Collectors. If you have not been a part of this activity, give it some thought. The US Mint http://www.usmint.gov and the ANA http://www.money.org both have programs that enable teachers to bring coins into the classroom. This educational developement is great. It is used to teach children not only about coins, but history, economics, math, science, and other important studies. If you are able, volunteer to share your collecting knowledge at a local school. Children get so excited at seeing old coins and learning a little about them. It only takes a little to give so much.
I do that now, with my Auto Mechanics class. I almost always have one or two 'interesting' coins in my pocket. What with world coins being sold by the pound on E-bay, I bought a bunch. (10-11 pounds) I use them to challenge students..... "where is this coin from?" "What is it made out of?", "What is it worth in American money?" "What important piece of history was this coin witness to?" Some of the kids respond real well to the challenge and get a big kick out of it. Others just don't care. I consider it but one weapon in my 'teachers' arsonal. I also use the coins to reward. When a student does something particularly brilliant I often pull that days coin from my pocket and give it to the student as an award, a reminder of what they did that was special.
Great idea. I'll see what I can do at my kids schools. My Wife volunteers at my kids schools and is alway looking for "cultural arts" ideas for the class.
Well I have not had a more rewarding experience. Most kids are fascinated by coins. We give presentations every three weeks at various schools. Each student receives one coin. A question and answer session follows and each right answer gets rewarded with a coin. On the US Mint's website, there is a link entitled "hip pocket change". This is a great resource for teachers. It gives lesson plans, and allows teachers to submit what works for them. Inspiration can be found in a child's eyes.
Ironically, MY kids do not seem too interested in coins. They like finding the State Quarters, and try to get them interested in the older coins, but their interests lie elsewhere for now. I don't push it on them, though because every one is different. I guess I was kind of a "coin geek" as a kid. I do credits coins for my interest in math and economics, which led to pretty good career in the insurance industry, so I'm not complaining. The point being if coins in the classroom sparks a few kids to pursue math and/or economics, that's a very good thing.
My career started in numismatics with a history teacher that presented me with a 1864 two cent piece. Not only did it help me to learn about the Civil War, but years later helped me begin a career as a numismatic dealer. I have this coin on the wall in my office to remind me everyday how a little coin can inspire someone to dream.
Well, when I was a kid a always wanted to be a coin dealer by "grew up" to be an Actuary. Lucky for you, you never "grew up"! I do like my career though, so I still feel I lucked out as well.
I have worked as a substitute teacher in middle schools. There is no limit to what a creative teacher can come up with for "coins." For instance, one science experiment done often at the beginning of the year to weigh a group of common objects in order to estabish their distribution, mean, mode, and median weights. Any coin works well, but the nice thing about NICKELS is that their weight has not changed in over 100 years: 5.000 grams. Myself, teaching one group of gifteds studying Egyptian archaeology, I passed out two foreign coins to each kid. These are artifacts, I told them. You might not be able to read the language, or even identify the alphabet. They look something like the coins you know, but you cannot be sure of that without some study. What can you determine from them? For a music class, I showed them how to "ring" a silver dollar and suggested that their parents probably have these and other kinds of old coins around the house. What kind of instrument could you make with them? Michael ANA R-162953
My teacher and my dad do this at our school for 5th and 6th grade. My friends come over after school to look at some more.
