March 31, 2025 • 39 mins
Unlock the door to financial literacy with our compelling conversation with Teresa Mungai, the Director of Education Services and Impact at the Arizona Council on Economic Education. Financial literacy has never been more essential for students navigating complex economic realities. April is Financial Literacy Month, bringing forth vital conversations about money management and economic choices that affect every aspect of life. Teresa's expertise shines as she delves into the significance of financial principles and how they shape the future of students in Arizona and beyond.
This episode explores the newly established Seal of Personal Finance, which recognizes students' dedication to understanding financial concepts. The six foundational economic principles that Teresa outlines not only include the concepts of choice and opportunity cost but also frame the decisions students make in their daily lives. Educators can engage students in meaningful discussions that extend beyond the classroom by connecting economics with civics and history.
Throughout the episode, we discuss exciting upcoming events hosted by the ACEE, designed to foster financial awareness and community involvement. Join our vibrant community and participate in this crucial dialogue about financial education. Listen in and discover actionable insights you can bring to your life or share with future generations. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and join us as we equip students with the tools they need to thrive in today’s economic landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Liz (00:01):
Welcome back.
Today.
We're thrilled to welcomeTeresa Mungai, the Director of
Education Services and Impact atthe Arizona Council on Economic
Education.
You will also hear us refer toit as ACEE.
With over two decades ofexperience in education, teresa
is a dedicated leader inadvancing economic literacy
across Arizona.
She works closely witheducators, developing resources,
(00:24):
leading workshops and fosteringpartnerships that strengthen
economic education in schools.
Her expertise in curriculumdevelopment, program management
and teacher training makes heran invaluable advocate for
empowering both teachers andstudents with essential economic
knowledge.
I'm so excited to have her onthe podcast.
I could talk to her for hoursbut for your listening benefit
(00:48):
we shortened it a little bit.
Enjoy.
Welcome back everyone.
I am thrilled to have Teresa onthe podcast.
Way back in the day, when I wasteaching eighth grade, the
standards changed.
I had to teach economics and itwasn't something I was super
familiar with and it wasactually my first time attending
(01:10):
a professional development withthe Council for Economic
Education, and since then it hasjust completely changed my
teaching in middle school.
But then when I transitionedout of teaching, I got to hang
out with Teresa more and it'sjust been fun to kind of combine
civics and economics.
(01:30):
So, teresa, thank you so muchfor being on the podcast.
I really, really appreciate it.
Teresa (01:36):
Well, thank you, Liz.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Liz (01:40):
So the first thing I want to talk about.
This is going to be coming outon March 31st, so April is
Financial Literacy Month, and Ilove that.
Can you tell me a little bitabout that Kind of including the
financial literacy seal thatArizona has?
Teresa (01:57):
Yeah, so we have a couple of big holidays for us in
economics education.
One is in October.
October is Economic EducationMonth, and then April, which we
have so much fun with with allthe schools.
April is Financial LiteracyMonth.
So Financial Literacy Monthcame about in 2004 when Congress
(02:19):
passed an act to create aNational Financial Literacy
Month, recognizing thatfinancial literacy is so
important to everyone.
It's one of those skills thatthere's no way around it.
Every single person is going toneed it, no matter what your
(02:39):
situation, no matter where youlive.
Knowing financial literacy andhaving that skill set to be
financially stable andproductive is a skill that
everybody has.
So we're so excited thatCongress was able to pass that
in 2004.
And so, with the ArizonaCouncil on Economic Education,
(03:00):
we celebrate it by kind ofjam-packing that month full of
personal finance events, and sowe'll talk a little bit more
about those later.
In regards to the seal ofpersonal finance.
So, like you had stated in yourstory, in 2018, the Arizona
Department of Education and theAcademic Standards Department
(03:20):
came together and recognizedthat the social studies
standards were very out of date.
Came together and recognizedthat the social study standards
were very out of date.
We had, you know, it was 2018,but yet we were still
referencing people like TedTurner as entrepreneurs.
Our students didn't even knowwho Ted Turner was.
So we wanted to make sure thatwe updated those academic
standards in economics andpersonal finance to make sure
(03:43):
that the kids really weregetting what they would need to
survive in a global society oncethey became adults.
So, based on those newstandards being passed in 2018,
in 2019, the Arizona Board ofEducation actually followed that
up with creating the seal ofpersonal finance.
(04:05):
So this is a high schooldiploma seal.
So the kids actually earn thiscool little sticker seal that
goes on their high schooldiploma.
It also gets posted on theirtranscripts as something they
could boast about when they'reapplying to college.
So for the seal of personalfinance, there's four categories
that the students have to meetcriteria for during their high
(04:29):
school career.
So this can't be something thatthey started in like junior
high and finished in high school.
It all has to be done in gradesnine through 12.
So there's four categories.
One of them is completing acurriculum or personal finance
program.
Category two is completing aco-curricular or extracurricular
(04:52):
activity that has to do withpersonal finance, which to a lot
of people that sounds veryforeign but I will explain what
that is in a minute.
Category three is that theyhave to complete a college or
career readiness activity.
And then category four is theyhave to take a college or career
readiness activity.
And then Category 4 is theyhave to take some kind of
personal finance assessment.
So for the Arizona Council onEducation, we are fortunate
(05:12):
enough that we have had severalprograms that have been approved
by the Department of Educationto count towards these different
categories.
So for category one, for thecurriculum, we actually have a
non-proprietary at no costcurriculum to schools and school
districts that is specificallyfor high school economics.
(05:35):
So it's a full curriculum thatteachers can access at no cost
or a district can access at nocost that takes them through how
to teach an entire 18-weekeconomics course.
So that meets their standardsfor Category 1.
For Category 2, that's likethat co-curricular or
(05:55):
extracurricular.
Acee, as we call it, actuallyhas five different programs that
we offer, again at no financialcost, for the most part to
schools in that category.
So we do run the stock marketgame for the state of Arizona
that one does have a costassociated with it, although if
(06:18):
teachers are working at a TitleI school then they can actually
apply for a scholarship and ACAwill support their students
participating in that program.
We also have a math programcalled Money Minutes.
So if the high school can gettheir math teachers to support
that personal finance using ourMoney Minutes program, the Money
(06:40):
Minutes program ties thosepersonal finance standards with
the math standards and it goesall the way.
Actually it starts inkindergarten but for this
purpose it goes all the way upthrough high school geometry.
So for three of their fouryears of math they can use the
Money Minutes program to supportthat personal finance knowledge
but linking it with those mathstandards that they already have
(07:02):
to learn.
We also have a program calledFinancial Fitness in Action that
qualifies for this particularcategory and it's a budgeting
simulation that we bring to theschool.
So we bring in communitymembers to be volunteers and the
kids get a paycheck and theyhave to go through and create
their monthly budget based onthe profile that they were given
(07:26):
.
And it's really fun.
It's a way to get communitiesinvolved in the schools and
their neighborhoods.
But it also gives the kids achance to see real-world pricing
on things.
You'd be surprised how many ofthem just their eyeballs pop out
of their heads when they seehow much daycare is.
So we want to give them thatreal life simulation and so that
program meets that need.
(07:47):
We also have a state competitionevery April Actually the
qualifying rounds are startingin February and March and we
have an Arizona EconomicsChallenge, which is a state
competition on economicknowledge, and then we also have
a state competition forpersonal finance knowledge and
those are called the ArizonaEconomics Challenge and the
(08:09):
Arizona Personal FinanceChallenge.
The high school winners ofthose two competitions move on
to national competitions and I'mhappy to say the past couple of
years we have always had anArizona team in the finals, so
we're really excited about that,have always had an Arizona team
in the finals, so we're reallyexcited about that.
Category three I will come backto.
(08:32):
But category four is theassessment piece and right now
Arizona Council on EconomicEducation does offer an online
assessment.
So teachers just have to havethe students go in and take that
personal finance challengeonline assessment and it meets
that criteria.
As far as categoryategory 3 withthe career readiness, that is
something that has to be done atthe school level but we are
always happy to support thatendeavor in any way that we can.
(08:53):
So we're really excited to havethis seal of personal finance.
It started in 2019, and we onlyhad a few schools that applied
for it.
The last list that I saw wehave, I would say, over 100
districts in the state that areparticipating now.
So we're really excited aboutthat progress and really excited
(09:14):
that kids are wanting to do itand wanting to get that
knowledge.
I know many people my age,which I'm not going to say what
that is, but many people we didnot get that education when we
were in school and a lot of ourparents didn't tell us that
either.
So it's really exciting to seeso many of our high school
students participating in thatprogram.
Liz (09:37):
I love that and I love that .
You know the SEAL exists andACEE has basically everything
you need to be successful inorder to get that, whether it's,
you know, for the student, theindividual or the schools.
I am the same way.
I will not age myself, but Iremember taking economics in
(09:57):
high school, but there was nopersonal finance, and I think
that that is something I'm soglad that my child is going
through school with this kind ofthing.
So when we talk about economics, I attended your presentation
at the Arizona Council forHistory Educations conference
(10:19):
last year and I loved it and Iloved it.
So can you.
I want to talk about that.
Can you talk about, like, whatis economics?
And in your presentation youtalked about the six economic
principles and I just Iabsolutely love that.
So can you talk a little bitabout that?
Teresa (10:37):
Sure.
So, like most people, when I saythe word economics, they're
like, oh my gosh, there's no way.
You know, I've trainedthousands of teachers all over
Arizona, kindergarten through12th grade and, believe me, the
look that you get from a secondgrade teacher's face when you
say, hey, there's economicstandards you have to teach,
their eyeballs pop out of theirheads.
(10:59):
So economics it's portrayed asa little scary.
It's always not always becausethere are some other economics
nerds like myself but it'susually the class that people
are like oh my gosh, I have totake that class or I had to take
that class.
But it's not as scary as peoplethink.
So I will tell you, economicsis not the study of the stock
(11:19):
market, it's not the study ofmoney, it's not international
trade, it's not all these supercomplex things that people think
economics is.
Economics is simply the studyof making choices.
We all make choices and allthose scary things that I
mentioned.
They do have choices built intothem, is built into them, but
(11:42):
that's all economics is.
It's the study of humanbehavior, of making choices, and
so, leading into that, we haveour six economic principles, and
ACE, for the last 50 years,since it was, since its
inception in Arizona has alwaysfocused on our six economic
principles and we start everypresentation that we do with
(12:05):
these six principles because oneit really helps ease teachers
that are not comfortable witheconomics, or at least they
think they're not comfortablewith economics, but it helps
them to see that, oh, I alreadydo these things, and so it
really puts them at ease and ithelps things make sense.
So with the six economicprinciples, number one is that
(12:27):
people choose.
We all make choices.
Those of us that are adults, wemake choices almost on a second
to second basis all day long.
And so you know, being a parentor being a teacher, whatever
you do, you make choices all daylong.
So people make those choices,and that's number one.
Number two is that all of thosechoices, they all impose some
(12:51):
kind of cost.
In economics we talk aboutopportunity cost, opportunity
cost.
Is that next best alternativeto the choice that we made?
So with my high school students, I used to tell them you know
and this is going to date me alittle bit, but you know, if you
had $20 and you were going tothe store, you know, and you
were debating between buying at-shirt or a CD, you know which
(13:15):
one would you choose, and sothey choose one, but then the
one that they didn't choose istheir opportunity cost.
So number two is no matter whatchoice you make, there's always
a cost to it.
You know, if you get up earlyon a Saturday morning to go yard
sailing, you're choosing to dothat.
Your opportunity cost isprobably sleeping in.
(13:35):
So you know every choice thatyou make has some kind of
opportunity cost associated withit.
Number three is that peoplerespond to incentives in
predictable ways, and anyelementary teacher can tell you
that this is true, because youcan put dangle little incentives
in front of kids and you knowthat they're going to do what
(13:58):
you ask them to do.
You know you hold up a candybar and say, okay, the person
that's the quietest is going toget this.
They're all going to be quiet,right?
We know that people respond toincentives in predictable ways.
You jingle that carrot, they'regoing to follow it.
And number four is that therules of the game influence
(14:19):
choices, and so with this one,we talk about how environment
impacts the choices that youeven have.
And this is where a lot of thecivics ties in, is that you know
, if we live in a democraticsociety, we have a lot more
choices that we're able to make,versus, maybe, somebody that
lives in a communist society.
(14:41):
I always use the example of theketchup aisle.
So if you go to the grocerystore in the United States, you
usually see not a few types ofketchup, you see half an aisle
of ketchup right, there's mayochop, there's sriracha chop,
there's like a billion differentkinds of ketchup that we have
(15:01):
the choice to buy.
Now, if you were to go to acountry that has a different
economic system than the UnitedStates take like, maybe,
venezuela, you know, if youthink those of us that are older
, the former Soviet Union youknow they're not going to have
that variety of catch-up that wedo here, because our systems
(15:23):
are different.
We have different rules to thegame, and so the example I
always use with teachers is youknow, in my classroom it was not
okay to run across my classroom.
If I was a PE teacher it mightbe a different story.
So those institutions or thosesettings are creating those
rules of the game and thoserules influence the choices that
(15:43):
we're able to make, right?
You always hear kids say well,at home I'm allowed to do this,
and at school they're not right.
So, again, rules of the game.
And this is why teachingeconomics can impact so much of
your teaching and creating yourexpectations in your class so we
(16:04):
don't hear that you know, athome I can do this and here I
can't.
It's OK, rules of the game Setyour choices, and here you don't
have that choice.
And then number five is thatpeople gain when they trade
voluntarily.
Five is that people gain whenthey trade voluntarily.
(16:24):
And so with this one, I alwayslike to use the example of a
candy bar.
So you know, if my favoritecandy bar is a Milky Way Dark,
which it is, if somebody had anAlmond Joy, there is no way I am
trading them for that.
Right, want no part of it, nota coconut fan.
But now, if they had a MilkyWay dark and I had an almond joy
(16:44):
which I don't know why I wouldhave one.
But if I did, I would tradethem in a heartbeat, right?
People don't trade for thingsthat they don't want or that's
not going to do anything forthem.
And so that one is people gainwhen they trade voluntarily, and
that explains a lot ofinternational trade and a lot of
civics too.
(17:05):
And then the last one, which Ithink is the one that we really
need to hit home with,especially this younger
generation.
They're so instantgratification that they don't
always understand rule numbersix, which is that choices can
have future unintendedconsequences.
They don't understand that somethings don't happen immediately
(17:29):
.
You know, we and even as adultswe are guilty.
If we don't know something, thefirst thing we do is Google it.
Google is a verb, not a nounanymore, right, and so we're
starting to get that way too.
But the younger generation mostdefinitely, like I know I can
go ask chat GPT this, I know Ican Google this, there's so
(17:50):
instant gratification.
They don't understand that thechoices they make now can impact
them in the future.
One of the things that I thinkabout is about five years ago I
saw a statistic that said thatone in every six 18 to
24-year-olds in the UnitedStates has already filed for
bankruptcy.
That baffles me.
(18:12):
Baffles me Because if you thinkabout those 18 to 24-year-olds,
you know they probably werejust blowing money.
Oh, I'll just file bankruptcy.
I'm fine when those kids I saykids because I'm older, but when
those people hit the age wherethey want to buy a house, they
want to start a family, theywant to do all these things.
(18:33):
Even employers look at yourcredit scores.
Now you know they look at that.
Oh, they're going to.
Oh, when you were 19, you filedfor bankruptcy.
I'm not sure you can be trusted, and so we really need to hit
home with students that thoseconsequences may not happen
immediately, but they willhappen, and so, with all of
these, we kind of use this as aframework to teach economics, to
(18:56):
teach personal finance.
We have choices, they havecosts.
We want to respond toincentives appropriately, that
there's definitely rules of thegame that come into play.
We can trade, but we shouldonly trade when we are gaining
something from it, and that ourchoices may not have an
(19:16):
immediate consequence it may hitus down the road and so that
you can take these sixprinciples and teach just about
anything through them, which iswhat I love to do when I do
teacher trainees.
Liz (19:28):
Well, and I think teachers are already teaching this stuff,
right?
Like you said this is very muchcivics and economics is.
You're teaching it every daywe're just not putting a name to
what you're doing and giving alittle bit more of a format so
that when students, you know,become college students and
they're walking through the MUat ASU and somebody offers them
(19:49):
a credit card, they already kindof have like no, I understand
how this works.
I understand you know interestrates and things like that,
because I learned these thingsin high school.
Teresa (20:01):
Definitely, yes, and that's so important.
I you know I cannot tell youhow many teachers around my age
that I have talked to.
That be the first to admit.
You know I actually went to NAU, sorry, but I went to go
lumberjacks.
But you know, when I went to NAU, it was legal for credit card
(20:22):
companies to come on campus andsolicit to students, and I just
remember that whole sidewalkleading up to the student union
being lined with credit cardcompanies and saying oh, you
know, here's a free T-shirt ifyou sign up.
Well, one of the things that weteach in economics is there's
no such thing as a free lunch.
So you know, that's exactlythat principle, right.
(20:45):
There is that, oh, is thet-shirt really free if they're
giving me a credit card?
And you know things like that.
So it is.
It's really important tounderstand these principles,
apply them to your life, butalso, like you said, they're
already doing it.
Especially when I work withelementary teachers, because
they're not so focused on theeconomics, I'll ask them okay,
(21:09):
how many of you have a classroommanagement plan?
And they all raise their hand.
And if they don't, I get alittle concerned.
But they all do right, and soI'm like okay, then you already
teach economics.
You're teaching your studentsthat if they make this choice,
this is what happens to them.
You're using that incentiveprogram, and so they're already
(21:30):
teaching it.
And that's probably the funnestpart of my job is seeing those
light bulbs go off in teachers'heads going oh, this isn't scary
to teach, and then I get toshow them how to do it.
So, but yes, using these sixprinciples just really lays out
the framework for teaching somany other things.
Liz (21:50):
I love that.
So again, this is a civicspodcast, yes, and you talked a
little bit about it already.
But how can we kind of applythese economic you know,
decision making and these sixprinciples to history and civics
?
Teresa (22:06):
Yeah, so these are probably some of my favorite
teacher workshops to do is whenI get to it, because I was a
history teacher as well aseconomics, but I come from I'm
second generation social studiesteacher, so the history gene
runs through and through.
But my favorite is to takethese six principles and what we
(22:27):
do is we put them in a grid andthen, next to those principles,
we have a question column andan answer column One.
Creating questions, or havingyour students create questions,
is a great critical thinkingskill for them to learn, and
that really plays into civics,because you know, we're all
bombarded with information andwe need to be able to decipher.
(22:49):
You know, what do I reallythink about this?
Is this, you know?
Is this really what it is?
Should I look into it more?
But creating those questions isa really high critical thinking
skill.
So we start off with themcreating questions for each of
the six principles based on thetopic that they're talking about
, but then they have to try tofind the answer.
(23:10):
So looking at those resourcesand okay, so here's the question
that I asked.
Now let me go find the answerto that.
So some of the examples that wedo, in fact, just on Holocaust
Remembrance Day, I did a teacherworkshop on applying these six
principles to rescue efforts inthe Holocaust.
Those people definitely madechoices and so you know, through
(23:34):
reading stories about peoplethat rescued others during the
Holocaust, were able to breakdown these six.
You know what did they choose,what was their opportunity cost
when they made that choice, whatwere the rules of the game that
they were playing within.
And so you can take a lot ofthese historical events and have
the students break them downbased on these six economic
(23:56):
principles and creating thosequestions and those answers
based on whatever sources you'regiving them.
So I've done it.
Where we've done the rescueefforts during the Holocaust, we
have another one that we'vedone on the civil rights
movement, specifically theMontgomery bus boycott.
Ton of economics in that story,but there are unbelievable
(24:17):
civic choices that were madeduring that time too, and so a
lot of people don't think aboutit that way.
So it really changes thethinking.
Some of these are veryemotional topics for kids to
talk about, and not that theemotion isn't needed, but
sometimes going through thesesix principles kind of removes
that aspect so they're reallyable to think about the facts
(24:40):
and the events of what happened.
So we've done the Montgomerybus boycott.
I've done revolutions you knowthe French revolution which are
all civically tied as wellbecause they're changes of
government or they're big civilactions that have taken place.
So we do that.
But as far as specifically withcivics, I mean we make choices
(25:02):
every day to be.
You know, you choose to becivically involved or not, you
choose to vote or not, youchoose to participate in our
democracy in different ways andagain, those six principles are
going to apply to that choicethat you made.
Another part of economics thatwe talk about when you get into
the high school level is thingsthat decide supply and demand.
(25:25):
Right, and if you think aboutthose things that affect supply
and demand, especially demand,you know you have to talk about
propaganda.
You have to talk aboutadvertising and you know,
watching these elections weactually did a workshop on the
economics of elections backbefore the election happened and
(25:46):
you know that propaganda, thoseadvertisements, they influence
your choices and we talk aboutwhat influences your choices.
And so, within that wholepolitical arena of getting
people civically engaged,providing information, acting on
the information that you have,those are all choices that
people have to make, and so anyof those societal issues that
(26:11):
come up, societal choices on howissues are dealt with.
You know you can track throughdifferent presidential or
gubernatorial terms in officehow different issues are dealt
with and how different choiceswere made.
So maybe this candidate wouldmake this choice on this issue,
(26:34):
while this candidate would do adifferent choice, and then what
are the opportunity costs ofboth of those decisions?
And so you really can workthose six principles into just
about everything.
But it really makes sense whenyou're talking about historical
and civic actions that havetaken place throughout history
(26:54):
or even currently within oursociety.
Liz (26:59):
You're talking about supply and demand.
I'm thinking about, like, theprice of eggs right now.
Right, and all of the factorsthat are influencing the price
of eggs and that like these are.
This is why I love civics andeconomics is because it
literally happens all the time.
These are not just little, youknow pockets of of time.
It is reading something andasking yourself these questions
(27:22):
like is this advertising, isthis propaganda?
You know what really isaffecting the supply.
What if I make this choice?
What are some unintendedconsequences?
Like again, we do this all thetime but we don't stop and think
, like through each questionbecause we're so used to doing
it.
So if students practice this inelementary school and then they
(27:45):
get a little bit more practicein junior high and high school,
it becomes something that's sosecond nature that you know
economics and civics are justbuilt into our society.
Teresa (27:58):
Absolutely.
We do a program called.
One of my fun things to do iswe run a program called Econ
Reads and it's for kindergarten.
Through third grade classrooms.
We have volunteers come in andread books that I pick to the
class and then they do ahands-on economics activity that
ties into the story that theywere read, ties into the story
(28:20):
that they were read.
So we were actually at a schoolyesterday and the second
graders were doing a product.
The book that they read wascalled Tia Isa Wants a Car, and
it's about.
It's about it's told from theviewpoint of Denise, who's a
young girl, and her aunt isdesperately trying to save up
money to buy her own car, herfirst own car.
And so we have the students doan activity where they and these
(28:43):
are second graders, secondgraders, they're like seven and
eight years old they had todetermine, you know, what types
of things would be short-termsavings goals versus long-term
savings goals, and so you knowthey had to categorize these
things like but what's a bike?
Is a bike a short-term or along-term savings goal?
(29:04):
And depending on the kid,you're going to get different
answers, but it really helps.
You know, just learning to save, or knowing that saving is
important, makes such a bigdifference in kids' lives, and
then it can also impact, likeyou said about the eggs, like
you know, right now some of themmight think that saving up for
(29:26):
having more eggs and you know,come home from the grocery store
with them is a priority.
And so, you know, looking at itthrough those current events I
know that one of the workshopsthat we do a lot too is, you
know, using current events toteach economics, and that's all
over the place right now,because, you're right, you know
there's events to teacheconomics, and that's all over
the place right now, because,you're right, you know there's
choices that are being made, andwhether it's the sellers trying
(29:51):
to increase the cost to takeadvantage of the situation, or
if it's something out of theirhands like, you know, the avian
bird flu that's going around, orwhether it's a policy choice
that somebody made within ourCongress or within our
government, all of those thingsare going to impact the end user
and the price of eggs right now, and we don't always know which
(30:13):
one of those things it is.
We just know that we have tomake our own choice.
If I know my groceries aregoing to cost me more at the end
of the month because you knowitems X, y and Z cost more.
Now then I have to make somechoices, like maybe my I don't
need to go to Starbucks one dayso that I can get an extra you
(30:34):
know dozen eggs, or somethinglike that.
But every choice impactsanother choice, and that's
definitely embedded in our civicchoices as well.
Liz (30:46):
So I know ACE does so much and I love that you do an
economics read program for thelittles because that's so
impactful.
What else is coming up forArizona Council for Economic
Education?
Teresa (31:01):
So April is probably one of our busiest months because
it is Financial Literacy Month.
We really try to pack in asmuch as we can to get the word
out that it is FinancialLiteracy Month and throw in as
much personal finance events aswe can.
So we are actually very excited.
On April 5th we have and thisis open for registration right
(31:25):
now on April 5th we have theDirector of Education from the
Federal Reserve Bank ofPhiladelphia.
He is coming out to do afull-day workshop on world
history and economics and it'sall lessons from a book that was
published by the NationalCouncil on Economic Education.
So we're really, really excitedabout that.
(31:46):
It is being held at the ArizonaHeritage Center.
So it is $20 to register forArizona educators.
It's $20 to register.
You get a tour of the museum,you get Dr Andrew Hill from the
Philadelphia Fed all day longand then you also get lunch and
(32:08):
breakfast and then at the end ofthe day all the teachers that
came from Maricopa Countyactually get their $20 back.
If they came from outsideMaricopa County, we actually
provide a $40 travel stipend.
So they actually make $20 bycoming.
So we're super excited aboutthat opportunity.
Dr Hill is absolutely amazing.
(32:29):
He's an amazing presenter andjust overall person, so we're
very excited to have him comingout.
And then on April 17th we'vedone this, and then COVID kind
of threw us for a loop, but ACEand the Arizona Geographic
Alliance are co-hosting anelementary teacher workshop at
(32:50):
the Idea Museum in Mesa, and sothat one we're very excited
because they just spent ninemonths renovating their entire
museum and we got to go see itthe other day and it's fabulous.
But we are doing an eveningworkshop, so it's from five to
seven on April 17th.
Teachers will get somegeography lessons tied to the
(33:15):
exhibit, they'll get someeconomics lessons tied to the
exhibit, they also get dinnerand then they get a tour of the
newly renovated museum and getto play with a bunch of stuff.
So we're really excited aboutthose two in-person workshops.
And then we also have anentrepreneurship program too,
and so we have two webinars inApril.
One is discovering how tocreate theme parks, so the
(33:42):
entrepreneurship of developing atheme park, and that is for
K-12, and that one's on April8th.
And then we also have anotherentrepreneurship webinar for
secondary teachers, so 7ththrough 12th grade, on the power
of productivity, and that oneis April 22nd and then one of
the other events that we dobecause, as we talked about
(34:03):
before, it's good for the kidsto learn it at school, but those
family conversations also needto happen.
So twice a year the ArizonaCouncil on Economic Education
hosts a family night at a TitleI elementary school here in
Arizona.
So our one for April is goingto be at Luke Elementary, but
(34:24):
this one we're partnering withPurple Star Schools program,
which is for military families,and so it'll be military
families only for a family night, and so we feed them dinner, we
do have them do family personalfinance activities together as
a family unit, and then we alsohave a section of it where the
(34:48):
kids do grade level lessonactivities while the parents go
off to a parent session on theirchosen topic, and so it's a
really fun evening.
But that is only for militaryfamilies in the West Valley,
mainly Luke Air Force Base.
But we're really excited to bepartnering with the Purple Star
Schools on that program.
And then we do have, like Isaid, we have our Econ Reads
(35:10):
program for the littles and wehave three of those scheduled in
April.
So we'll be down in Casa Grandeand I can say Casa Grande
because I'm from there insteadof saying Casa Grande, and then
we have one in Tucson, and thenwe also have one up here in the
Madison Elementary SchoolDistrict in Phoenix.
So it's going to be a very busymonth.
(35:31):
And also in April is ourstatewide challenges for our
high school and junior highteams.
So it's going to be a packedmonth.
But you can go to our website,which is azaconorg.
So, azaconorg, we have lots ofprograms coming up.
We even hold them over thesummer while teachers aren't
(35:53):
working, but we're always busypeople, so there's always more
to come.
But if you go to our website,you can see all of our great
opportunities that are coming up.
Liz (36:05):
I love that and we will link that in our show notes too.
Teresa, thank you so much forgiving us your time, all of this
expertise.
I mean, I feel like I wasfamiliar with ACE before, but
you have so many programs that Iwas not aware of.
So thank you so much for whatyou do for economics, for what
you do for civics too, becauseit does tie in, and for being on
(36:28):
the podcast.
We really appreciate it.
Teresa (36:30):
Well, thank you, liz.
It's so good to see you again.
You know we've had alongstanding relationship on and
off, so it was a pleasure toget to talk to you and you know
people can always reach out tome if they have any questions as
well, and I think you're goingto link those that email and
stuff.
So thank you so much.
I appreciate being able to havethe opportunity.
Welcome back.
Today.
We're thrilled to welcomeTeresa Mungai, the Director of
Education Services and Impact atthe Arizona Council on Economic
Education.
You will also hear us refer toit as ACEE.
With over two decades ofexperience in education, teresa
is a dedicated leader inadvancing economic literacy
across Arizona.
She works closely witheducators, developing resources,
(00:24):
leading workshops and fosteringpartnerships that strengthen
economic education in schools.
Her expertise in curriculumdevelopment, program management
and teacher training makes heran invaluable advocate for
empowering both teachers andstudents with essential economic
knowledge.
I'm so excited to have her onthe podcast.
I could talk to her for hoursbut for your listening benefit
(00:48):
we shortened it a little bit.
Enjoy.
Welcome back everyone.
I am thrilled to have Teresa onthe podcast.
Way back in the day, when I wasteaching eighth grade, the
standards changed.
I had to teach economics and itwasn't something I was super
familiar with and it wasactually my first time attending
(01:10):
a professional development withthe Council for Economic
Education, and since then it hasjust completely changed my
teaching in middle school.
But then when I transitionedout of teaching, I got to hang
out with Teresa more and it'sjust been fun to kind of combine
civics and economics.
(01:30):
So, teresa, thank you so muchfor being on the podcast.
I really, really appreciate it.
Teresa (01:36):
Well, thank you, Liz.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Liz (01:40):
So the first thing I want to talk about.
This is going to be coming outon March 31st, so April is
Financial Literacy Month, and Ilove that.
Can you tell me a little bitabout that Kind of including the
financial literacy seal thatArizona has?
Teresa (01:57):
Yeah, so we have a couple of big holidays for us in
economics education.
One is in October.
October is Economic EducationMonth, and then April, which we
have so much fun with with allthe schools.
April is Financial LiteracyMonth.
So Financial Literacy Monthcame about in 2004 when Congress
(02:19):
passed an act to create aNational Financial Literacy
Month, recognizing thatfinancial literacy is so
important to everyone.
It's one of those skills thatthere's no way around it.
Every single person is going toneed it, no matter what your
(02:39):
situation, no matter where youlive.
Knowing financial literacy andhaving that skill set to be
financially stable andproductive is a skill that
everybody has.
So we're so excited thatCongress was able to pass that
in 2004.
And so, with the ArizonaCouncil on Economic Education,
(03:00):
we celebrate it by kind ofjam-packing that month full of
personal finance events, and sowe'll talk a little bit more
about those later.
In regards to the seal ofpersonal finance.
So, like you had stated in yourstory, in 2018, the Arizona
Department of Education and theAcademic Standards Department
(03:20):
came together and recognizedthat the social studies
standards were very out of date.
Came together and recognizedthat the social study standards
were very out of date.
We had, you know, it was 2018,but yet we were still
referencing people like TedTurner as entrepreneurs.
Our students didn't even knowwho Ted Turner was.
So we wanted to make sure thatwe updated those academic
standards in economics andpersonal finance to make sure
(03:43):
that the kids really weregetting what they would need to
survive in a global society oncethey became adults.
So, based on those newstandards being passed in 2018,
in 2019, the Arizona Board ofEducation actually followed that
up with creating the seal ofpersonal finance.
(04:05):
So this is a high schooldiploma seal.
So the kids actually earn thiscool little sticker seal that
goes on their high schooldiploma.
It also gets posted on theirtranscripts as something they
could boast about when they'reapplying to college.
So for the seal of personalfinance, there's four categories
that the students have to meetcriteria for during their high
(04:29):
school career.
So this can't be something thatthey started in like junior
high and finished in high school.
It all has to be done in gradesnine through 12.
So there's four categories.
One of them is completing acurriculum or personal finance
program.
Category two is completing aco-curricular or extracurricular
(04:52):
activity that has to do withpersonal finance, which to a lot
of people that sounds veryforeign but I will explain what
that is in a minute.
Category three is that theyhave to complete a college or
career readiness activity.
And then category four is theyhave to take a college or career
readiness activity.
And then Category 4 is theyhave to take some kind of
personal finance assessment.
So for the Arizona Council onEducation, we are fortunate
(05:12):
enough that we have had severalprograms that have been approved
by the Department of Educationto count towards these different
categories.
So for category one, for thecurriculum, we actually have a
non-proprietary at no costcurriculum to schools and school
districts that is specificallyfor high school economics.
(05:35):
So it's a full curriculum thatteachers can access at no cost
or a district can access at nocost that takes them through how
to teach an entire 18-weekeconomics course.
So that meets their standardsfor Category 1.
For Category 2, that's likethat co-curricular or
(05:55):
extracurricular.
Acee, as we call it, actuallyhas five different programs that
we offer, again at no financialcost, for the most part to
schools in that category.
So we do run the stock marketgame for the state of Arizona
that one does have a costassociated with it, although if
(06:18):
teachers are working at a TitleI school then they can actually
apply for a scholarship and ACAwill support their students
participating in that program.
We also have a math programcalled Money Minutes.
So if the high school can gettheir math teachers to support
that personal finance using ourMoney Minutes program, the Money
(06:40):
Minutes program ties thosepersonal finance standards with
the math standards and it goesall the way.
Actually it starts inkindergarten but for this
purpose it goes all the way upthrough high school geometry.
So for three of their fouryears of math they can use the
Money Minutes program to supportthat personal finance knowledge
but linking it with those mathstandards that they already have
(07:02):
to learn.
We also have a program calledFinancial Fitness in Action that
qualifies for this particularcategory and it's a budgeting
simulation that we bring to theschool.
So we bring in communitymembers to be volunteers and the
kids get a paycheck and theyhave to go through and create
their monthly budget based onthe profile that they were given
(07:26):
.
And it's really fun.
It's a way to get communitiesinvolved in the schools and
their neighborhoods.
But it also gives the kids achance to see real-world pricing
on things.
You'd be surprised how many ofthem just their eyeballs pop out
of their heads when they seehow much daycare is.
So we want to give them thatreal life simulation and so that
program meets that need.
(07:47):
We also have a state competitionevery April Actually the
qualifying rounds are startingin February and March and we
have an Arizona EconomicsChallenge, which is a state
competition on economicknowledge, and then we also have
a state competition forpersonal finance knowledge and
those are called the ArizonaEconomics Challenge and the
(08:09):
Arizona Personal FinanceChallenge.
The high school winners ofthose two competitions move on
to national competitions and I'mhappy to say the past couple of
years we have always had anArizona team in the finals, so
we're really excited about that,have always had an Arizona team
in the finals, so we're reallyexcited about that.
Category three I will come backto.
(08:32):
But category four is theassessment piece and right now
Arizona Council on EconomicEducation does offer an online
assessment.
So teachers just have to havethe students go in and take that
personal finance challengeonline assessment and it meets
that criteria.
As far as categoryategory 3 withthe career readiness, that is
something that has to be done atthe school level but we are
always happy to support thatendeavor in any way that we can.
(08:53):
So we're really excited to havethis seal of personal finance.
It started in 2019, and we onlyhad a few schools that applied
for it.
The last list that I saw wehave, I would say, over 100
districts in the state that areparticipating now.
So we're really excited aboutthat progress and really excited
(09:14):
that kids are wanting to do itand wanting to get that
knowledge.
I know many people my age,which I'm not going to say what
that is, but many people we didnot get that education when we
were in school and a lot of ourparents didn't tell us that
either.
So it's really exciting to seeso many of our high school
students participating in thatprogram.
Liz (09:37):
I love that and I love that .
You know the SEAL exists andACEE has basically everything
you need to be successful inorder to get that, whether it's,
you know, for the student, theindividual or the schools.
I am the same way.
I will not age myself, but Iremember taking economics in
(09:57):
high school, but there was nopersonal finance, and I think
that that is something I'm soglad that my child is going
through school with this kind ofthing.
So when we talk about economics, I attended your presentation
at the Arizona Council forHistory Educations conference
(10:19):
last year and I loved it and Iloved it.
So can you.
I want to talk about that.
Can you talk about, like, whatis economics?
And in your presentation youtalked about the six economic
principles and I just Iabsolutely love that.
So can you talk a little bitabout that?
Teresa (10:37):
Sure.
So, like most people, when I saythe word economics, they're
like, oh my gosh, there's no way.
You know, I've trainedthousands of teachers all over
Arizona, kindergarten through12th grade and, believe me, the
look that you get from a secondgrade teacher's face when you
say, hey, there's economicstandards you have to teach,
their eyeballs pop out of theirheads.
(10:59):
So economics it's portrayed asa little scary.
It's always not always becausethere are some other economics
nerds like myself but it'susually the class that people
are like oh my gosh, I have totake that class or I had to take
that class.
But it's not as scary as peoplethink.
So I will tell you, economicsis not the study of the stock
(11:19):
market, it's not the study ofmoney, it's not international
trade, it's not all these supercomplex things that people think
economics is.
Economics is simply the studyof making choices.
We all make choices and allthose scary things that I
mentioned.
They do have choices built intothem, is built into them, but
(11:42):
that's all economics is.
It's the study of humanbehavior, of making choices, and
so, leading into that, we haveour six economic principles, and
ACE, for the last 50 years,since it was, since its
inception in Arizona has alwaysfocused on our six economic
principles and we start everypresentation that we do with
(12:05):
these six principles because oneit really helps ease teachers
that are not comfortable witheconomics, or at least they
think they're not comfortablewith economics, but it helps
them to see that, oh, I alreadydo these things, and so it
really puts them at ease and ithelps things make sense.
So with the six economicprinciples, number one is that
(12:27):
people choose.
We all make choices.
Those of us that are adults, wemake choices almost on a second
to second basis all day long.
And so you know, being a parentor being a teacher, whatever
you do, you make choices all daylong.
So people make those choices,and that's number one.
Number two is that all of thosechoices, they all impose some
(12:51):
kind of cost.
In economics we talk aboutopportunity cost, opportunity
cost.
Is that next best alternativeto the choice that we made?
So with my high school students, I used to tell them you know
and this is going to date me alittle bit, but you know, if you
had $20 and you were going tothe store, you know, and you
were debating between buying at-shirt or a CD, you know which
(13:15):
one would you choose, and sothey choose one, but then the
one that they didn't choose istheir opportunity cost.
So number two is no matter whatchoice you make, there's always
a cost to it.
You know, if you get up earlyon a Saturday morning to go yard
sailing, you're choosing to dothat.
Your opportunity cost isprobably sleeping in.
(13:35):
So you know every choice thatyou make has some kind of
opportunity cost associated withit.
Number three is that peoplerespond to incentives in
predictable ways, and anyelementary teacher can tell you
that this is true, because youcan put dangle little incentives
in front of kids and you knowthat they're going to do what
(13:58):
you ask them to do.
You know you hold up a candybar and say, okay, the person
that's the quietest is going toget this.
They're all going to be quiet,right?
We know that people respond toincentives in predictable ways.
You jingle that carrot, they'regoing to follow it.
And number four is that therules of the game influence
(14:19):
choices, and so with this one,we talk about how environment
impacts the choices that youeven have.
And this is where a lot of thecivics ties in, is that you know
, if we live in a democraticsociety, we have a lot more
choices that we're able to make,versus, maybe, somebody that
lives in a communist society.
(14:41):
I always use the example of theketchup aisle.
So if you go to the grocerystore in the United States, you
usually see not a few types ofketchup, you see half an aisle
of ketchup right, there's mayochop, there's sriracha chop,
there's like a billion differentkinds of ketchup that we have
(15:01):
the choice to buy.
Now, if you were to go to acountry that has a different
economic system than the UnitedStates take like, maybe,
venezuela, you know, if youthink those of us that are older
, the former Soviet Union youknow they're not going to have
that variety of catch-up that wedo here, because our systems
(15:23):
are different.
We have different rules to thegame, and so the example I
always use with teachers is youknow, in my classroom it was not
okay to run across my classroom.
If I was a PE teacher it mightbe a different story.
So those institutions or thosesettings are creating those
rules of the game and thoserules influence the choices that
(15:43):
we're able to make, right?
You always hear kids say well,at home I'm allowed to do this,
and at school they're not right.
So, again, rules of the game.
And this is why teachingeconomics can impact so much of
your teaching and creating yourexpectations in your class so we
(16:04):
don't hear that you know, athome I can do this and here I
can't.
It's OK, rules of the game Setyour choices, and here you don't
have that choice.
And then number five is thatpeople gain when they trade
voluntarily.
Five is that people gain whenthey trade voluntarily.
(16:24):
And so with this one, I alwayslike to use the example of a
candy bar.
So you know, if my favoritecandy bar is a Milky Way Dark,
which it is, if somebody had anAlmond Joy, there is no way I am
trading them for that.
Right, want no part of it, nota coconut fan.
But now, if they had a MilkyWay dark and I had an almond joy
(16:44):
which I don't know why I wouldhave one.
But if I did, I would tradethem in a heartbeat, right?
People don't trade for thingsthat they don't want or that's
not going to do anything forthem.
And so that one is people gainwhen they trade voluntarily, and
that explains a lot ofinternational trade and a lot of
civics too.
(17:05):
And then the last one, which Ithink is the one that we really
need to hit home with,especially this younger
generation.
They're so instantgratification that they don't
always understand rule numbersix, which is that choices can
have future unintendedconsequences.
They don't understand that somethings don't happen immediately
(17:29):
.
You know, we and even as adultswe are guilty.
If we don't know something, thefirst thing we do is Google it.
Google is a verb, not a nounanymore, right, and so we're
starting to get that way too.
But the younger generation mostdefinitely, like I know I can
go ask chat GPT this, I know Ican Google this, there's so
(17:50):
instant gratification.
They don't understand that thechoices they make now can impact
them in the future.
One of the things that I thinkabout is about five years ago I
saw a statistic that said thatone in every six 18 to
24-year-olds in the UnitedStates has already filed for
bankruptcy.
That baffles me.
(18:12):
Baffles me Because if you thinkabout those 18 to 24-year-olds,
you know they probably werejust blowing money.
Oh, I'll just file bankruptcy.
I'm fine when those kids I saykids because I'm older, but when
those people hit the age wherethey want to buy a house, they
want to start a family, theywant to do all these things.
(18:33):
Even employers look at yourcredit scores.
Now you know they look at that.
Oh, they're going to.
Oh, when you were 19, you filedfor bankruptcy.
I'm not sure you can be trusted, and so we really need to hit
home with students that thoseconsequences may not happen
immediately, but they willhappen, and so, with all of
these, we kind of use this as aframework to teach economics, to
(18:56):
teach personal finance.
We have choices, they havecosts.
We want to respond toincentives appropriately, that
there's definitely rules of thegame that come into play.
We can trade, but we shouldonly trade when we are gaining
something from it, and that ourchoices may not have an
(19:16):
immediate consequence it may hitus down the road and so that
you can take these sixprinciples and teach just about
anything through them, which iswhat I love to do when I do
teacher trainees.
Liz (19:28):
Well, and I think teachers are already teaching this stuff,
right?
Like you said this is very muchcivics and economics is.
You're teaching it every daywe're just not putting a name to
what you're doing and giving alittle bit more of a format so
that when students, you know,become college students and
they're walking through the MUat ASU and somebody offers them
(19:49):
a credit card, they already kindof have like no, I understand
how this works.
I understand you know interestrates and things like that,
because I learned these thingsin high school.
Teresa (20:01):
Definitely, yes, and that's so important.
I you know I cannot tell youhow many teachers around my age
that I have talked to.
That be the first to admit.
You know I actually went to NAU, sorry, but I went to go
lumberjacks.
But you know, when I went to NAU, it was legal for credit card
(20:22):
companies to come on campus andsolicit to students, and I just
remember that whole sidewalkleading up to the student union
being lined with credit cardcompanies and saying oh, you
know, here's a free T-shirt ifyou sign up.
Well, one of the things that weteach in economics is there's
no such thing as a free lunch.
So you know, that's exactlythat principle, right.
(20:45):
There is that, oh, is thet-shirt really free if they're
giving me a credit card?
And you know things like that.
So it is.
It's really important tounderstand these principles,
apply them to your life, butalso, like you said, they're
already doing it.
Especially when I work withelementary teachers, because
they're not so focused on theeconomics, I'll ask them okay,
(21:09):
how many of you have a classroommanagement plan?
And they all raise their hand.
And if they don't, I get alittle concerned.
But they all do right, and soI'm like okay, then you already
teach economics.
You're teaching your studentsthat if they make this choice,
this is what happens to them.
You're using that incentiveprogram, and so they're already
(21:30):
teaching it.
And that's probably the funnestpart of my job is seeing those
light bulbs go off in teachers'heads going oh, this isn't scary
to teach, and then I get toshow them how to do it.
So, but yes, using these sixprinciples just really lays out
the framework for teaching somany other things.
Liz (21:50):
I love that.
So again, this is a civicspodcast, yes, and you talked a
little bit about it already.
But how can we kind of applythese economic you know,
decision making and these sixprinciples to history and civics
?
Teresa (22:06):
Yeah, so these are probably some of my favorite
teacher workshops to do is whenI get to it, because I was a
history teacher as well aseconomics, but I come from I'm
second generation social studiesteacher, so the history gene
runs through and through.
But my favorite is to takethese six principles and what we
(22:27):
do is we put them in a grid andthen, next to those principles,
we have a question column andan answer column One.
Creating questions, or havingyour students create questions,
is a great critical thinkingskill for them to learn, and
that really plays into civics,because you know, we're all
bombarded with information andwe need to be able to decipher.
(22:49):
You know, what do I reallythink about this?
Is this, you know?
Is this really what it is?
Should I look into it more?
But creating those questions isa really high critical thinking
skill.
So we start off with themcreating questions for each of
the six principles based on thetopic that they're talking about
, but then they have to try tofind the answer.
(23:10):
So looking at those resourcesand okay, so here's the question
that I asked.
Now let me go find the answerto that.
So some of the examples that wedo, in fact, just on Holocaust
Remembrance Day, I did a teacherworkshop on applying these six
principles to rescue efforts inthe Holocaust.
Those people definitely madechoices and so you know, through
(23:34):
reading stories about peoplethat rescued others during the
Holocaust, were able to breakdown these six.
You know what did they choose,what was their opportunity cost
when they made that choice, whatwere the rules of the game that
they were playing within.
And so you can take a lot ofthese historical events and have
the students break them downbased on these six economic
(23:56):
principles and creating thosequestions and those answers
based on whatever sources you'regiving them.
So I've done it.
Where we've done the rescueefforts during the Holocaust, we
have another one that we'vedone on the civil rights
movement, specifically theMontgomery bus boycott.
Ton of economics in that story,but there are unbelievable
(24:17):
civic choices that were madeduring that time too, and so a
lot of people don't think aboutit that way.
So it really changes thethinking.
Some of these are veryemotional topics for kids to
talk about, and not that theemotion isn't needed, but
sometimes going through thesesix principles kind of removes
that aspect so they're reallyable to think about the facts
(24:40):
and the events of what happened.
So we've done the Montgomerybus boycott.
I've done revolutions you knowthe French revolution which are
all civically tied as wellbecause they're changes of
government or they're big civilactions that have taken place.
So we do that.
But as far as specifically withcivics, I mean we make choices
(25:02):
every day to be.
You know, you choose to becivically involved or not, you
choose to vote or not, youchoose to participate in our
democracy in different ways andagain, those six principles are
going to apply to that choicethat you made.
Another part of economics thatwe talk about when you get into
the high school level is thingsthat decide supply and demand.
(25:25):
Right, and if you think aboutthose things that affect supply
and demand, especially demand,you know you have to talk about
propaganda.
You have to talk aboutadvertising and you know,
watching these elections weactually did a workshop on the
economics of elections backbefore the election happened and
(25:46):
you know that propaganda, thoseadvertisements, they influence
your choices and we talk aboutwhat influences your choices.
And so, within that wholepolitical arena of getting
people civically engaged,providing information, acting on
the information that you have,those are all choices that
people have to make, and so anyof those societal issues that
(26:11):
come up, societal choices on howissues are dealt with.
You know you can track throughdifferent presidential or
gubernatorial terms in officehow different issues are dealt
with and how different choiceswere made.
So maybe this candidate wouldmake this choice on this issue,
(26:34):
while this candidate would do adifferent choice, and then what
are the opportunity costs ofboth of those decisions?
And so you really can workthose six principles into just
about everything.
But it really makes sense whenyou're talking about historical
and civic actions that havetaken place throughout history
(26:54):
or even currently within oursociety.
Liz (26:59):
You're talking about supply and demand.
I'm thinking about, like, theprice of eggs right now.
Right, and all of the factorsthat are influencing the price
of eggs and that like these are.
This is why I love civics andeconomics is because it
literally happens all the time.
These are not just little, youknow pockets of of time.
It is reading something andasking yourself these questions
(27:22):
like is this advertising, isthis propaganda?
You know what really isaffecting the supply.
What if I make this choice?
What are some unintendedconsequences?
Like again, we do this all thetime but we don't stop and think
, like through each questionbecause we're so used to doing
it.
So if students practice this inelementary school and then they
(27:45):
get a little bit more practicein junior high and high school,
it becomes something that's sosecond nature that you know
economics and civics are justbuilt into our society.
Teresa (27:58):
Absolutely.
We do a program called.
One of my fun things to do iswe run a program called Econ
Reads and it's for kindergarten.
Through third grade classrooms.
We have volunteers come in andread books that I pick to the
class and then they do ahands-on economics activity that
ties into the story that theywere read, ties into the story
(28:20):
that they were read.
So we were actually at a schoolyesterday and the second
graders were doing a product.
The book that they read wascalled Tia Isa Wants a Car, and
it's about.
It's about it's told from theviewpoint of Denise, who's a
young girl, and her aunt isdesperately trying to save up
money to buy her own car, herfirst own car.
And so we have the students doan activity where they and these
(28:43):
are second graders, secondgraders, they're like seven and
eight years old they had todetermine, you know, what types
of things would be short-termsavings goals versus long-term
savings goals, and so you knowthey had to categorize these
things like but what's a bike?
Is a bike a short-term or along-term savings goal?
(29:04):
And depending on the kid,you're going to get different
answers, but it really helps.
You know, just learning to save, or knowing that saving is
important, makes such a bigdifference in kids' lives, and
then it can also impact, likeyou said about the eggs, like
you know, right now some of themmight think that saving up for
(29:26):
having more eggs and you know,come home from the grocery store
with them is a priority.
And so, you know, looking at itthrough those current events I
know that one of the workshopsthat we do a lot too is, you
know, using current events toteach economics, and that's all
over the place right now,because, you're right, you know
there's events to teacheconomics, and that's all over
the place right now, because,you're right, you know there's
choices that are being made, andwhether it's the sellers trying
(29:51):
to increase the cost to takeadvantage of the situation, or
if it's something out of theirhands like, you know, the avian
bird flu that's going around, orwhether it's a policy choice
that somebody made within ourCongress or within our
government, all of those thingsare going to impact the end user
and the price of eggs right now, and we don't always know which
(30:13):
one of those things it is.
We just know that we have tomake our own choice.
If I know my groceries aregoing to cost me more at the end
of the month because you knowitems X, y and Z cost more.
Now then I have to make somechoices, like maybe my I don't
need to go to Starbucks one dayso that I can get an extra you
(30:34):
know dozen eggs, or somethinglike that.
But every choice impactsanother choice, and that's
definitely embedded in our civicchoices as well.
Liz (30:46):
So I know ACE does so much and I love that you do an
economics read program for thelittles because that's so
impactful.
What else is coming up forArizona Council for Economic
Education?
Teresa (31:01):
So April is probably one of our busiest months because
it is Financial Literacy Month.
We really try to pack in asmuch as we can to get the word
out that it is FinancialLiteracy Month and throw in as
much personal finance events aswe can.
So we are actually very excited.
On April 5th we have and thisis open for registration right
(31:25):
now on April 5th we have theDirector of Education from the
Federal Reserve Bank ofPhiladelphia.
He is coming out to do afull-day workshop on world
history and economics and it'sall lessons from a book that was
published by the NationalCouncil on Economic Education.
So we're really, really excitedabout that.
(31:46):
It is being held at the ArizonaHeritage Center.
So it is $20 to register forArizona educators.
It's $20 to register.
You get a tour of the museum,you get Dr Andrew Hill from the
Philadelphia Fed all day longand then you also get lunch and
(32:08):
breakfast and then at the end ofthe day all the teachers that
came from Maricopa Countyactually get their $20 back.
If they came from outsideMaricopa County, we actually
provide a $40 travel stipend.
So they actually make $20 bycoming.
So we're super excited aboutthat opportunity.
Dr Hill is absolutely amazing.
(32:29):
He's an amazing presenter andjust overall person, so we're
very excited to have him comingout.
And then on April 17th we'vedone this, and then COVID kind
of threw us for a loop, but ACEand the Arizona Geographic
Alliance are co-hosting anelementary teacher workshop at
(32:50):
the Idea Museum in Mesa, and sothat one we're very excited
because they just spent ninemonths renovating their entire
museum and we got to go see itthe other day and it's fabulous.
But we are doing an eveningworkshop, so it's from five to
seven on April 17th.
Teachers will get somegeography lessons tied to the
(33:15):
exhibit, they'll get someeconomics lessons tied to the
exhibit, they also get dinnerand then they get a tour of the
newly renovated museum and getto play with a bunch of stuff.
So we're really excited aboutthose two in-person workshops.
And then we also have anentrepreneurship program too,
and so we have two webinars inApril.
One is discovering how tocreate theme parks, so the
(33:42):
entrepreneurship of developing atheme park, and that is for
K-12, and that one's on April8th.
And then we also have anotherentrepreneurship webinar for
secondary teachers, so 7ththrough 12th grade, on the power
of productivity, and that oneis April 22nd and then one of
the other events that we dobecause, as we talked about
(34:03):
before, it's good for the kidsto learn it at school, but those
family conversations also needto happen.
So twice a year the ArizonaCouncil on Economic Education
hosts a family night at a TitleI elementary school here in
Arizona.
So our one for April is goingto be at Luke Elementary, but
(34:24):
this one we're partnering withPurple Star Schools program,
which is for military families,and so it'll be military
families only for a family night, and so we feed them dinner, we
do have them do family personalfinance activities together as
a family unit, and then we alsohave a section of it where the
(34:48):
kids do grade level lessonactivities while the parents go
off to a parent session on theirchosen topic, and so it's a
really fun evening.
But that is only for militaryfamilies in the West Valley,
mainly Luke Air Force Base.
But we're really excited to bepartnering with the Purple Star
Schools on that program.
And then we do have, like Isaid, we have our Econ Reads
(35:10):
program for the littles and wehave three of those scheduled in
April.
So we'll be down in Casa Grandeand I can say Casa Grande
because I'm from there insteadof saying Casa Grande, and then
we have one in Tucson, and thenwe also have one up here in the
Madison Elementary SchoolDistrict in Phoenix.
So it's going to be a very busymonth.
(35:31):
And also in April is ourstatewide challenges for our
high school and junior highteams.
So it's going to be a packedmonth.
But you can go to our website,which is azaconorg.
So, azaconorg, we have lots ofprograms coming up.
We even hold them over thesummer while teachers aren't
(35:53):
working, but we're always busypeople, so there's always more
to come.
But if you go to our website,you can see all of our great
opportunities that are coming up.
Liz (36:05):
I love that and we will link that in our show notes too.
Teresa, thank you so much forgiving us your time, all of this
expertise.
I mean, I feel like I wasfamiliar with ACE before, but
you have so many programs that Iwas not aware of.
So thank you so much for whatyou do for economics, for what
you do for civics too, becauseit does tie in, and for being on
(36:28):
the podcast.
We really appreciate it.
Teresa (36:30):
Well, thank you, liz.
It's so good to see you again.
You know we've had alongstanding relationship on and
off, so it was a pleasure toget to talk to you and you know
people can always reach out tome if they have any questions as
well, and I think you're goingto link those that email and
stuff.
So thank you so much.
I appreciate being able to havethe opportunity.
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