Recipients of the Museum Award for Excellence in Teaching Economics

Angela Larocque

Teacher at Forest Hills School in St. John, New Brunswick 

Angela Larocque is a passionate advocate for math and financial literacy. She has ignited a meaningful shift in her school and wider community through immersive financial literacy initiatives. This includes an annual entrepreneurship Idea Market and Money Matters, a community financial literacy night. Money Matters brings together local businesses, banks, and financial experts. This creates opportunities for open, judgment-free conversations about money between families and financial institutions. Angela builds bridges between the classroom and the wider community, making economics accessible, relevant, and inspiring. 

Angela’s impact stretches far past the school walls. She mentors students through real-world projects, guiding them from bold ideas to actionable plans that impact their community and foster entrepreneurship.  

The judges praised Angela’s commitment to practical, community-centered education that has led to the creation of original teaching materials and resources that are now being shared across the province.  Angela’s work equips students with the tools to be financially capable, socially responsible, and confident contributors to society.

Nicole Feisst

Teacher at École Clément-Cormier in Bouctouche, New Brunswick 

Nicole Feisst is an innovative educator and school coordinator who prepares her students for life beyond the classroom. Nicole and the Clément-Cormier career-life team designed a dynamic financial literacy simulation activity for grades 11 and 12 called “Real Life,” a program that helps students on the cusp of adulthood to get a grasp of real-life money management in an engaging way. 

Highly comprehensive, the program begins with a questionnaire that determines the students’ career, salary expectations and education debt load. From there, they visit a series of kiosks set up in the gymnasium that determines such life expenses as taxes, housing, and transportation. A wheel of fortune throws unexpected life events their way, further complicating the navigation of their economic lives. What makes “Real Life” stand out is its realism and local relevance. Community professionals and business representatives take part, offering practical advice and lived experience.  

The judges were especially impressed by Nicole’s creativity and commitment to student success. Her program doesn’t just teach financial literacy—it cultivates confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of personal responsibility. She has built something truly lasting and impactful within her school community.

Philippe Bélanger-Leroux

Teacher at École secondaire Toronto Ouest in Toronto, Ontario

Philippe Bélanger-Leroux piqued his students’ interest in economics through literature. He assigned them to read the novel C'est ici que tout a commencé! by Franco-Ontarian author Liliane L. Gratton. Among the issues the book tackles is the gender wage gap—a social inequality that has real economic consequences.

To make his students more aware of this inequity, Philippe organized a career fair in his classroom. Students used gender statistics on average wages to calculate the hourly salary for a chosen job—both in Canada and abroad. Students compared the results and discussed the causes and consequences of the resulting wage gap.

Philippe’s students gained a greater awareness and understanding of an economic issue that persists in Canada today. They also developed great critical thinking skills.

The judges felt this project was not only a creative way to incorporate economic thinking into a language class but it also addressed a highly relevant social issue.

Kimberly Orr

Teacher at St. George’s School in Vancouver, British Columbia

Each year, Kimberly Orr holds a “Dragons’ Lair” business plan competition similar to the CBC television program Dragons’ Den. Popular throughout the school and open to all students, the competition is part of her grade 10 entrepreneurship course, where she introduces the fundamentals of economics and business to her students.

Contestants identify market needs, conduct research and identify solutions to address those needs. As the students progress through the competition, Orr mentors them with feedback and guidance at every step. Students present their business plans to a panel of local entrepreneurs at the end of “Dragons’ Lair.”

Orr’s enthusiastic approach to teaching economics combines theoretical knowledge with practical applications, equipping students to take an interest in the world of commerce—and maybe future careers in business.

The judges saw inspiration for other teachers in Orr’s competition. An economics project that generates interest across all grades of a high school can only deepen students’ understanding of key economic principles.

Andre Boutin Maloney

Teacher at Bert Fox Community High School in Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan

Bringing history to life is a goal of many teachers, but to teach applicable economic concepts at the same time is a win-win situation for any educator.

Andre Boutin Maloney taught his financial literacy class to be teachers themselves. His students developed an interactive trading post simulation that combined Indigenous history and ingenuity with many economic principles.

Students learned about Canada’s fur trade, the roles of trapper and trader, economic concepts such as free markets and supply and demand, and social issues related to perceived value and industrialization. They then created a game to exchange beaver pelt tokens for cards representing trade items. But, of course, there was a catch. Each card came with conditions that could help or hinder a trapper’s efficiency, allowing players to better understand the economic and social challenges fur trappers faced in pre-Confederation Canada.

Andre’s students made sure the game was accessible to younger learners. Then the middle school students ran it with those learners at Fort Qu’Appelle’s Treaty 4 Gathering, creating opportunities for peer learning and strong community engagement.

Kim Dudek

Teacher at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Can you teach economics to kids while simultaneously benefitting the community? Seems like a big challenge, but it turns out you can do just that.

Kim works with an Indigenous Academic Achievement class. Their classroom name is Mino-pimatisiwin, or "the good path," a space where learning centres on sharing and generosity. Her winning project began as a student-led initiative to raise money for a women’s shelter—and do it during the economically challenging holiday season. So, they started a trading post.

Using all of their creative skills, the students made crafts and cultural gifts to sell in their post. They faced head-on such issues as business contracts, sourcing supplies, labour, advertising, multiple payment methods and currencies. They also learned key economic lessons about free and mixed market economies.

But above all, Kim’s students experienced Indigenous understandings of shared wealth and community assistance while learning to become entrepreneurs themselves.

Alysha Coates

Elementary school teacher at Elijah Smith Elementary School (Whitehorse, Yukon)

When entrepreneurial spirit and economics combine, great things can happen. Especially if you’re selling something as delicious as hot chocolate.

Alysha’s class designed their own hot chocolate business—brand, logo, slogan and all. The students began by comparing prices for ingredients and then purchased their supplies with a small business loan of $20. Planning and prototyping were followed by a weeklong sale to peers. Amid the fun, students learned about budgeting, price comparing, and compound interest. 

Creating this entrepreneurial activity was a formative experience for the students. Alysha introduced many larger concepts within the activity. Students had conversations about income tax through their budgeting and learned about the role of branding and advertising through their own trial and error. Students used play money for their transactions which ensured an equal playing field for all. Alysha’s teaching demonstrated the incredible role real-life learning can play in introducing economic and financial literacy.

Chris Moon

High school teacher at Vancouver Technical Secondary (Vancouver, British Columbia)

How do you teach the complexity of the economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic when it’s happening in front of your student’s eyes? Gamify it. 

Chris’s students conducted background research and game development to create a COVID-themed board game “COVID-19-opoly.” This inquiry project involved students parsing out the news and reflecting the economic realities of the pandemic in a fun and informative way. Masking, lockdowns, subsidies and food delivery were all elements in the game.

Students explored urban markets, household budgets, social reform, the role of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and impacts on international trade and the supply chain. Throughout the learning Chris incorporated teaching on economic thinkers including Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Malthus, Keynes and Hayek. Given the challenges of the global pandemic, Chris brought real-world experiences into the classroom and helped his students develop resiliency and imagine a better future.