Students participate in Mini-Society

Amelia Middle school students in Mrs. Ford’s sixth and seventh grade Enrichment program are participating in Mini-Society.

The Mini-Society is an experience-based instructional system targeted primarily for teaching entrepreneurship, economics, and citizenship concepts to students.

Instead of being passive listeners, students become active participants and decision-makers in an economic system that is very real to them. They do not merely learn about an economic system – they actually experience one. In doing so, they use many of the higher-level cognitive skills, such as application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, which enhances a basic instructional approach to teaching and learning.

Students were asked to create a society name as well as a society flag that would represent their own "Mini-Society." The flag, created out of anything imagined, represented the many facets of the students' society.

In addition to this, students will create an anthem for their society, a native dish, currency exchange rates, develop their own surplus, and will develop their society trading methods as well as learning about imports and exports. There will be an International Trading Day after winter break.

Furthermore, all students have the opportunity to earn Mini-Society money (their society income) for various jobs they do within the classroom. This money can be used to support the needs of their society as well as to purchase some things from our school store.

The focus of this unit of study will be on the social and economic aspects of each society.