Teaching Resources

Interactive Tutorials and Power Points

We try to make our workshop presentations available for teachers to use in their classrooms, or to review material they may have learned in earlier workshops. Below you will find presentations and tutorials created by workshop presenters. Note that the non-Power Point tutorials require Flash to be loaded on your computer.

2009 Wisconsin Money Smart Week

Norm participated in two Wisconsin Money Smart Week events co-sponsored by EconomicsWisconsin and the Lakeland College Center (Green Bay) and the UW-Whitewater Center (Madison). The theme of his session was getting middle and high school students to understand the economic fundamentals of the Great Depression in comparison to the 2008 recession. The first PowerPoint contains slides that make explicit comparisons between current economic conditions and those that occurred during the depths of the Great Depression. Pay particular close attention to the 2008 recession job loss slide, Norm will be periodically updating the data. The second PowerPoint is a modified lesson that can be taken directly into your classroom. See this link for a hardcopy of the lesson.

Comparing the Great Depression to the 2008 Recession

The Great Depression Mystery

 

Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies, Madison, March 16, 2009

Norm participated in two sessions at the annual conference of the WCSS. The first was a roundtable discussion on the financial crisis with Dr. Bill Duddleston (Center Director, Edgewood College), Dr. Scott Niederjohn (Center Director, Lakeland College), and Tim O'Driscoll (Center Director, UW-Milwaukee). The second was a session entitled, What is Economic Justice? Discussion of the Distribution of Economic Rewards , which presented the ideas of philosopher John Rawls and how they can be used to engage students in a discussion of fairness in economic outcomes. With the permission of the presenters, here are the Power Points used in these sessions, along with a PDF of an article by Gwartney and Connors on the financial crisis:

•  Norm Cloutier on the trends in macroeconomic conditions.
•  Scott Niederjohn on the financial crisis.
•  Bill Duddleston on the financial crisis.
•  Norm Cloutier on economic justice.
•  James Gwartney and Joseph Connors on the financial crisis.

Poverty: Economic, Historical, and International Perspectives
On February 13, 2009 the Center conducted an interdisciplinary workshop on poverty. Presenters were Dr. Norm Cloutier (Economics), Dr. Farida Khan (Economics, and International Studies), Dr. Ed Schmitt (History), and Alice Oliver ( Racine County Workforce Development Center ). Listed below are six Power Point files:

•  A short welcoming presentation that contains images of poverty you may find useful.
•  Norm Cloutier on the economics of measuring poverty in the U.S.
•  Farida Khan on global issues of poverty.
•  Ed Schmitt on the history of poverty in the U.S.
•  Alice Oliver on issues involving the working poor.
•  Norm Cloutier on the “Veil of Ignorance Game” taken from Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics, see Cloutier's link on economic justice in the WCSS section above.

“Food Prices, Inflation, and Government Policy: Understanding Current Events Using Supply and Demand.” (Power Point)

This Power Point presentation was given at Wisconsin Money Smart teacher conferences sponsored by EconomicsWisconsin, and the Centers for Economic Education at Lakeland College (October 16, 2008) and University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (October 17, 2008). The presentation examines the underlying causes and important consequences of the recent rise in world food prices.

Economics of Sports Tutorial: "Show Me the Money!"

This tutorial illustrates and explains the relationships between pro athlete salaries, ticket prices, and total revenues of major league teams. This lesson has been published by the Journal of Economic Education 39(2), Spring 2008, online section.

Brother, Can You Spare a Kidney? I (Power Point)
Brother, Can You Spare a Kidney? II (Power Point)

The first of these two Power Points was given at the Teaching the Ethical Foundations of Economics workshop, Milwaukee Art Museum, December 5, 2007, and follows the curriculum material in the NCEE publication. The second was presented at the Economics for Journalists conference, March 11, 2008, and contains a more advance construction of the economic analysis.  Teachers are advised to take a look at both.

 

Environmental Economics Tutorial: "Externalities: The Seeds of NIBMY"

This tutorial illustrates and explains the Marginal Social Benefit-Marginal Social Cost Model and its use in environmental economics to analyze environmental externalities.

Ten Rules of Wealth Building All Teachers Should Know (Powerpoint)

This Power Point presentation was given by Dr. Cloutier at Lambeau Field, Green Bay as part of the Money Smart Week conference sponsored by the Lakeland College Center for Economic Education and EconomicsWisconsin, 10/10/07.

National Council on Economic Education

The NCEE is a nationwide network that leads in promoting economic literacy with students and their teachers. We highly recommend the NCEE site. The NCEE offers excellent teaching resources for all levels, ranging from AP Economics to the early-elementary classroom.

Federal Reserve Education

The Federal Reserve Bank offers a number of online resources for K-12 teachers. The Fed materials tend to focus on the economics of the banking system, monetary policy, and financial literacy.

The International Monetary Fund

The IMF Center’s EconEd Online provides online teaching resources on international trade and finance

The World Bank

The World Bank’s Youthink! for teachers has teaching resources that are related to a wide variety of socioeconomic issues in the developing countries.

The Global Association of Teachers of Economics

GATE is a new national and international organization sponsored by NCEE for K-12 teachers and others interested in economic and financial education. GATE offers a newsletter announcing workshops, conferences, study tours, and new curriculum. GATE members can receive discounts on NCEE publications. Membership is required, but as of this writing it is free.