A Saturday history academy for high schoolers at Rutgers-Newark
A group of Newark high school students will be grappling with issues such as racial equality and the meaning of freedom during a new Saturday history program offered on the Newark campus.
Supported by a grant from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Gilder Lehman and the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience have launched a U.S. History Saturday Academy for Newark high school students in grades 9-12. Students who enroll in the elective, tuition-free program attend Saturday classes on the campus for six sessions offered over eight weeks. No homework or exams are assigned. Students can choose from a menu of courses that includes: “The Power of the People,” “The Constitution and the Meaning of Freedom,” and “Youth Has Its Say: Student Movements of the 1960s.”
David Freund, a visiting associate professor of history who is coordinating the program, said the academy is intended to promote the study of history among high school students by using a practical learning approach that avoids traditional lectures. “Studying history is so important to help students develop their critical thinking skills,” Freund said. “We are trying to have the students become engaged in thinking about United States history and their place within it. It is another resource for kids who want to interpret issues for themselves and exchange ideas with their peers.”
Freund says that both Rutgers-Newark and Gilder Lehrman plan to offer the academy in the spring and expand the course offerings. The academy, which begins Saturday, September 30, is free to students. Public transportation to the Newark campus and refreshments are provided for students through the program grant.
-- Peter Haigney
Teaching economics to kids
Most states require the teaching of economic concepts in elementary schools, but many teachers are too busy or ill-equipped to include it in their lessons. This school year, they can turn to a new Web site for help. Created at Rutgers, EconKids provides teachers, parents, and volunteers with ideas for introducing economics to children in kindergarten through the fifth grade.
The site is based on the idea that economics can be embedded in reading, math, and social studies lessons. For example, “Sanji and the Baker,” the site’s September “Book of the Month,” can be used as a reading book, but it also teaches about money and producers through the story of a baker who unsuccessfully tries to extract payment from a boy who enjoys smelling the aromas that drift out of his bakery.
“Economics can be enjoyable to teach and learn, especially if the process involves children’s literature and hands-on activities,” said associate professor Yana Rodgers, who teaches economics in Rutgers’ women’s and gender studies department. Rodgers created the Web site with Michael Esmail, a Rutgers undergraduate. “Young students can gain exposure to a wide range of economic concepts if teachers use reading strategies that embrace children’s literature with economic content.”
EconKids focuses on younger students, and its user-friendly design can provide instructors with quick lesson ideas. Visitors can click on a particular economics concept – supply and demand, for example – to get a list of the creators’ top five choices of acclaimed children’s books that use enjoyable stories to teach an economics lesson.
Teachers and parents also can check current and previous picks for “Book of the Month” when looking for excellent books for reading and social studies lessons. The books are readily available in school libraries, public libraries, bookstores, and the Internet, and the EconKids Web site has links to all 50 states’ public library catalogs so that teachers and parents can reserve the books online. Visitors may also download working papers on economics education, obtain links to all the states’ content standards, and join the network as an EconKids Affiliate.
-- Patricia Lamiell
