Understanding the “Big Picture” and key topics

  • Fair Trade – Here is a site that offers 13 games to use to teach kids about fair trade.
  • Disney’s Hot Shot Business Game U.S. site: In this game kids do all the explaining as they talk money and business. The financial education show is for preteens and uses skits and comedy to teach the basics on finance. The site links to Disney’s Hot Shot Business Game There is a section for teachers and parents with downloadable lesson plans based on the episodes. This site contains ads.
  • Florida State University Dept. of Economics paper – U.S. site: This site has a direct download to a paper written by Joab Corey, Florida State University Dept. of Economics. The paper suggests games, (with complete instructions), that can be played in the classroom to teach economic concepts.
  • How An Economy Grows – U.S. site: This is a website that contains the comic book entitled “How An Economy Grows (and Why It Doesn’t). It is written by the controversial Irwin Schiff but the first 50 pages deals with how an economy grows. His political bias etc. enters after that point.
  • The Global Economy  – U.S. site: This website is sponsored by the International Monetary Fund.  It is an instructional program for secondary students on the importance of understanding the dynamics of the global economy.  There are complete lessons that can be downloaded.
  • Online Economic Lessons – U.S. site: This site has links to online economic lessons.  They are listed by grade level, concepts, and have a lesson description.  Two examples of lessons for Grade 6-12 are:  “The Role of Government. “ “What is a Stock or Who Owns McDonalds.”  It is sponsored by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
  • The Basics of Economics – U.S. site: This website contains 5 lessons that have been used to teach Grade 5 students about the basics of economics. It was written by Arthur E. Foulkes, a freelance writer and teacher in Indiana.

Videos:

  • Seinfeld Economics – U.S. website: This site has over a hundred actual video clips from the TV show “Seinfeld” and other shows.  These clips make economic concepts come alive, making them more real for students.  Each clip is subtitled with the concept that is to be taught.  Some concepts that can be identified are:  incentives, wants, price ceiling, competition, opportunity cost, law of demand trade-off, diversification, scarcity