Teacher Training

New for Fall 2025, MCEE in partnership with Econiful will offer Montana specific courses to provide teachers additional professional development in bringing Economics to the classroom.

Participating teachers will receive a $25 Visa Gift Card courtesy of MCEE, Visa, CEE, and Robinhood Markets.  Teachers will also receive a 1-hour professional development renewal unit certificate to be used for licensure.  

Register by clicking the link on the time spot for your desired course.  Advanced registration is required and once complete, a link will be emailed to you along with option to add to your calendar.  

September 8, 1-hour course offered at Noon and again at 4 p.m.
Empowering Students with Economic Thinking Skills
Thinking like an economist offers students significant benefits in their personal, professional, and civic lives. Explore three complete lesson plans that prepare students to apply four essential principles of economics to their everyday lives.

September 22, 1-hour course offered at Noon and again at 4 p.m.
The Magic of Markets
An understanding of competitive markets offers students helpful insights as they navigate their everyday lives. Access as a series of six lesson plans that use simulations and recent events to support student mastery of supply, demand, and product market models.

September 29, 1-hour course offered at Noon and again at 4 p.m.
Teaching International Trade with Clarity and Confidence
International trade policies have dominated headlines recently. Join us to explore a series of free lesson plans that will help your students understand the benefits and costs of international trade.

More about Econiful

Their mission is to strengthen economic education at the secondary level so that all students are able to apply economic principles in their personal, professional, and civic lives. They strive to achieve our mission by offering economic educators innovative high school lesson plans and free virtual professional development programs.

Econiful is a nonprofit that traces its roots back to 1972 when Thomas R. Brown, CEO of Burr-Brown Corporation, met University of Arizona economist Gerald Swanson. Their friendship and shared appreciation for the power of economic principles led to the creation of the Thomas R. Brown Foundation (TRBF) “to advance the use of economic principles in public and private decision making through strategic partnerships and educational programs.” From 2005 to 2022, TRBF funded over 700 professional development workshops for K-12 educators, mostly in Southern Arizona.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, TRBF began offering virtual and on-demand workshops to an increasingly geographically diverse audience of educators. In the latter half of 2022, TRBF adopted the trade name Econiful for its efforts to support middle and high school teachers around the country with instructional resources and professional development programs.

We hosted a successful summer 2025 MCEE Teacher Training and are already in the planning phases to host another opportunity for teachers in Summer 2026.  Stay tuned for details.    

With the support of sponsors, Robinhood Markets, Visa, CEE, Reach Higher, and MCEE covers all associated costs for the program. 

Professors from Montana State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics assisted in building the curriculum.  Following previous years’ success, we’ll spend time learning out of the classroom and host our Teacher Appreciation Dinner. 

The programs focused on current econ research, teaching economics fundamentals, personal finance, and student engagement ideas/programs.