Lesson 5: Are Disasters “A Disaster” for Lesson Planning?
Teaching About the Next Disaster The concepts, models, and analytical skills developed in Lessons 1-4 comprise an economic reasoning toolkit…
Lesson 4: When Disaster Strikes, What Can We Do?
Concepts: comparative advantage incentives competition Federal Reserve System money liquidity personal exchange commercial (impersonal) exchange Content Standards: Standard 6: When…
Lesson 3: When Disaster Strikes, What Can Government Do?
Concepts: incentives public choice thoery public good bureaucracy comparative advantage moral hazard Standards: Standard 4: People respond predictably to positive…
Lesson 1: Are Disasters Good for the Economy?
Concepts: human capital economic growth technology physical capital per capita GDP productivity Production Possibilities Frontier real income resources Content Standards:…
Lesson 9: Money and Inflation
Introduction In this lesson students learn that anything that performs the functions of money can be money (even macaroni!). As…
Lesson 10: International Markets
Introduction In this lesson students apply the model of supply and demand to international markets for goods and services and…
Lesson 8: Setting the Rules – Costs and Benefits of Government Action
Introduction This lesson gives students the opportunity to apply the economic way of thinking to the political arena. After exploring…
Lesson 7: Property Rights – Is the Environment Different?
Introduction In this lesson students apply the tools of economic analysis to environmental problems. Through the analysis of historical and…
Lesson 6: Incentives, Innovations, and Roles of Institutions
Introduction This lesson uses examples, video clips and a risk-reward mini activity to teach the relationship between innovation and economic…
Lesson 5: Labor Markets
Introduction The focus of this lesson is on the choices made by buyers and sellers of labor services, and the…
Lesson 4: Markets in Action
Introduction This lesson has two goals: The first is to expand students’ understanding of markets by discussing government-imposed frictions that…
Lesson 3: Open Markets
Introduction In this lesson students reflect on their experience in the “In the Chips” activity and connect it to their…
Lesson 2: Opportunity Cost and Incentives
Introduction This lesson uses examples, videos and three mini-activities to teach about opportunity cost and incentives. Download lesson guide above…
Lesson 1: Economic Growth and Scarcity
Introduction In this lesson students are introduced to the concept of economic growth through the story of human progress and…
Activity: Bag and Baggage
Economic Concepts Environmental Context Opportunity Cost Resource Use Scarcity Rational Choice Trade-Off Cost/Benefit Analysis Activity Download Download lesson outline and…
Lesson 1: The Fundamentals
Lesson Overview This lesson is designed to introduce and/or review a variety of economic concepts, all within the context of…
Activity: The Activity That Fails
Overview: This brief classroom activity can be used to informally assess students’ ability to apply the principles of economic reasoning…
Activity: Site Selection – A Land Use Simulation
Economic Concepts Environmental Context Opportunity Cost Using resources in one way requires giving up alternative uses Trade-off Choice Scarcity Cost/Benefit…