March 14, 2010
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Economics Educational Materials Available Online
In keeping with our focus on the American economy, this month we’ve gathered a list of online resources that teachers can utilize.
- The National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) is a nationwide network that promotes economic literacy with students and their teachers. NCEE’s Econ Ed Link Web site is a great resource for teachers. It includes 568 free economics lesson plans; a CyberTeach section, which is geared specifically to using the Internet; DataLinks, which provides macroeconomic data for classroom use; and WebLinks, another Internet resource for K–12 classrooms. NCEE also offers “Financing Your Future,” a personal finance program on DVD for high school teachers and students, and “Virtual Economics®,” with more than 1,200 supplemental lesson plans for K–12 teachers.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco sponsors educational resources on its Web site. Some of the features found there are: an economics Tool Kit; Teacher Resources; Student Resources, including a “Dr. Econ” segment, where an economics expert answers questions; the International Economics Summit, a world trade simulation for high school students; and the Econ Ed and the Fed online newsletter.
- Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has as its objective to encourage curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K–12 educational experience. Available on the Coalition’s Web site are teacher resources, standards, and best practices.
- The National Endowment for Financial Education offers a High School Financial Planning Program consisting of a seven-unit student manual, instructor’s guide, and Web pages that offer resources, articles, and financial tools for teachers, students, and parents.
- The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent economic think-tank whose mission is to explore and explain the dynamics of world economic structure, conduct, and performance by conducting research in economics, business, and finance. Through its publications program and conferences/seminars, the Institute pursues its objective of attaining a better-informed public, more thoughtful public policies, improved economic outcomes, and better lives for people.
- Take Charge America is a nonprofit agency that provides financial education, credit counseling, and debt management assistance. Free debt review is available online, as well as consumer and teacher resources, calculators and tools, and the Budget Doctor, who answers consumers’ questions online.
- Keep in mind a couple of other great resources for teachers: The vast Library of Congress online, where instructional materials are listed by topic and title, and there is a section including lesson plans about the Great Depression available. And PBS, which provides multiple teacher resources for elementary and secondary levels. Germane to our topic this month, a wealth of free lesson plans on economics is available here: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies/inventory/economics-912.html.
We welcome your suggestions as to where to find other economics-oriented instructional materials. Email the Editor.