Business & Economics

Business and Economics Coordinator: LaDonna Leazer - I have been teaching for 10 years and have spent the last 7 at BEAM.  I graduated from Alverno College with degree in Elementary Education and minors in Spanish and Computer Science.  My favorite quote is, "If you treat an individual as if he ought to be and could be -  he will become what he ought to be and could be," by Goethe.  Outside of BEAM, I enjoy traveling, studying foreign languages, and scrapbooking.

 

Overview of the Business and Economics Curriculum

BEAM's Business and Economics Curriculum is the pathway toward gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to participate successfully in a market economy and to eventually prosper in the mainstream culture and economy.  BEAM introduces students to practical information about how to earn income, save money, manage money, handle credit, invest for the long term and run businesses.  Students also learn the basic principles and concepts from the discipline of economics, including concepts such as scarcity, choice, opportunity cost and the laws of supply and demand.

 

BEAM Offers Business and Economics at All Grades

All BEAM students are pre- and post-tested to measure their economic and financial knowledge and skills.  Teachers receive bonus payments of achievement gains of their students.  BEAM students gain significant business and economics knowledge at all grade levels.

 

BEAM's Business and Economics Curriculum

  • At the kindergarten level, students use children's literature to learn the basic vocabulary and concepts.  Teachers select from several books that have stories which can be used to illustrate simple economic ideas.
  • At grades 1 to 5, teachers use the basic social studies and mathematics curriculum to stress basic concepts in economics and personal finance.  In addition, each teacher introduces additional, specialized lessons.  These supplemental lessons are most often selected from the materials published by the Council on Economic Education.
  • At grades six, seven, and eight the Business and Economics curriculum becomes more specialized.  Grade six features a one semester course on careers, grade seven features a one semester course on consumer mathematics and grade eight includes a one semester economics class.  The upper grade students participate in high interest programs such as the Stock Market Game and after-school programs such as the Millionaires Club. 

 

Business and Economics: Teachers and Leaders

All teachers are expected to implement the Business and Economics curriculum at their grade level.  All BEAM teachers receive special training in basic business and economics content as well as how to implement the curriculum in the classroom.

 

In addition, BEAM has a Business and Economics Specialist who offers in depth opportunities for students in grades 3-8 to study and learn more business and economics.  These activities involve playing the Stock Market Game and taking financial field trips. 

 

BEAM also has a Business and Economics Director who supervises the Business and Economics curriculum. 

 

Business and Economics Content Standards

 

These Content Standards have been approved by the BEAM Board of Directors.  They have been based on the National Voluntary Content Standards published by the National Council on Economic Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Model Academic Standards for Economics and Personal Financial Literacy.

 

Guide to Economic Reasoning

  1. People make choices.
  2. People's choices involve costs.
  3. People respond to incentives in predictable ways.
  4. People creative economic systems -- rules of the game -- which influence individual incentives and choices.
  5. People gain when they trade voluntarily.
  6. People's choices have consequences which lie in the future.

 

Personal Financial Literacy

  1. Income and education
  2. Money Management
  3. Credit and Debt Management
  4. Planning, Saving and Investing
  5. Risk Management

 

Basic Economic Concepts

  1. Basic Economic Concepts
  2. Economic Systems
  3. Microeconomics
  4. Macroeconomics
  5. Economic Institutions

 

Primary Sources of Business and Economics Materials

  • National Council on Economic Education: Financial Fitness for Life Series, Focus Series, Eco-Detectives, Mathematics and Economics
  • Merrill Lynch IPO Program
  • AGS Consumer Mathematics
  • AGS Career Planning
  • AGS Economics    

img_photoelectronics.jpg