Many textbooks define economics as the social science that studies how people make choices when faced with scarcity; or how a society decides what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. Regardless of the definition, students' economic understanding is fundamental to their financial well-being and their ability to build successful…

Learning Curves has its roots in economics and behavioral psychology. Learning Curves theory has several business applications and is widely used in the industry. As faculty of Operations Management courses, we cover this topic in some depth in the classroom. In this paper, we present some of our teaching methods and material that have helped us…

There never seems to be enough time to teach everything that administrators, policy advocates, parents, legislators, and the general public think should be addressed in the elementary classroom. Each year, elementary teachers are asked to add more and more to their already crowded curriculum. Add to this the pressures of state standards and making…

The authors list economic concepts and issues covered in the children's books published by Theodor Geisel and discuss his treatment of concepts that appear most often and that are treated in greater depth. Some concepts are sophisticated and taught as formal concepts only in college-level economics courses. Others are basic and used in economics…

During the twenty to twenty-five years after World War II, children in the United States were increasingly taught to understand their nation, its history, and its economic greatness--as an "economy"--rather than in social, moral, philosophical, or political terms. During this time period, not only did an economics education movement…

Although recent research strongly suggests that L. Frank Baum did not write "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" as a monetary or political allegory, the Populist-parable interpretation of his book remains a tremendous teaching tool in economics classes. The author offers some background on the rise and fall of the Populist interpretation, in recognition…

The author describes a teaching method that uses powerful contemporary media, movie and television clips, to demonstrate the enormous breadth and depth of economic concepts. Many different movie and television clips can be used to show the power of economic analysis. The author describes the scenes and the economic concepts within those scenes for…

Provides an overview of the recommendations which arose from a 1986 conference which assessed whether increasingly vocal criticisms of traditional economics theories and educational practices should be reflected in Joint Council materials and training. (JDH)

Ideas for making the most of bulletin boards are offered for ten months (September-June). Objectives, teaching activities, and materials needed accompany reduced-scale illustrations. (TA)

Outlines the differences between the traditional and modern theoretical models of demand for money. States that the two models are often used interchangeably in textbooks, causing ambiguity. Argues against the use of linear specifications that imply that income velocity can increase without limit and that autonomous components of aggregate demand…

Designed to help students in grades 9-12 understand economic terms, fundamental economic principles of the free enterprise system, and economic forces that influence activities in everyone's life, this teacher's guide provides over 50 reproducible activity sheets on the following topics: (1) scarcity and planning, (2) cost, (3) demand, (4) supply,…

The author outlines his views concerning the scope and methodology of secondary school economics instruction and the place that instructional films have in teaching economics. (Editor/RK)

The Trade-Offs series focusing on economics in the daily life of students was found to be effective in teaching decision-making skills to 312 gifted students in grades five and six. Teacher and student comments further indicated satisfaction with the program. (CL)

Teachers of business law have many opportunities to integrate basic economic principles into their business law classes and therefore contribute to students' economic as well as legal literacy. Discusses a number of specific learning activities resources. (JOW)

Carpets, laundry, parenting, cooking, sewing notions, and health word search puzzles are presented; answers are included. (TA)