Professor Bryant Simon is the author of "Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America From Starbucks" (University of California Press, 2009). He presented his key findings to the class and summarizes them here. Studying Starbucks reveals essential truths about what its customers, who represented a large cross-section of the American…

One of the great challenges social studies teachers face is promoting economic and consumer literacy among their students. Fostering such literacy helps students to think critically and independently about their own roles as consumers as well as about the claims and promises the corporate world makes through mass advertising and the branding of…

As the author researched the causes and implications of the current economic crisis, he came across numerous commentaries on how financial literacy was seldom taught (or taught well) in U.S. schools. This article, aimed at teachers and supervisors at all grade levels, describes some Internet sites that: (1) explain the collapse of the housing…

Previous studies have focused on how well students are learning economics, how teachers are trained, and other outcomes associated with improved understanding of economics. However, almost nothing is reported in the research literature on economics teachers' views of the curriculum, how they teach their subject, their views on public issues, and…

Ways of integrating consumer education with an inquiry approach into the social studies curriculum are described in three categories: the marketplace as resource, value clarification and consumer behavior, and community action projects. (JH)

This is a guide to evaluating consumer education materials and to free or inexpensive materials. An annotated list is provided of recommended materials on the market, such as periodicals and newsletters, books, curriculum guides, and teacher resources. (JH)

A simulation, entitled Truth in Advertising, is presented to provide upper elementary students with a frame of reference with which to assess the advertising they encounter and to make them aware of the rules of fair practices in the market place. (JR)

Suggestions for incorporating consumer awareness into the usual civic or government courses are made with reference to values clarification and the needs and experiences of the student. (JH)

Five teachers describe the ways they teach consumer education: 1) through the theme of American problems, 2) through a team of teachers representing different disciplines, 3) through tandem teaching with constant representation from business and social sciences, 4) as a unit in an economics course, and 5) by activities integrated into the…

Two high school students recommend revision of the economics component of the social studies curriculum to include study of income tax preparation, consumer fraud, investment practices, labor economics, and urban problems. (Author/DB)

Provides five exercises designed to include real world experiences in consumer education for primary students. The identification of basic food items, development of a shopping list, assignment of shopping behavior (careful, careless), and a field trip to the supermarket precede filling out a chart with comparative prices, brand names, and total…

Explores the relationship of advertising to reading, consumer education, and social studies and recommends development of learning objectives which reflect this relationship. Explains how to teach about advertising in social studies courses. (Author/DB)

Five consumer activists relate consumerism to education through: 1) a history of consumerism, 2) the relationship between economic and political citizenship, 3) the use of consumer problems to analyze political decision making, 4) comparing economic systems, and 5) education for consumer activism. (JH)

Discusses projects used by some teachers, texts, and other instructional materials for teaching the responsibility and participatory aspects of citizenship. Suggests that texts currently in use neglect teaching the protection of rights. Argues that corporations do more educating than schools through their commercials. Questions how some teachers…

The goal of this mini-unit is to teach elementary students economic concepts related to consumerism and to develop problem-solving skills. Students test a product such as sugarless bubble gum and study how it is advertised. The students then make their own advertisement for the product. (RM)