Overview of the Curriculum

Taking Charge: Learning Economics through Entrepreneurship is a ten-week interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education curriculum. It can be used as a unit in an existing course or as a quarter-hour semester course. It also can easily be modified and expanded to a full semester course by (1) utilizing the optional activities at the end of the lessons, and (2) increasing the number of work-based and connecting opportunities, such as community resource speakers, field trips, and "shadowing" opportunities.

Taking Charge develops skills in communications, human relations, goal-setting, decision-making, innovation, and critical thinking. It can be integrated into most social studies, language arts, math, business education, and career education curricula at the junior and senior high school levels. It utilizes participatory teaching techniques such as learning groups, role playing, simulations, etc., and emphasizes a link with small businesses through field trips, community resource speakers, and "shadowing" experiences.

Taking Charge: Learning Economics through Entrepreneurship was developed by a team of educators under the leadership of Janet H. Bishop, former PPEE Field Consultant and principal writer, and was piloted with 138 ninth- and tenth-grade students in six high schools in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania, with inclusion of at-risk students, in the spring of 1990. The curriculum was revised in the summer of 1990, and again in 1998, to reflect the input of the teachers and students, the small-business leaders who provided the experiential learning opportunities, and the staff at the PPEE Centers for Economic Education.

Research on the cognitive and affective outcomes of Taking Charge, conducted by Dr. Edward Scahill at the PPEE Center for Economic Education at the University of Scranton, indicates that students (1) had a greater understanding of economic con-cepts, (2) had a greater opposition to price controls, (3) had a greater belief that workers are treated fairly, (4) had a greater belief that income and wealth are fairly distributed in the American economic system, (5) felt more in control of their economic futures (personal efficacy), and (6) had a greater sense of inner control. Female students were especially responsive to the curriculum.

Important Note to Educators

In-service training available The Pennsylvania Partnership for Economic Education can be contacted to conduct in-service training programs for proper and effective implementation of the Taking Charge curriculum. For more information about training opportunities, please contact:

Pennsylvania Partnership for Economic Education
417 Walnut Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 232-5581 · FAX (717) 232-5908

Email: ppee@ezonline.com

Internet: www.economicsamerica.org/pa

Goals of the Curriculum

1. To present entrepreneurship as a viable career option.

2. To help students develop the decision-making skills that will enable them to take control of their lives.

3. To introduce students to the necessary skills and expectations of the world of work.

4. To help students see the connection between education and making a good living, thereby motivating students to stay in school, get as much out of their schooling as possible, and continue their education throughout life.