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The 12th annual Children in the Marketplace program is again scheduled this summer at CSUB, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank. The project, which runs from July 11 to 22, is an innovative economics-education program designed to introduce elementary school students to fundamentals of economics, decision-making and citizenship.

“Our goal is to educate children about decision making, because ultimately their lives will be affected by the choices they make,” said program director Abbas Grammy, an economics professor at CSUB. “In fact, many boys and girls begin to learn the importance of work, education, money, and set career goals as well as make decisions.”

Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students from area schools participate in the summer program, learning the fundamentals of markets, from supply and demand to money and the banking system, including lessons that bring home the concepts of competition, price and profit through hands-on projects. Students take roles as managers, workers, and consumers, learning to solve practical problems, such as how to manage scarce resources and how to price a product.

"The program is fun and educational," Grammy said. "Parents and children really like it." The program offers 30 hours of in-class instruction, group activities and business trips. Students are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.

 For more information, please call Grammy at (661) 664-2466.