Course Summary:

This course will introduce young learners to economic ways of thinking, the history of economics and current trends in economics and economic theory. Students will explore basic personal finance as well as concepts such as scarcity, choice, goods, services, spending and banks. We will begin to learn about international and US financial systems, their interconnectedness, and risk. Lessons will be interactive and inquiry-based and will include group discussions, debate and vocabulary building as well as practical real-life applications and activities.

Daily Course Schedule

1. Presentations, Homework Review and Discussion

2. Case Studies – Economics in Today’s News

3. Vocabulary

4. Interactive Lesson on Daily Topic

5. Homework Assignment

Assignments and Activities

Course assignments and activities will be interactive and relevant to students’ lives. They will be presented in class each week. Some activities will include:

– Making a Budget

– Reading “The Giving Tree” and other children’s literature from an economic lens

– Wants vs Needs sorting activity

– Bank account research and comparisons

– Amazon market analysis

– Entrepreneurship Project

– And more…

Unit I: Intro to Economics

1. What is Economics?

2. Intro to Economics and Economic Systems

3. Demand

4. Supply

5. Price

Unit II: Business in Free Enterprise

1. Types of Businesses

2. Corporations

3. Competition and Markets

4. The Labor Force

5. Organized Labor

Unit III: The Government and the Economy

1. The Growth of Government in Economics

2. The History of the Gold Standard

3. Regulating Economic Activities

4. Public Goods

5. What are Taxes?

Unit IV: Financial Institutions

1. Money: What is it?

2. Banking: How does it work?

3. The Federal Reserve

4. Savings, Borrowing and Credit

5. Investing and Investors

Unit V: International Economics

1. Inflation, Recession and Unemployment

2. The International Banking System

3. Systemic and Market Risks

4. Exchange Rates and International Money Flow

5. Economic Development in Developing Nations