April 06, 2020

SU professors continue to find ways to assist K-12 teachers with their professional development even after they have all been forced from their traditional classrooms by the coronavirus global pandemic.

Susquehanna’s Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurial Education (CEBEE) recently offered the free webinar, Teaching Business and Economics Through Music, Movies and TV.

Led by Matthew Rousu, dean of Susquehanna’s Sigmund Weis School of Business, the one-hour webinar showcased various clips teachers can use to demonstrate economics concepts to their students, as well as the resources where teachers can find clips to use for free.

“Entertainment creates a memorable experience and delivers content to students in a more relatable way,” Rousu said. “It also gets them thinking about concepts when they are outside of the classroom.”

Rousu’s webinar pointed to lessons from TV programs like Parks and Rec, Breaking Bad, Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, and various Broadway musicals.

“The CEBEE sessions have been a tremendous resource, providing countless opportunities to me and my business education colleagues,” said Daniel Frake, business teacher at Selinsgrove Area High School. “I plan to use the websites to incorporate engaging media to assist with the introduction to and mastery of essential curriculum standards.”

“The material was extremely helpful. I really found the variety of resources to be the most helpful, as well as the explanations that came with each,” said social studies teacher Chris Pavone, of Palmyra Area High School, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. “As we move to more online learning through the current crisis, I will look to use these materials to prompt discussion in some classes while also providing illustration and real-world application to some complex subjects within economics.”

Rousu’s webinar was attended by more than 40 educators. The full webinar can be found here.

Susquehanna’s second free webinar, Tips and Tricks as You Move to Online Teaching, gave K-12 teachers new to online learning helpful tips as they transition to this new teaching environment. Presenting were Nick Clark, associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science; Matthew Duperon, associate professor of religious studies; and Marie Hassinger, director of project management in the Office of Information Technology.