Artistic Economics!

One of the sessions at the National Conference on the 18th of June will focus on being creative and artistic in the Economics classroom!

When do you have your most creative moments? Late at night when the kids are asleep and when the marking load finally looks a tad lighter? Perhaps when you are sat watching day-time TV during the holidays and you suddenly realise how an inane game show might come in handy on a Friday afternoon with your weary Year 12s? Or do your best ideas come from spotting a vivid photo or cartoon in your morning newspaper. I would bet a handy sum that the hardy breed of Economics teachers across the land are more adept than most at picking up on a breaking news story in a paper or online and using it to illustrate to their students how immediate and contemporary is the subject they have chosen!

At our National Conference for Economics Teachers on Thursday 18th June we will be trying to tap into your creative side!

Ruth Tarrant and I will be using the session between coffee and lunchtime to try out a range of teaching ideas linked loosely to the idea of Artistic Economics! From using ‘artistic economics’ as a tool for introducing/revising a topic, through to the best classroom games for revision and mnemonics or phrases that help students to remember important relationships and formulae we hope to give you plenty of fresh materials to take away!

We will be having a quick game of Scattergories as a way of revising AS economics and hosting our own version of Just a Minute! And we would like to pick your brains now for some of your favourite mnemonics so that we can include them in the presentation and in the delegate’s pack. Please email us or leave some ideas in the comments box below!

Here is the confirmed speaker programme:
Early morning refreshments on arrival
Session 1: Will King, Founder and CEO of King of Shaves - Fighting the Giants
Coffee, Tea and other refreshments
Session 2: Ruth Tarrant and Geoff Riley - Artistic Economics
Lunch (Provided by Leiths of London)
Session 3: Peter Day (BBC) - A World of Business
Session 4: David Smith (Sunday Times) - The UK and World Economy
Followed by a Wine and Soft Drink Reception

A number of colleagues have asked me about wifi access - there is good wifi access for all delegates in the British Library conference centre - a one day pass covering both the Library and Conference centre currently costs £4.