1. Go to the MarcoPolo home page http://www.marcopolo-education.org.
2. In the Professional Development section, click the link to "Order MarcoPolo Training."
3. Select "Individual Training."
4. Choose either "Trainer Sessions" or "Teacher Sessions" based on your interest.
5. Select the "MarcoPolo Awareness Session."
6. Choose the date of the session you want to attend.
7. Click the "Order" button and complete the registration process.

Grant-Based MarcoPolo Training
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), in partnership with the MarcoPolo consortium, is leading an initiative to help close the digital divide and achievement gap in mathematics through a $250,000 grant from the GE Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the General Electric Company. This effort supports the development of new content for NCTM's Illuminations Web site, focuses on underserved schools, and provides high-quality content and training that effectively integrates Internet-based resources and technology into existing school curricula.

"This grant will enable us to provide even more quality mathematics education content for Illuminations and MarcoPolo, and this initiative will open exciting possibilities that leverage the power of the Internet in the classroom," said Johnny Lott, president of NCTM and professor of mathematical sciences at the University of Montana. "NCTM and the MarcoPolo consortium are very excited to partner with the GE Fund on this initiative to raise mathematics achievement of our students and offer more and better professional development for teachers."

A total of 81 elementary teachers have been trained so far in South Carolina, with the project providing follow-up training in the fall. Additionally, selected schools in Massachusetts will be part of the grant project. This is just one example of how educational organizations can leverage grant funds to bring high-quality, Internet-content training to schools.

Encourage your attendees to contact the MarcoPolo to announce grant opportunities that can make use of MarcoPolo content. Our staff will work with educational organizations in support of grant applications and activities.

"A Pet for Beans from Jack and the Beanstalk"
EconEdLink, National Council on Economic Education
Grades K-5
http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM289&page=teacher

Background to the Lesson

In this lesson, designed for grades K-5, students barter with each other to discover motivations behind exchanging goods for services. They will be instructed to exchange only when they are satisfied with the exchange, and then asked to explain which exchanges are examples of barter and which ones involve the use of money. The lesson asks students to go online to read the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, and then to practice their bartering skills with an interactive tool developed by the National Council on Economic Education.

A great way to enhance the mathematical component of this lesson is to include the i-Math investigation "Equivalence" from Illuminations. And, since students are asked to read and understand a fairy tale, the lesson can be adapted for use in reading and language arts classes.

Preparing This Lesson for Your Training Session

• Bookmark the EconEdLink lesson:
  --http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM289&page=teacher
   
• Familiarize yourself with the following resources:
  --Jack and the Beanstalk story 
  (Note: If you feel the background music will be distracting in a classroom setting with several computers, bookmark and share the PDF version.)
  
  --The Trading Game interactive from EconEdLink

 
• Review the Illuminations i-Math Investigation, "Equivalence: Balancing Act"
  --http://illuminations.nctm.org/imath/across/balance/equiv1.html

 
• Create an answer key showing the different shape combinations that will balance the scale. For example, one yellow diamond equals two red squares and one blue circle equals two pink triangles. Make sure you have enough combinations based on the number of groups you will form during your training session (one per group).

 
• Cut out colored shapes like those used in the Equivalence interactive (red squares, yellow diamonds, blue circles and pink triangles). Assuming you will break up your attendees into groups of two or three, ensure you have at least four of each shape to give each group.

 
• Ensure each computer in the training classroom has the following software installed:
  --Macromedia Flash Player
  --Adobe Acrobat Reader

 
• Ensure the availability of a working Internet connection.

Using This Lesson in Your Training Session

• This fall, the MarcoPolo Web site is featuring some Partner lessons that incorporate powerful interactives. Mention that while the EconEdLink lesson uses a bartering interactive developed by NCEE, you will show how to incorporate a stand-alone applet from the "Equivalence" i-Math investigation developed by NCTM, another MarcoPolo Partner.
  
  
• Walk through the EconEdLink lesson with your attendees. Explore the teacher version as well as the student version. Attendees should open and practice using the interactive bartering tool.
  
  
• Now, suggest to attendees that they can expand on the bartering theme by using an i-Math investigation from Illuminations. This interactive tool asks students to balance weighted items on a simulated scale. Attendees will assume the role of students and work in groups of two or three to trade shapes with other groups in order to balance their scales. Their methods of trading shapes can be described as similar to the popular card game Go Fish, where players ask for cards they need and give away cards they don't need.
  
  
• Ask attendees to familiarize themselves with the balance scale in the i-Math interactive. Show them the link to a stand-alone version, which is helpful for teachers who want to use the interactive program by itself.
  
  
• Give each group a main shape, and an assortment of extra shapes with which to barter. In the applet, attendees should use their mouse to click and drag their main shape to the left side of the scale. Then, the groups should barter with each other to collect the cut-out shapes needed to balance their scale. As they receive cut-out shapes from other groups, they can click and drag the corresponding shape onto the right side of the scale. The first team to balance its scale wins.
  
  
• Suggest to your attendees that this lesson also can be used to explain activities that take place on the stock market trading floor, or to explain the history of bartering in Native American culture.
  

Follow-up

Discuss the feasibility of using hands-on activities in the classroom. How do teachers control noise volume and prevent students from getting off track? How effective is it to combine a computer-based interactive with a hands-on activity? How can the EconEdLink and Illuminations interactives be used as stand-alone tools to explore concepts of trading and bartering in other subjects, such as history, language arts and geography?