPORT

The final evaluation seminar on piloting the curricu-lum of economic education in middle school took placein Mamaia, in May 27-30, 2004. Its goals were: to examinecritically and enhance the curriculum for economic edu-cation in the middle school; to assess the positive experi-ence acquired by the teachers during the pilot teaching;to identify the possibility to continue the program duringthe next school years, starting with 2004-2005.

In the seminar participated teachers who piloted thecurriculum for economic education in middle school overthe 2003-2004 school year, as well as members of CREE,who got involved in the piloting process and who will con-tinue to support the expansion of the program in the fu-ture.

At the time of this seminar, the curriculum was already ap-proved by the National Board of Social Sciences and forwardedto the National Council for Curriculum. After its approval, it isexpected to be recommended by the Ministry of Education andResearch as an elective course for the 6th and 7th grades.

After worked together for an year, the teacher participants in the ‘EconomicEducation in Middle School’ program have the right to the family picture

11

panded –uation Seminar

GeorgetaIvanovici, Nico-lae Titulescu Na-tional College,Craiova• 1st degree

teacher• Has beenteaching Eco-

nomics for more than 25 years• 3rd place at the „Best Economics

Lessons“ Teacher Contest - MiddleSchool Section, 2004

„After more than a week since the clos-ing of the seminar in Mamaia, the emo-tions became blurred; their place hasbeen taken by realistic conclusions.First, I must thank CREE and our col-leagues in Constanta for the excellentconditions they set for us. Then I want to mention that the twoCREE seminars I participated in - lastyear in Sinaia and this year in Mamaia,were totally new experiences for me. Tobe honest, I was expecting to acquiresome new information regarding teach-

ing Economics in classroom. But theseminars were above my expectations.As far as I’m concerned, I realize howmuch we still have to do in the field ofthe economic education. I have alsocome to realize that this is an innova-tion in both the content and teachingmethods, at least for the middle school.I think we’re heading for the right direc-tion. At this seminar in Mamaia, I have ap-preciated the objectiveness and theteam spirit in which were assessed theactivity of curriculum piloting and ourpropositions to improve the lessons. Ihave appreciated mostly the trans-parency and the impartiality of theanalysis. I’m glad that our program continuesand that it’s supported by school super-visors of Social Sciences. The exampleof the county supervisor from Bacau,who supported her colleagues, shouldbe generalized. This way, we wouldsucceed in expanding our program in ahigher number of schools in our coun-ties.“

ECONOMICS IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL – A FRESH WIND IN THE EDUCATION FIELD

Mirela Nicoara, „A. Saligny“ Techni-cal College, Cluj-Napoca:„I have completed the assessment pa-per for the very nice and useful activitythat took place in Mamaia. At this semi-nar, I have discovered that many of theproblems we faced during the schoolyear can be solved. We have reciprocal-ly helped and used our creativity. I haverealized that my colleagues are as con-cerned as I am to determine the stu-dents to learn Economics.“

Iuliana Scripcaru, School no 1 „Al. I. Cuza“, Falticeni:„I think that the seminar in Mamaiagenerally and Session VI particularly arethe best ways to conclude the programwe have developed since April 2003.“

Livia Anastasescu, School no 14,Drobeta Turnu-Severin:„I have appreciated the fact that at thisseminar we have complemented eachother trying to find practical solutions tothe problems we faced with. At thesame time, we have also discussedabout planning the activity during thefollowing school year.“

Lucia Afloroaei, National College, Iasi:„What have I appreciated? Firstly, thefact that we had the opportunity to findout about the experience of our col-leagues who have piloted this course.Then, the fact that we participated increative debates – namely, we have

discussed not just for pleasure, butmainly to find solutions to the inconven-ience and to improve the future activity.Last but not least, I have appreciatedthe fact that we have been introducedto complex teaching materials, which Iwill be able to apply in a creative man-ner in my school.“

Luiza Cristea, „Matei Basarab“ Na-tional College, Bucharest: „I have participated in a useful andstimulating critique practice. I couldeven say that it was a kind of „inter-evaluation“. What I also liked about thisseminar is the fact that I could seeproducts made by students. This way, Irealized that students can do much andthat their work can be valued with thehelp of some special activities.“

Viviana Mustata, School no 24 „Sf.Gheorghe“, Craiova:„The analysis of the Economics lessonsled to valuable propositions to improvethem. The content and the new lessonprojects proposed for the school year2004-2005 may extend the curriculumof economic education in middleschool. Debating these propositions ingroups and analyzing their strengthsand their weaknesses contributed totheir improvement. The local projectsfair was the most interesting activity; itmanaged to gather us in a creativemanner for to design some local proj-ects, which we hope to put in practice.“

PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS

ly 7% of the participants would insertchanges into the teaching materials.

There were discussions about the suc-cess of the program, as well as about thetypical difficulties faced during the pilot-ing of such a program – may they dealwith classroom teaching, school support,financial resources or others. The partic-ipants appreciated the opportunity theyhad to exchange ideas and solutions forall these problems.

The whole group of teachers whoparticipated in this program forms nowa professional and affective community.They have worked together, sharingtheir achievements and their failures,and they have reached the end of a diffi-cult road.

Most of them want to continue whatthey have started – keep teaching Eco-nomics in middle school, and to con-tribute to the expansion of the programduring the second year of deliveringeconomic education in middle school.This has been exactly what CREE was ex-pecting from their part in this program.

Toys that children from

‘WilliamShakespeare’High School,

Timisoara, madeat Economics

classes

Theacher from Sibiu like the well done jobs

Constanta team and Clujteam - shoulder to shoulder

12

Wishing to stimulate the excel-lence, the hard work and the aspi-ration towards creativity, CREEhas decided to confer a specialaward at the Economics NationalContest - which took place inBucharest, April 2004, to themost original, creative Economicspaper presented by the finaliststudents.

Apart from the diploma, theaward consisted of an Economicscollege textbook published in theUSA, Economics of Our Times.At the jury’s proposal, the CREEAward for The Most Creative Stu-dent Paper in Economics was giv-en to Simona Mutu, student atThe ‘Lucian Blaga’ National Col-lege, Sebes, Alba.

Simona was not only honored,but also extremely happy for thebook she received, and the expla-nation for this lays in her confes-sion, which states how importantindividual study is for her, howmuch she values the good Eco-nomics books, how extended (forher age) are her readings and thescope of her passion for Econom-ics.

All these have led to the conclu-sion that both us and the mem-bers of the jury have made a verygood choice: the CREE Awardwent to a young lady who fully de-served it and who would knowhow to use it.

This is an important reason forus to continue encourage the per-formance of the students who as-pire to excellence. At the sametime, we dare to make a sugges-tion to all those who understandthe importance of such an act,may they be people or organiza-tions: do not hesitate to do iteach time have the chance. Si-mona’s story convinces us thatfor this child, an act like this, ap-parently not that significant, mayhave a very important meaning.

Keep the good work, Simona!

The 2004 High School Student National Contest on Economics

CREE Is EncouragingStudents’ Performance and Creativity

The awarded student Simona Mutu, ‘Lucian Blaga’ High School, Sebes, together withMaria Lacatus, Program Director, CREE, and Doina Catana, University of Cluj-Napoca

„Economics is being learned in school andalso at home, from textbooks, with theteachers’ and the parents’ support“

The most beautiful week in my life hasjust ended. I wanted very much to partici-pate in a national contest and I’m glad itwas the Economics National Contest in the12th grade.

My passion for Economics has started along time ago. I think I inherited it from myparents, who are both economists. This iswhy I decided to attend the courses of theAcademy of Economic Studies, when I wasonly 9 years old.

In school, I started to study Economics inthe 11th grade. One class a week, becauseI’m in a Math-Informatics class. Last year,when I first participated in the EconomicsContest, I didn’t pass the District Contest; acolleague of mine went on to the NationalContest.

This year, I have adopted a differentstrategy. I’ve started working long time be-fore. I spent my weekends working only atEconomics. For the District Contest, I havestudied from the Humanitas textbook, I havesolved problems from the book published atCorint and I have read from MacConnell

and Brue’s book. (Campbell MacConnell,Stanley L. Brue, ‘Economics’, McGraw HillInc.) And it proved to be right! When I sawthe subject, the problem with ëblouses, pantsand suites’ (Problem no 131, page 169, in‘Economics - Problems and Tests Book’,Corint, 2003), I knew that this time I quali-fy to the National Contest.

For the National, I have worked mostlywith MacConnell’s book and I have alsoread from the Financial Market magazine. Ihave worked and studied much at school,too, with my teacher, but also at home, withmy father. I have enjoyed very much study-ing Economics!

Here, at the National Contest, I haveworked as well as I could. With some Eco-nomics problems, I was more or less inspired;I still don’t know why I didn’t pay more at-tention to the problem solving. However, I’mpleased with I have achieved, especially sinceI’ve been rewarded for my work.

You made me a big surprise! The awardI received from you means a lot to me. Thankyou.

13

The Teacher Contest Gala: A Festival Of Rewarded Hard WorkThe Lesson Writing Contest forEconomics teachers reached itsthird series in 2004, and for thesecond year in a row the AwardCeremony was hosted by the Cul-tural American Center inBucharest. At the end of fourmonths of good work, and afterwent through a 3-day seminar torefine their papers and preparethose for being published, the 15winner teachers were honored bythe Romanian Center for Eco-nomic Education along withteacher colleagues, faculty, stu-dents, education authority repre-sentatives. The Economics lessonwriting champions in 2004 weregiven cash prizes, diplomas andplaques, economic educationmaterial; at the time you canread this, their works have beenpublished by CREE in the thirdyearly tome of the EconomicsTeacher Contest. At this thirdseries, the Contest added a newsection – the middle school les-son writing, as a consequence ofEconomic Education MiddleSchool Program that CREE de-veloped lately. The Economicslessons – which prove as morevaluable every year, are reachingthe large community of teachersnation wide, through the CREEpublication.

Remarks from The SpecialGuests at The Contest Gala

Catalin Darmon, ‘Virgil Madgearu’Economics College (2nd Prize, 2002Teacher Contest): “I highly value thecreative and attractive education toolsthat CREE is developing. Through thisfruitful strategy they help students iden-tify correctly the economic issues, com-pare facts and phenomena, understandthe interactions, discover the rules of themarket economy game, solve problems,make decisions, and ultimately becomeactive agents in the real economy.”

Doina Olga Stefanescu, National Up-per School for Political and Administra-tive Studies, Training Department:“Should I word what this people is doingat the Romanian Center for EconomicEducation, I’d say this – proficiency, pas-sion, economic creativity, pedagogicalcreativity, and much, much work to dis-eminate, atract, persuade and makemany people happy. This is about beinghappy to get challenged, work withpleasure, have the well done job – which

isn’t that common in our branch. That’swhy I think that CREE is a kind of oasisin our field, and this is wonderful be-cause keeps us hopeful and active.Maybe congratulating them it’s too little;we’d better give them a hand.”

Olga Ciobanu, Academy for Eco-nomic Studies, Training Department:“I’ve learned first time about CREE in2001, and I can tell you now that it hasgrown up like Prince Charm – in oneday as much as others in one year. It hasboosted indeed. Its programs impact toso many people from so many categoriesin terms of age, social position, occupa-tion, economic status, etc. It’s so goodyou never gave up. And it’s so good youdidn’t stop at the high school level, andwent lower to the middle school with theeconomic education. The sooner onehave it, the better; and the more we haveit, the better off we are.”

Maria Druta, Academy for EconomicStudies, Training Department: “It’s awonder this enthusiastic and coherentwork you do with your Center for Eco-nomic Education amid the kind ofchaos with the education reform wehave nowadays. And should I value incash your work I’d say you’re extremelywealthy. But I do know this is about hav-ing a great and strong spirit to achieveall these things. I know a lot of teachersin this room and I’m happy they allshare this great spirit. And I’m seeingthat teachers from all over the country –may that be large cities or smaller towns,prove that kind of work passion andthoughtfulness which enrich their placesand their students. I wish my students atmy university be that lucky too.”

Elena Pascali, Teacher Corps House

in Bucharest: “CREE has a very goodpartnership with our Teacher House. Al-most 200 teachers get trained throughit, and it’s real good news that last springwe had two elementary teacher trainingworkshops on economic education. I’mso impressed of the work that CREE isdoing. As former principal at a key highschool in Bucharest I know how impor-tant it is and how much we lack this kindof post-training screening and work withteachers. CREE is an example with re-spect to this and I keep giving it as an ex-ample to everyone, every time I have theoccasion. I totally agree with the ideathat we all are the winners, while the ul-timate winners are our students.”

Eugen Stoica, Social Sciences Super-visor, Ministry of Education and Re-search: “I think that the undisputed suc-cess of CREE programs comes verymuch from their ability to get partneredwith organizations that can help andsupport the effort to improve the eco-nomic education. Among such organiza-tions I can count my Ministry, which hasa collaboration protocol signed withCREE in 2002, and on that basis wecould achieve the national impact pro-grams that we’ve had in the past fewyears. It’s outstanding that the CREEcurriculum on economic education inthe middle school has been aproved inthe National Board on Curriculum andNational Board on Social Sciences, andsoon it would be included in the electivecourses pool nationally appointed by myMinistry.” (Three months later, in Sep-tember 2004, the Romanian Minister ofEducation and Research signed an or-der to appoint the CREE economic edu-cation curriculum for middle school.)

15 more teachers have been awardedin the lesson writing contest in 2004

14

PUBLIC CHOICES. EconomicsReaches The Vote Cabins.

About group (public) decisions andtheir economic basis, in a simulation ofelections. A good introduction to thestudy of the macroeconomic phenome-na, starting from the current observationsstudents can make regarding the socialphenomena. The concepts and methodsare used experimentally and analyticallyat the same time.

EXTERNALITIES. No Sacrifice Is Too Great forSomeone Else To Make.

The concept of externalityies, fre-quently ignored in the Economics text-books, is essential to understand themacroeconomic interdependencies. Thelesson offers an excellent economic ap-proach to the ecologic education issues:in a role-play, students compare the eco-nomic and the ecologic motivations.

PRICE OF RESOURCES. The Theory of The MarginalProductivity.

Students find themselves in the situa-tion of dispensing the resources of abusiness and they have to make the rightdecisions as managers. This activitybased on the model learning strategy re-quires working with variation tables, andthe practice allows students that, aftertwo classes, they identify the principlesthat enroll the key concepts of the les-son: derived demand, marginal produc-tivity and product, marginal cost of theproductive resources.

COST OF PRODUCTION. Implicitand Explicit Costs.

The model learning method helpsthis time students to get acquainted withcalculation and to understand the rela-

tions between different categories ofcosts, in order to explain the law of dimi-nishing the marginal income upon costs.

COMPETITION. Perfect Competition In The Short Run.

Maximizing the profit obtained by abusiness in the conditions of the perfectcompetition is a theme that appeals notonly to the students’ analytical spirit, butalso to their practical one.

COMPETITION. Perfect Competition In The Long Run.

Calculating the cost and the income,the profit or the loss, students will beable to determine the price and thequantity to produce in a business or eco-nomic sector under the conditions of along-run equilibrium, explain which arethe advantages and the inconvenience ofa perfect competition market.

COMPETITION. The Monopoly and The Effective Resource Allocation.

The lesson emphasizes the distancein terms of productivity and efficiencybetween the perfect competition andmonopoly, starting from the samepoints: maximizing the profit and opti-mizing the production with certain con-ditions of cost and elasticity of the de-mand. The conclusion refers not only tothe issue of the price under monopolycircumstances, but also to the one of theinefficient resource allocation.

COMPETITION. Anti-trust Policy In The Real Economy.

The analysis of the monopoly evolu-tion, the different types of monopolisticeconomies, the need to limit their effects,the ways to control them and the policyset by which the state can intervene in a

serious problem. Students learn about itthrough various activities, from role-playto problem solving.

TYPES OF INCOME. Rich Man, Poor Man.

A difficult subject approachedthrough an initial testing in order to de-termine the level of economic literacy –someone’s ability to understand howeconomics is influencing his life stan-dard. Then students discover the an-swers regarding the inequality of in-comes, mechanisms of income distribu-tion, redistribution on both sides of theincome pyramid, policies to maintainthe equilibrium.

AGGREGATE DEMAND ANDSUPPLY. The Sum of TheirParts, and More.

When you want to discuss about theaggregate demand and supply, the bestway to reach your goal is a competitioninvolving all the students in a class. Thisway, you can explain the macroeconom-ic phenomena and the analysis of theeconomic stabilization.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT. GDP and Its Use.

The GDP is often mentioned about onthe TV news, but only through this lessonstudents will be able to learn more aboutthe instruments of measuring the produc-tion and the economic growth, as well asabout their use in real circumstances.

ECONOMIC FLOWS. Ups and Downs.

Unemployment, inflation, economiccrises, and recession – these phenomenaoccur quite often in the history of anymarket economy. Students learn to an-ticipate their evolutions and to make

With „Economic Education –High School 2“, which adds tothe volume „Economic Education– High School 1“, the nationalcurriculum of economic educa-tion approved by the Ministry ofEducation and Research gets acompleted as far as the instru-ments of teaching economic edu-cation in high school are con-cerned.

The planned activities require allstudents’ direct involvement, sothat the formation and the prac-tice of the competences are beingdirectly accomplished and learn-ing becomes indeed effective.The active and creative way inwhich the lessons are designed,the content rich in useful infor-mation, the intellectual challengeof many of the issues, the learn-

ing evaluation methods and theteaching extensions in the eco-nomic education field or in theinterdisciplinary fields, motivatethe teachers to reach for perfor-mance and help to develop thestudents’ skills and capabilities. This volume has been made by aCREE team – Maria Lacatus (Co-ordinator), Simona Catana,Cristina Crisan, Paul Lacatus, Va-

A Challenge for High School Teachers: The Curriculum for Economic Education

15

choices about their personal career ac-cording to the circumstances imposed bysuch economic processes.

ECONOMIC THEORIES. Keynesand The Classical Economists.

Students are introduced to Keynes’ pe-rspective and monetarist perspective onthe economy. They must make choices ofmacroeconomic nature, debate policies,assess consequences and compare themin order to understand what kind ofmechanisms and regulations are requiredby each approach and at what costs.

MONEY. Money Velocity and ItsEffects on The Economy.

The parable of the hot potato is thekey to understand the lesson about theequation including the monetary massand the speed of money, about the mone-tary policies and the monetarist ones.

FISCAL POLICY. Tax Decreases, Supply Increases.

The secret of classifying the worldcountries according to their prosperitydoes not lie in the natural resources orthe population number. The differencebetween national rates of long term eco-nomic growth comes from the type ofmechanisms and economic institutions inwhich each country is managing its avail-able resources, motivating the actors inthe market and using the comparative ad-vantages in the global market.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE. The Exchange Rate.

A set of useful activities based on theexchange rate and the currency rate, con-tent which lead to the understanding ofthe way the monetary flows get formedand how they come to influence themacroeconomic equilibriums.

lerica Mihaila and Maria Tomoiu– starting from a selection of edu-cational materials offered by theNational Council on EconomicEducation (NCEE) from the USA.NCEE has also funded the pub-lishing of this book „EconomicEducation – High School 2“,through a grant offered by theUnited States Department of Edu-cation. The First Advanced

Training Workshop forHigh School Teachers

With the funding from the US National Council on Eco-nomic Education, through a grant from the US Depart-ment of Education, CREE designed and run in the lastweek of August 2004, in the city of Suceava, the first work-shop – both for CREE and for Romanian high school edu-cation, that provided a 2nd level training to Economicsteachers. The goal of this program is to upgrade the partici-pants’ teaching knowledge and skills for them being able toprovide their students a high quality advanced economiceducation.

It’s been a 6-day workshop with 37 participants selectedfrom about 140 graduates of several 1st level training semi-nars that CREE conducted in the last two years. A fewstraight figures speak for the amount of work that both thetrainers – Maria Lacatus, Georgeta Georgescu, Maria To-moiu, Mihai Nazdravan, and the participants were requiredin this workshop: 24 sessions of 90 minutes each, 105 hand-outs, 17 Economics lessons, 234-page reference material.

All participants have appreciated the training process de-sign and the CREE trainer expertise; 94% of the partici-pants stated they would use in classroom the content theywere taught and the learning strategies they had beendemonstrated; for 72% and 69% of them the content andthe learning methods respectively were either entirely or al-most new; for 28% of the participants the workshop activitywas extremely intense.

The favorite workshop issues to participants have been:Imperfect Competition: Monopoly, Monopolistic Competi-tion and Oligopoly (30% votes); Perfect Competition: InThe Short Run and In The Long Run (18,75%); AggregateDemand and Supply: The Sum of Their Parts, And More(18,75%); Economic Theories: Keynes and The ClassicalEconomists (18,75%); Externalities: No Sacrifice Is TooGreat For Someone To Make (12,5%); Economic Role OfGovernment: Expected Costs And Benefits Of The Elec-tions (12,5%).

The most appreciated features according to the partici-pant oppinions in the seminar evaluation were: the extent,the novelty, the clarity and the accuracy of the informationprovided (47%); the learning strategies that have beendemonstrated (31,25%); the accessibility and the attractivityof the presented examples, cases, models (9,37%); the prac-ticality, real economy-like nature of the workshop activities(6,25%).

Advanced

For 28% of theparticipants the workshop activity was extremely intense

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iinnffooCCRREEEE este o publica]ie a Centrului Romån pentru Educa]ie Economic` © Toate drepturile rezervate Editor: Maria L`c`tu[ • Tehnoredactare: SI GRAPHIC DESIGN SRL

Learning - because through education we meanto support younger Romanians get the neededstrength to face the challenges and the win-orientedmind to know how to.

Competition - because we want to help them getprepared to succeed within the competitive environ-ment of the market economy and of the value-basedselective society.

Benefit - because the economic education we pro-mote is mostly pragmatical, focused on gain and suc-cess in the real life.

Why would you wish to become a CREE partner?

Because the benefits of the effective economic ed-ucation are ultimately reaching Everyone, includedYou – in your capacity of either parent, consumer,employee, employer, tax payer, or citizen.

How can you become a CREE partner?By supporting CREE projects in the field of the ef-

fective economic education, according to your wishand available resources.

Would you like to learn more about CREE pro-grams?

• Visit us at www.cree.ro• Call or send us a fax at: (+)40.21.312.82.33• Send us an e-mail at : cree@b.astral.ro

CREE Is Proposing YouA Partnership For The Effective

Economic Educationunder these magic, winning words:Learn, Compete and Benefit