Say it with ice cream: IU Kokomo to host social studies teachers Oct. 17

By Anne-Marie Damler

The 21st fall education workshop Thursday, Oct. 17, at IU Kokomo will sweeten its lessons in economics by having participants make ice cream. The hands-on demonstration will suggest ways that teachers can convey basic economic concepts in a classroom.

“Most people see economics as something dry and deadly,”” said coordinator Margo Sorgman, professor of education. “We’re using something as playful as ice cream because ice cream isn’t just full of calories--it’s full of economics.”

The acts of measuring, mixing and hand-churning ice cream can demonstrate specialization of labor, she said. Discussing which countries produce vanilla, chocolate and sugar can tie into cultural implications of international trade or how scarcity of produ cts drives prices and choices.

Some 150 area K-12 social studies teachers are expected to attend the workshop, titled “Interactive Economics: Making Standards Come Alive.” The “standards” referred to are the new state of Indiana teaching standards, which require that economics be taug ht to elementary through high school students. Social studies will be included in the state ISTEP+ test in fall 2004, so the workshop also offers teachers ideas on how to evaluate and assess student learning in economics.

Many teachers already incorporate economics into math, social studies and literature classes, Sorgman said.“They just don’t know the terms of it, like ‘comparative advantage’ or ‘fiscal policy.’”

The free workshop runs from 5-7 p.m. in Room 130 of the Kelley Student Center. Curriculum materials will be for sale, and door prizes will be awarded. The event is sponsored by IU Kokomo’s Alumni Association, School of Business, Center for Economic Educat ion, Division of Education and Education Student Association, as well as the Kokomo Area Reading Council and Pi Lambda Theta.

Kathy Parkison, associate professor of economics, is co-presenter and coordinator of the workshop with Sorgman. Parkison was recently named director of the IU Kokomo School of Business’s M.B.A. program.

For more information or to register, call 765-455-9411.