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In this lesson, students view a video on the characteristics and functions of money Based on the information they learn, they work in small groups to analyze a series of scenarios and determine which characteristic or function of money is being described

Students participate in a trading simulation to learn about barter and the benefits of using money. Working in pairs, students receive information cards on different forms of money used during U.S. history and identify specific problems with each.

Explore patterns in home loan data with Dr. Raphael Bostic. Learn how identifying patterns can help you answer BIG QUESTIONS and create a stronger economy for everyone.

Learn the story of the growing economy on Planet Novus and focus on the concepts of barter, currency, and banking.

A ¥en to Trade is a set of lessons for students in the middle grades—grades 6-8. These lessons are written to help students understand the basic rationale for making trades, the gains that are possible from trade, and how trading is done between people of different countries. Each lesson teaches fundamental economic concepts such as scarcity, economic wants, resources, goods and services, opportunity cost, and money, as well as international trade concepts such as exports, imports, tariffs, quotas, exchange rates, and trade routes. Most lessons employ simulations and other active-learning strategies to engage students in the learning process and to provide experiences to help them discover why things happen as they do. Students do everything from taking on the role of traders in the real markets to jumping hurdles (to learn about trade barriers) and tossing a ball (to learn about trade routes). Activities integrate other curriculum areas including math, language arts, and geography.

In this lesson, students participate in a market activity in which a market for cake ingredients is set up to demonstrate the process of using a spending budget. They listen to the story Splat the Cat Takes the Cake and answer comprehension questions through a student-led Q&A. By participating in the opening market activity and reading the story, students use what they have read and learned to conclude that the ingredients Splat used were purchased with money that was earned. They participate in a read-aloud activity to identify specific long-vowel sounds and earn Splat bucks. They use the Splat bucks to purchase materials to decorate a cake and track their spending.

This simple activity demonstrates a key economic idea: When the money supply in an economy increases, the prices of goods and services tend to rise. Students participate in a two auctions: The goods in each auction are identical, but the money supply given to students increases from the first to the second auction. The activity results in higher prices when the money supply is greater. Students learn that if the money supply grows at a faster rate than the economy’s ability to produce goods and services, inflation will result. This is inflation caused by “too much money chasing too few goods.”

In this lesson, students will explore a market basket of goods and services and determine what is in each category in the market basket. Students learn that the consumer price index (CPI) is made up of market basket goods and services for which the prices are compared each month to determine if the price of any of the items has changed and if there has been inflation. Students will engage in role-play scenarios to understand the effects of inflation.

Inflation is a general, sustained upward movement of prices for goods and services in an economy.

Use these questions with children 7 to 9 years old to discuss the following economic concepts in Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression: barter, consumers, goods, services, income, and wants.