Editor's comment

Welcome to the Spring 2005 edition of Teaching Business and Economics. The edition features a mix of articles providing subject updates, teaching/learning materials, reflections on practice and resource reviews.

The Economics Update paper explores some of the key ways in which consumers, firms and whole economies are affected by technological change. This change is most immediately obvious in the range of products becoming available. However, arguably the more profound effects are felt in other ways.

The Economics in the Classroom article is a report on the AEEE conference held in the summer of 2004. The AEEE draws its membership from the whole of Europe. I think the report will be of interest to many EBEA members.

The first Business in the Classroom article comprises an activity that could be used as part of an induction programme. It provides an opportunity to look at all aspects of business activity in its simplest form. It includes photocopiable student sheets which can be reproduced as needed for use in your own institutions. The activity was originally published as part of the Nuffield resources for Part 1 GNVQ.

The second Business in the Classroom article is another conference report. The transition from AVCE Business to A level Applied Business requires teachers to make a choice between the awarding bodies' offerings. The EBEA held a conference day on November 18th 2004 to provide teachers with an opportunity to review the possibilities, and the article reports on the conference findings.

The Citizenship Education article is the third of three from a group of Staffordshire teachers. This one reports outcomes from a Best Practice Research Scholarship, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, that focused on developing the quality of students' economic arguments in Citizenship Education. The initial aim of the research was to establish different qualities of judgement that teachers and pupils can use to evaluate pupils' work. This was undertaken with Year 11 students during Citizenship Education classes atWilnecote High School, Staffordshire.

The ICT on Line article includes contributions from Andy Ashwin and Andy Beharrell. The Andy Ashwin article focuses on two easy ways to boost internet skills for BTEC Business using two sites which he describes. Andy Beharrell recommends some virtual factory visits.

The final items in the journal comprise a range of resource reviews edited by Sue Turner. The section editor always welcomes resources of all types for review. If you have any learning materials that you would like evaluated please contact Sue at the address on the base of page 1.

Duncan Cullimore

Copyright Economics and Business Education Association Spring 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved