The International Money Museum is an interdisciplinary teaching unit designed to stimulate your students' interest in exploring and understanding our global economy. Examining international coins and currencies sparks your students interest in the countries of our world. The IMM is an educational kit that, with the efforts of your students, unfolds into an interactive learning museum. Student outcomes and sample activities are described below.

The International Money Museum introduces the function of money as a medium of exchange. It contains coins and currencies from many countries, past and present, which students view and inspect. The museum is used at all grade levels to supplement units on economics, geography, history, mathematics, language arts, science, sports and recreation, etc. The "Money Mystery" activities facilitate creative and critical thinking and help to develop research skills. In completing the "Money Mystery" tasks, your students research global economic issues, scientific problems, and social dilemmas of the world's countries. You can use "Money Mysteries" in learning centers, cooperative learning groups or as whole class introductions to topics of study.

Outcomes:

1. Uses international coins and currency to spark interest in learning about countries of the world as students complete tasks presented on the "Money Mystery" task cards.
2. Creates opportunities for students to incorporate new ideas and learning into existing knowledge schema resulting in the construction of meaning as students research and create.
3. Provides an interdisciplinary approach to learning. "Money Mysteries" include questions in history, math, science, government, economics, geography, sports and recreation, and money and banking making curricular integration easy and allowing students to explore areas of interest.
4. Facilitates development of creative and critical thinking and research skills. Museum activities provide opportunities to practice higher order thinking skills.
5. Promotes understanding of diversity in our world. The "Money Mystery" activities provide opportunities to explore similarities and differences among peoples of the world.

Sample "Money Mystery" Activities:

Economics

Choose a currency from the International Money Museum. Research to find the primary export of the country and countries that are competitors in the export market. Draw a pie or bar graph showing the percentage of market shares produced by each country.

Geography

Select a bill of interest. Use language and picture clues to discover the country of origin. Describe the location of the country on a globe or map using longitude and latitude.

Money and Banking

Examine a U.S. bill. In what year was it printed? Who was the Treasurer of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury?

History

What famous people are represented on the money from other countries? List the country, name of the money, the famous person, and the accomplishments of the person.

Language

List the countries that use more than one language on their currency. Why do you suppose they use multiple languages?

Math

Using centimeters, measure the dimensions of currencies from three countries of your choice.

Language Arts

Choose one of the currencies. Research to locate information about that country. Design a travel brochure to entice tourists to that country.

Government

If you were to govern a country represented by currency in The International Money Museum, which country would you choose and why?

Science

You are a wildlife enthusiast, search through the coins and currencies and select one country where you would like to travel to observe wildlife. Explain your reasoning behind this decision.

Sports and Recreation

Identify a nation from the currency. Research a prominent sport in that country that is not commonly found in the United States. Write a paragraph telling about the players, the rules, the winner and how the score is tallied.

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