|
Projects
Research Project Summary
Can a one-week workshop help teachers in the former Soviet Union prepare
their students for the transition to a market economy? Yes, based on an
international research project conducted by the National Council on Economic
Education last year in Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Poland.
In the study, which was part of the International Education Exchange
Program, high school students of teachers taking part in NCEE teacher
training programs consistently demonstrated higher levels of economic
understanding than did students of teachers who did not participate in
the National Council’s workshops. Data were collected from over
3,000 students and 114 teachers over a five-month period in 1996-97.
Reinforcing research conducted in the U.S., training combined with instructional
materials was found to have a greater impact on student economic understanding
than either training alone (without materials) or the materials alone
(without training). In other words, NCEE training was most valuable when
combined with frequent use of NCEE instructional materials.
The study also examined attitudes toward a market economy among students
in the five countries. Student attitudes grew increasingly positive when
trained teachers used NCEE materials often with their students. Due to
time constraints, the reliability of the instrument used, and the fact
that attitudinal changes generally lag behind gains in knowledge, the
attitude findings were less conclusive than the results on student understanding.
This research study was conducted for the National Council by the National
Center for Research in Economic Education, in cooperation with Education
Development Center, Inc. The International Education Exchange Program
is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research
and Improvement.
|
