MicroSociety Magnet Program
Carolyn Jessie, Magnet Coordinator
carolyn.jessie@jefferson.kyschools.us 
Students in the MicroSociety Magnet Program at Indian Trail Elementary experience real-world, hands-on learning. They participate in the program as citizens five days a week for 40 minutes.
In a MicroSociety program, students create a microcosm of the real world inside their school.
- They create currency and establish a government, and basic skills become relevant to their lives. Each student has a role in running that world.
- Young entrepreneurs produce goods and services, and elected officials establish laws.
- Peacekeepers stop crime and misbehavior.
- Judges arbitrate disputes, and reporters track down stories.
- All citizens earn wages in the school's Micro Currency; invest in product ideas; deposit and borrow money from the Micro Bank; and pay taxes, tuition, and rent.
Students are engaged in lessons that prepare them for their MicroSociety experiences.
- Students submit business proposals and hope to be the entrepreneurs of their own businesses.
- Students apply for Management 101 classes.
- Students fill out job applications and prepare resumes.
- Job fairs are held, and students interview for positions in ventures/agencies.
- Students elect a mayor, vice-mayor, treasurer, and secretary.
- Legislators are elected from each class to represent students.
Classroom connections are made throughout the day.
- The MicroSociety Program provides a context that makes reading functional and fun.
- In the courtroom, marketplace, and newsroom, reading, writing, and communication skills spell the difference between success and failure.
- Math and financial literacy are elevated to survival skills.
- Students recognize that they need financial literacy and mathematic skills to buy and sell, create budgets, maintain a checkbook, and calculate taxes.
- The MicroSociety Program turns social studies into a living lesson in citizenship and government.
- Students learn how government works in the legislature, and they debate social issues in town meetings. Coached by teachers, students learn to resolve conflicts, negotiate, persuade, and defend their actions in the school's court.
- Students apply principles of ecology to promote community recycling and healthy living.
In our MicroSociety Magnet Program, students not only learn but also practice those twenty-first-century skills that are so familiar to adults outside of school and so essential to students' future success--communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, initiative, and innovation. Students, in turn, teach those skills to their peers, demonstrating the highest level of learning.
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| Mayor | Vice Mayor | Treasurer | Secretary |
MicroSociety Specifics
- Students elected to our legislature have planned and facilitated the election we had as we elect officers for next school year. We had the inauguration on Thursday, May 13th.
- Students created an internal currency, micro money, which is used for shopping, paying individual rent and taxes. We have young entrepreneurs with ideas outside of what you would expect to see in a school setting. Students are learning about resumes and how to complete job applications when they are looking for a job.
- Students wear their identification badges during micro time. This signifies they are working.
- Students take what they learn during core classes and putting it into action during micro time. Students may not understand why they need to learn how to write a complete sentence while in class, but when they are writing to a community partner, it becomes real. Writing become authentic with a true purpose.
Math and financial literacy are elevated to survival skills in MicroSociety. Students buy and sell products and services. They maintain checkbooks and calculate taxes.
- MicroSociety has provided students an opportunity to step into leadership roles. Some students are natural leaders and it shows regardless of their circumstances. Other students have that leadership ability in them, but they need coaching to help their leadership skills come to light. Through MicroSociety, students are given the coaching they need to become our leaders for tomorrow.
Student-Created MicroSociety Constitution
Student-Created MicroSociety Laws
MicroSociety Open House Article Written by Students
Quotes From Students About Indian Trail's MicroSociety Program
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