Economics video contest Fall 2012

The national Council for Economic Education is holding a contest for grades k-12 for the best video on the topic: "What should the next President do to improve the economy?"

Everyone's got an opinion, and the Council for Economic Education wants to hear from your students! This election season, CEE is holding a video contest asking students in kindergarten through 12th grade, via their teachers, for the best economic advice they can give our next President. Teachers should record one student, or a group of students, answering the question "What Should the Next President do to Improve the Economy?"
One winner will be chosen by CEE Facebook fans ("Viewers' Choice") and at least one winner will be chosen by one or more economists selected as judges by CEE ("Economists' Choice"). Prizes include a $500 American Express gift card for each teacher winner, and $25 iTunes gift cards for the student(s) featured in the winning videos.
Video Submission Period
Opens: Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 9:00 a.m. EST
Closes: Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 11:59 p.m. EST
Public Voting Period
Starts: Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 9:00 a.m. EST
Ends: Thursday, October 18, 2012, 11:59 p.m. EST
Complete rules, a sample video and FAQ are available here.
We look forward to hearing what your students have to say! Good luck.

Common Sense Economics

Common Sense Economics is a website with many free resources for economics teachers.  It's designed to accompany a text by James Gwartney, Richard Stroup, Dwight Lee, and Tawni Ferrarini but it would work well with any text.

It has practice questions, reading guides, and more on: 
(1) Twelve Key Elements of Economics
(2) Seven Major Sources of Economic Progress
(3) Economic Progress and the Role of Government
(4) Twelve Key Elements of Practical Personal Finance.

http://www.commonsenseeconomics.com/

Language of Business

The University of Texas at Austin presents LINGO: the Language of Business, a series of YouTube videos illustrating economic and business concepts.  Many of the terms are critical for understanding current events: Debt Ceiling, Systemic Risk, Sovereign Debt, Moral Hazard.  The videos are short, lively, and accurate.

https://texasenterprise.org/series/lingo

Internet resources for education

Box of Tricks provides A – Z Internet Resources for Education. While not specifically about economics, this list links to dozens of free online resources that can be used in the classroom.


http://www.boxoftricks.net/internet-resouces-for-education/

History of Money

The Philadelphia Fed has a really nice series of publications on US history and the importance of money. They are available as free pdf files or as full-color printed booklets. Each publication is illustrated with photos, drawings, and paintings of historic objects and places There are lesson plan booklets to accompany most of the student books.

Titles include:
Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy
The First Bank of the United States
The Second bank of the United States


http://www.philadelphiafed.org/publications/economic-education/

Unchanging Laws of Money

"Flipping Burgers to Flipping Millions" lists these seven Unchanging Laws of Money

1. Save... and begin saving early.
2. Control your expenses.
3. Make your money multiply....Invest.
4. Guard your money against loss.
5. Make your home an investment.
6. Ensure a future income for yourself and your family....by developing a career, improving yourself, and investing.
7. Work and study to increase your ability to earn.

This short personal finance book by Bernard Kelly stresses the importance of saving. The author's goal is to inspire people, particularly young people, to save enough money early so they can gain financial freedom.


Flipping Burgers to Flipping Millions
by Bernard Kelly
2011

European Union lesson plans

The European Union has free downloadable lesson plans on a wide variety of topics, including a substantial number of economic lessons.

The high school lesson plans include PowerPoints and pdf lessons on topics such as the euro, immigration, the environment, and the single market.
http://www.eurunion.org/eu/European-Union-Lesson-Plans-Secondary-Level.html


The K-12 lesson plans include geography, language, and social studies (including economic topics like currency, environment, and prices.)
http://euce.org/education/k12plans.php


The Teachers Corner organizes lessons by age group:
http://europa.eu/teachers-corner/index_en.htm

Monetary Policy Game

"So you want to be in charge of monetary policy? Think you have what is takes to steer our country's central bank? See how it works by taking charge of a simulated economy."

The San Francisco Fed has an online game to explore monetary policy. The player sets interest rates to try to keep unemployment and inflation at their target levels. Assorted shocks, like a tax cut or an oil crisis, create turmoil and the Fed can respond by raising or lowering interest rates. A round takes about 2 minutes to complete and the game can be replayed (different shocks will appear in different rounds.)

The game also has a "learn more" section that discusses the Fed's policy tools, has a series of short videos on past policy, and includes a glossary of economic terms.


http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/chairman/index.html

Thanks to Philip Mulder for sharing this resource.

Economics and Art Webpage

Purdue University's Michael Watts is developing a website on using art to teach economics.

https://intra.krannert.purdue.edu/sites/econandart/Pages/Home.aspx

Several slideshows are already online, including: "Natural Resources and Agriculture," "Capital Resources and Technology," and "Money, Banking, and Financial Crhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifises." Each slideshow uses paintings and drawings to illustrate the economic concepts. The last slide of each show presents a list of discussion questions relating the pictures and concepts.

More slideshows are planned in coming months, as well as more information on the concepts, artists, and individual artworks.