Teaching the Economy

Objective: To help students understand the current U.S. and global economic crisis

Overview: The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented effort to repair the economy and financial markets severely damaged by risky home loans and falling housing prices.

Students will: Understand important economic factors that indicate whether the U.S. economy is experiencing an recession. Analyze historical charts that plot economic recessions for the past 50 years. Compare and contrast past recessions with the current recession. Plot the numbers for key economic indicators during the current recession. Using the economic indicators to theorize about the state of the economy in the current recession. Compare their theories on the state of the economy with economic experts.

To learn about the current economy.

NewsHour website containing indepth coverage on the current housing crisis, banking, and the recession.

From the Economics and Statistics Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce providing timely access to key economic indicators.

The Conference Board a non-profit organization that provides information on the global economy.

Students will understand that the current economic crisis is a “global event” that impacts different nations in similar and different ways.

A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.

Students will: Explore what is GDP and GDP growth, Look at housing starts as a leading economic indicator, Debate what makes a bubble, Review the definition of a recession, Optional: Learn about bubbles in history, including a stock bubble in the early 1700s, in the shares of a company, run by a Scotsman named John Law called the "Mississippi Company" Discuss the value of economic forecasting

Students will:

• Pool prior knowledge and acquire new tools to analyze the economy of a town
• Acquire key information from video segment on the economy
• Learn to read and decipher unemployment rates
• Develop definitions of key terms in context, such as "luxury good," "infrastructure," and "employment rate"
• Create a town portfolio which includes population and unemployment rate.

Students will:

• Pool prior knowledge and acquire new tools to analyze the economy of a town
• Acquire key information from video segment on the economy
• Learn to read and decipher unemployment rates
• Develop definitions of key terms in context, such as "luxury good," "infrastructure," and "employment rate"
• Create a town portfolio which includes population and unemployment rate.

Take a look at this unique collection of lesson plans, creative videos, calculators and more to help make money and finance fun and personal.

Students will:

1. Describe a fractional reserve banking system.

2. Explain what bank panics and bank runs are and why they are less likely today than at the beginning of the 20th century. 3. List the three major functions of the Federal Reserve System.