This article concerns textbook analysis regarding the presentation of socialism in four leading high school social studies books, one in each of the following subjects: United States history, world history, United States government, and economics. Findings indicate that students relying on these texts to gain understanding of socialism and…

The issues surrounding the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit are complex, but not beyond the reach of young students. This study finds scant treatment of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit in high schools today. It is hardly surprising that high school teachers spend so little time discussing these topics in…

The primary purpose of this study is to assess student-level impacts of a problem-based instructional approach to high school economics. The curriculum approach examined here was designed to increase class participation and content knowledge for high school students who are learning economics. This study tests the effectiveness of Problem Based…

Foreign Currency Exchange is the largest business in the world. The New York Institute of Finance estimates that somewhere around 1.5 trillion dollars changes hands every 24 hours. The trading of international currencies has made overnight millionaires. No other marketplace in the world can give a person more significant opportunity to make money…

As Californians put on another sweater, light candles, and open their electricity bills with shaking hands, the rest of the nation wonders who or what caused the problem and whether they will be next. Mixing with accusations about deregulation, there are also insistent voices blaming misguided and heavy-handed government for dimming the lights in…

This unit, designed for grades 9-12, introduces students to economic concepts of international trade through the case of the international coffee industry in California and Brazil. The following concepts are among those examined: commodities, factors of production (human resources, capital resources, and environmental resources), imports and…

This lesson asks 12th grade students to imagine that they are special assistants to the Undersecretary of Commerce for a foreign country who must answer a letter from a U.S. company planning to move its manufacturing operations overseas. The lesson also asks them to design a business brochure that will convince the company to come to their…

This handbook provides valuable information for educators to use in developing a one-semester high school course on economics. The volume includes activity outlines, a model for assessment, and a list of resources to enhance instruction in economics. The handbook identifies methods to enrich instruction using the state-mandated economic component…

This lesson requires student teamwork to gather data and create a plan that describes the physical look of money in the future and how it will be distributed in the United States in the next millennium. To do this, the lesson states, students review present-day monetary policy, read about future suggestions for money, visit Web sites on these…

Recommends including essay questions on state economics examinations to prevent misclassification of students. Briefly reviews the literature arguing that certain groups of students do poorly on multiple choice tests. Discusses California's experience with adopting a combined-format type test. (MJP)