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Parkison to teach economics workshop in Ukraine
March 12, 2004 | |||||
KOKOMO, Ind.—Associate Professor of Economics Kathy Parkison, Ph.D., will spend part of her March spring break in Ukraine, supervising economics teacher training in that country. Coordinated by the National Council on Economics Education (NCEE), the trip is funded by the U.S. State Department and Department of Education as part of “nation-building” efforts in former republics of the Soviet Union.
Parkison and co-instructor James Dick, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska will present sessions on teaching techniques and “how economics education is done in the United States,” she said. “The sponsors like to send a team of one male and one female teacher,” Parkison noted. “It sends a message that, in the United States, women are valued.” The pair will also supervise some 30–40 Ukrainian teachers, who will present additional economics lessons to fellow teachers, principals and curriculum specialists. The workshop will be held in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lugansk. The town is located in an economically disadvantaged region, struggling now that its dominant industries of coal and steel production no longer receive Soviet government subsidies. Parkison expects to “adjust lessons to keep them relevant,” to the Ukrainians’ experience, or lack of experience, with free enterprise concepts. This makes the second such NCEE teacher-training workshop Parkison has helped lead. In September 2002, she spent a week in the Republic of Armenia, teaching economic basics to government ministers, university professors and high school teachers from several former Soviet republics. In addition to offering such programs in developing nations, the NCEE also wants to assess the effectiveness of such teaching, Parkison said. Hence, her Ukrainian assignment complements a research project in which she and Professor of Education Margo Sorgman, Ed.D., will analyze NCEE surveys of 1,030 teachers of economics in Eastern Europe. Last fall, Parkison picked up survey materials from the NCEE’s database at the University of Nebraska. A $1,000 NCEE grant will pay two IU Kokomo student workers to sort out specific categories of survey information for analysis. “We will look at those teachers’ economic literacy—their knowledge of economics basics and their attitudes toward teaching economics,” Sorgman said. Teacher attitudes are “a universal area of interest” to education professionals, Sorgman said. “Once you know what teachers know and their attitudes toward teaching that subject, you can work on how to heighten those attitudes so the teachers can become more enthusiastic conveyors of knowledge. That leads to higher performing students.” She and Sorgman will compare the Eastern European data to similar data gathered this spring from 200 north central Indiana teachers involved in economics education. “The supposition is that the Indiana teachers will come into the workplace better prepared than their European counterparts,” Sorgman said. “We can then suggest types of preparation and basic knowledge needed by both groups of teachers.” The research will be finished by August 31, so that Parkison can present a research paper at the NCEE’s annual meeting in September. She also plans to develop an article for publication.
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