by Daniel Buckley

While catching up on my podcasts last weekend, I learned about a teacher at New York City’s Hunter College High School, named Heather Hanemann, who developed a curriculum to teach economics using excerpts from Planet Money — National Public Radio’s radio program and blog that aims to explain labyrinthine economic issues to the layman. The program’s hosts were pleased and impressed to see their efforts extended to educate teenagers about issues that many adults find difficult to grasp.

Being an employee of the Food Bank For New York City, whose CookShop Program educates elementary and high school students, as well as adults, about nutrition and healthy diets, I felt encouraged learning about others’ efforts to educate youth about issues that have a huge potential to help them later in life — whether they are confronted with an overabundance of low-cost, unhealthy food options or the difficult task of navigating their financial future.

Helping to spread the benefits of her efforts, Heather Hanemann graciously allowed Planet Money to post her curriculum materials to their blog, to be downloaded and used by other teachers. Happy learning!