Lessons
| Grades | Lesson | Concept | Lesson Description | Content Areas |
NE Standard(s) | US Econ Standard(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9-12 | Budgeting: Unit 5, Making Personal Finance Decisions | Budgeting | These lessons look at how to allocate or budget one’s income with respect to these various options without exceeding the income one earns. |
Economics, Personal Finance |
12.2.7 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
| 9-12 | The Circular Flow Model | Circular Flow | This is an excellent diagram of the circular flow model that can be used in class to teach the concepts. |
Economics
|
12.2.1 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
| 9-12 | In the Chips: A Market in Computer Chips | Competition | Understanding how markets work and the role of prices within markets is an important key to being able to explain and predict economic behavior. In true markets, prices are determined by the interaction of buyers and sellers. In-class simulation and video explanation. |
Economics
|
12.2.2 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
| 9-12 | Nebraska Entrepreneurs, Lesson 3: What's in it for Me? | Decision-making, Incentives | In this lesson students will examine both the benefits and costs that are associated with owning and operating a business. By completing a decision-making grid, students will realize that being your own boss involves trade-offs. In addition to this students will examine the incentives for starting a business as well as the opportunity costs involved. |
Economics |
12.2.6 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
| 6-12 | Episode 7 – Gross Domestic Product – The Economic Lowdown Video Series | Economic Growth, Gross Domestic Product | A Federal Reserve economic education specialist explains what GDP measures, how it is calculated, how it is useful in determining whether and how quickly the economy is growing, and how GDP can be used as indicator of standard of living. |
Economics |
0 |
Benchmarks: 0
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9-12 |
Real GDP Growth, Q1 2013 (First Estimate), Focus on Economic Data, USA |
Economic Indicators |
This lesson focuses on the April 26, 2013, first (advance) estimate of U.S. real gross domestic product (real GDP) growth for the first quarter (Q1) of 2013, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The current data and historical data are explained. The meaning of GDP and potential impacts of changes of GDP are explored. |
Economics |
12.2.3 12.2.5 |
Benchmarks: 0
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9-12 |
Economic Institutions |
A real-life social science experiment in how institutions shape people's lives has been taking place for the past half-century in North and South Korea. This unique history is the foundation for a social science experiment about how institutions impact people's lives. |
Economics, |
12.2.3 12.2.4 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Economic Institutions |
This video teaches the concept of Economic Institutions. Economic institutions refer to the established laws, customs, organizations or systems that have a strong impact on economic decisions. |
Economics |
12.2.3 12.2.4 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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6-12 |
Taxes |
With very few exceptions, the U.S. federal government does not have an "income" to spend providing goods and services. The money used for federal spending programs must be collected as federal taxes, or it must be borrowed. This lesson provides information about the costs of government programs. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Factors of Production |
Students will learn that at certain times all entrepreneurs have some fixed costs that must be paid no matter how many products are offered for sale. Variable costs change with the number of products offered for sale. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Federal Reserve |
An overview of the Federal Reserve to help make sense of the complex, yet effective, System. Learn the three main responsibilities -- conducting monetary policy, supervising banks, and providing financial services. This is a download for Apple iOS. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Interest |
During this lesson students use the economic concepts of trade-offs and opportunity cost to decide between savings accounts with simple interest and those with compound interest. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Markets |
Investigates the notion that when consumers buy stock in businesses or purchase the products that those businesses produce, they are casting a vote for that business or product, and against the business or products of competitors. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Productivity |
Selected lesson from a curriculum guide focusing on Nebraska entrepreneurs. (PDF format) This hands-on lesson help students understand how entrepreneurs control costs, and includes the "diminishing returns" concept., Authors: Derry Trampe, Chuck Parker, Tammie Fischer, and Mary Lynn Reiser. ©Nebraska Council on Economic Education. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Will I Make a Profit? |
Profit |
Bessie Moore Center, Arkansas: Students analyze the financial information from two business plans to learn how revenues can be increased or costs decreased in order to make the businesses profitable. This is a process that is necessary to the business plan. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Protecting: Unit 10, Making Personal Finance Decisions |
Risk Management |
Risks such as car accidents, medical issues, house fires, lawsuits, and theft (including identity theft) all represent potential obstacles that can be managed by reducing one's potential exposure or by buying insurance. These lessons look at these options through games that involve the random occurrence of events and how students choose to manage the risks presented. |
Economics, Personal Finance |
N/A Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Cards, Cars, and Currency: Lesson 2-Credit Cards Lesson 4-Interest Lesson 5-Savings |
Savings, Credit, Interest |
St Louis Fed: Students participate in a discussion of the general features of a $1 bill. They learn that although currency is valued, people often “throw currency away” as a result of poor financial decisions and the lack of financial knowledge. Following the discussion, the students play a game in which they attempt to “keep the currency,” working in pairs to answer 20 true-or-false questions about credit cards, debit cards and purchasing a car. From this game, which serves as a pretest for subsequent lessons, the students learn that financial literacy is important in keeping currency. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Savings, Interest |
In this game, students will be asked a series of multiple choice questions. The longer it takes to answer, the less the question is worth. If they take too long, it won't be worth anything. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Focus on Economic Data, April, 2013 |
Unemployment |
This lesson examines the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, announcement of employment data and the unemployment rate for the month of April, 2013, reported May 3, 2013. This lesson introduces the basic concepts of the BLS employment and unemployment data. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
What Is Unemployment, How Is It Measured, and Why Does the Fed Care? |
Unemployment |
In this lesson, students read and interpret choropleth maps, which contain unemployment data. They compare verbal descriptions of the labor market from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book with the mapped data. In addition, students compare unemployment data for different years. Students access or observe how to access this data online. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0
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6-12 |
Role of Government, International Trade, Opportunity Cost, Benefits of Trade, Specialization |
A resource guide and ten lessons for teachers focusing on the role of international trade in state development in Nebraska. by Tammie Fischer and Mary Lynn Reiser. ©UNL Center for Economic Education. |
Economics, Geography, Government |
Benchmarks: |
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9-12 |
Monetary Policy |
Students will learn more about the purposes and functions of the Federal Reserve System, including describing a fractional reserve banking system, explaining what bank panics and bank runs are and why they are less likely today than at the beginning of the 20th century, and listing the three major functions of the Federal Reserve System. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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6-12 |
Profit, Choice |
Students will explore the fundamentals of stock ownership. They discuss how stock owners share the risks and rewards of purchasing stocks. Lesson 3 from Learning for the Market: Integrating the Stock Market Game Across the Curriculum, ©Council for Economic Education. |
Business, Social studies, Language Arts |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 1 |
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9-12 |
Property Rights |
This video teaches the concept of Property Rights, which refers to the legal ownership of resources, including the right to own, use and sell them. Property rights are essential to the transactions in a market economy, and one of the essential roles of government in a market-oriented economy is to protect property rights. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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6-12 |
Role of Government |
Class discussion and small group task identifying six economics functions of government and examples of these functions using current events. Unit II, Lesson 4 from Focus on Economics: Civics and Government, ©Council for Economic Education. |
Economics, Government |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 |
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9-12 |
Barriers to Trade |
Students investigate the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers during the 1880s by looking at a political cartoon, solving a short math problem, and comparing protectionism between time periods. Lesson 7 from Focus on Economics: United States History, ©Council for Economic Education. |
Economics, American History |
Benchmarks: 1 |
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9-12 |
Business Economics Course |
Allocation of Resources, Economic Systems, Economic Institutions, Incentives, Markets, Prices, Market Structures, Productivity, Role of Government, Global Economic Concepts, Economic Indicator |
Business Economics is a course designed to help students understand economic principles as applied to current events and issues. Emphasis includes allocation of resources, economic systems, economic institutions and incentives, markets and prices, market structures, productivity, role of government, global economic concepts, and economic indicators. |
Economics, Business Economics |
N/A |
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6-12 |
Choice, Incentives |
Students read short histories of Prohibition and MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and work in small groups to evaluate the consequences of these policies on consumers' behavior. Lesson 9 from Focus on Economics: United States History, ©Council for Economic Education. |
Economics, American History |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 2, 4 |
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9-12 |
Choice, Opportunity Cost, Credit |
Lesson 10, Personal Decision Making: Focus on Economics. Copyright ©1996, (PDF Format) Council for Economic Education, New York, NY 10036. Used with permission. |
Personal Finance |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 0
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9-12 |
Choice, Opportunity Cost, Incentives |
Analysis of the costs and benefits of educational choices. Learn about economic choice, opportunity cost, and incentives. ©Nebraska Council on Economic Education. |
Economics, Consumer Economics |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Marketplace: School Competition |
Competition |
In this lesson, students listen to an audio file about school vouchers creating market competition for public schools in June 2002. Students will identify the story's major concepts and their supporting details using an interactive note-taker. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Cost-Benefirt Analysis |
Often decisions result in trading off some of one thing to get some of another. This lesson introduces the idea of trade-offs and provides practice in analyzing options before making decisions. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Demand, Supply, Equilibrium Price |
Basic discussion of demand and supply and the determinants of demand and supply. Includes self-quiz for students on understanding shifts in demand and supply. ©Kim Sosin |
Economics |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Entrepreneurs, Productivity, Profit |
Ten lessons focusing on the characteristics of entrepreneurs in the economy. Several lessons deal with Nebraska entrepreneurs. ©Nebraska Council on Economic Education. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Human Capital, Resources-Human/Natural/Capital |
One of the most important financial decisions people make is whether to go to college. The price tag of a college education is rising, but so are the benefits. In this lesson, students will begin by learning the relationship between level of education and the average unemployment rate; and level of education and median weekly income. Students then learn about wage premiums and investigate the various college options available to them; financing options available to them; the importance of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); and finally, college as an investment in human capital, examine the costs and benefits, and decide whether it is a good choice. |
Economics |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Where Did All the Money Go? The Mystery of the Great Depression |
Interdependence, Income, Money, Supply |
The students read a brief passage that poses the mystery, "How did the Great Depression happen?" As detectives, they gather clues using the Internet to investigate the mystery through a series of clue sheets. In the first step they complete a retrieval chart to summarize information about the consumer price index, unemployment rate, federal spending, and US and world events that have economic and political implications. |
Economics |
0 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Market Failures and Government Regulations: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease? |
Market Failures, Cost-Benefit Analysis |
Economic efficiency is something much more than producing goods at the lowest possible cost. In involves providing individuals with the goods and services they desire, in the quantities, qualities, places, and times they desire them, with the least use of society's scarce resources. |
Economics, Business |
0 |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Public Goods, Incentives, Economic Goals |
Examination of the case for privatizing a public school. Learn about public goods, private goods, costs, incentives, and economic efficiency. ©Nebraska Council on Economic Education |
Economics, Government |
N/A |
Benchmarks: 0 |
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9-12 |
Economics of Internet Access |
Shortages/Surpluses |
An understanding of shortages, supply, demand and the rationing function of prices is important as we encounter greater numbers of people logging on to the Internet. |
Economics |
0 |
Benchmarks: 0 |