Economic Things Unit Guide - 60 pages of summaries, lesson plans and commentary on the activities. This took a ton of work, but has been very well received so I hope it helps!
While these presentations will technically function in Google Slides, they won't work well. Download the file as a PowerPoint and run it from your Desktop for best results!
Why Econ? - Always start with a why!
Economic Decision Making - An introduction to the Economic Decision Making process. Media files have been removed for copyright purposes. Basically, you want any pop culture clip where a decision has to be made. Bella from Twilight, Peter Parker choosing to join the Avengers, Batman choosing who to save, etc. There's a ton!
Marginal Analysis (Part 1 I Part 2) - a multi-day, multimedia show with tons of interaction and practice activities within.
Lessons and Activities
EA: Scarcity and the Budget - a short, annotated reading where students consider how scarcity is not just a personal problem.
Incentives Featuring Freakonomics - Students analyze how incentives function using segments from both the book and movie versions of Freakonomics.
Economic Inquiry 1: To Build or Not to Build? - (adapted from econedlink.org) - Examine the costs and benefits of publicly funded sports stadiums.
Behavioral Economics: Human or Econ? - What if humans weren't completely rational beings? (Hint: We aren't.)
More Behavioral Econ (Peardeck) - A series of mini-activities using PearDeck to further show we may not be fully rational beings.
History x Econ: The Lowell Mill Girls - An inquiry-based activity where students consider the decision-making that drove young girls to work in factories in the 1800s and compare it to issues of child labor today.
Economic Mysteries - (adapted from econedlink.org) 3 mysteries of the world explained by economics!
Eco-Nomics: The Water Crisis - Use Economic Decision Making and marginal analysis to solve California's water crisis!
Human Capital Inventory Featuring Pixar's Soul - Soul is an amazing movie. Use it to guide students to finding the value of their human capital.
The Game of Life - Student Guide Sheet - (scarcity, opportunity cost, human capital) - Students make a monthly budget based on education and income levels determined by dice rolls. Teachers, present this Slides file while students follow along and complete this Sheet.
EI 2: New or Used? - On the theme of personal budgeting, let's do some Economic Decision Making on what your first car should be.
Resumes - Students analyze some fun, fictional resumes to see how should we communicate our human capital to businesses (and how should we not.)
Escape from Scare City - Not bragging, but this is probably the best lesson I've ever made. Students play through a narrative-based escape room to based on Stranger Things. They loved it.
CYOA Learning Menu - a learning menu focused on the fundamentals of econ where students choose their project to demonstrate their learning from this unit.
Grid Game: Foundations of Econ Test - Unit assessment using hexagonal thinking (and a giant murderous doll of course.)
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Soul Runtime: 95 mins - Pixar's second greatest movie (after Inside Out obviously) is excellent for teaching human capital. Used with the human capital activity above. While I only show about 10 minutes of it, one could easily justify showing the entire movie.
The Profit (S5, E5) Mr. Cory's Cookies Runtime: 42 mins - Really fun episode of The Profit where a single mother and her young son work to create a business. A great look at the power and importance of human capital! (Viewing Guide with Questions)
The Profit (S3, E1): SJC Drums Runtime: 42 mins - An episode of The Profit featuring a well-known drum maker that uses marginal analysis to create new products to keep their business going. (Also featuring reality show family drama!) (Viewing Guide with Questions)