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.

Trick of Treat? What are recent labor market data telling us?
During the fall 2012 semester, CEE Director Norm Cloutier gave five presentations around the state that focused on current national labor market conditions. The Power Point presentation in the link below is one he gave at UW-Parkside as part of The Election Experience initiative that sponsored events throughout the fall semester dealing with the presidential election and civic engagement. Norm discussed changes in national unemployment, along with the recent controversy surrounding Bureau of Labor Statistics reports and long term demographic and economic forces that are shaping the U.S. labor market.
 

Teaching Financial Crises
On February 24, 2012 the UW-Parkside Center for Economic Education hosted a full-day workshop focused on the new Council for Economic Education curriculum Teaching Financial Crises (see brochure.) Below are links to resources that were used during the workshop. Each item is self-explanatory. In the PowerPoint, What Caused the Financial Crisis of 2008? be aware that there is a great deal of documentation in the notes section of every slide, including suggested clips from the films Inside Job and House of Cards, and an audio clip from National Public Radio's Planet Money. We hope you find these resources helpful as you try to explain the recent financial crisis to your students. Good luck!

• What Caused the Financial Crisis of 2008?
• Realities of Real Estate During the Great Recession
• Supplemental PowerPoint to Lesson 6
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• Student Worksheet #1 to Lesson 6
• Student Worksheet #2 to Lesson 6

Diversity in Hiring Practices: An Overview of U.S. Labor Market Conditions
On March 29, 2011, Norm was invited to give an overview of labor market conditions in the U.S. as part of a wider discussion of diversity in the workplace. Below you will find the flyer for panel discussion and Norm's Power Point presentation.
Diversity in Hiring Practices flyer
An Overview of Current Labor Market Conditions

Understanding the Role of the Federal Reserve in Today's Economy
On February 17-18, 2011, the UW-Parkside Center for Economic Education hosted a professional development workshop and study tour to the Chicago financial district. Norm presented the structure and functions of the Fed, along with an analysis of the Fed's role - good and bad - in the latest financial crisis and recession. The second Power Point below contains the historical performance of the US economy with up to date statistics.

Understanding the Role of the Federal Reserve in Today's Economy
Basic Macro Measures

2010 Wisconsin Money Smart Week
In fall 2010, Norm participated in three Wisconsin Money Smart Week events in La Crosse, Green Bay, and Madison. In each session the presentation was 'Who Is Poor in America?' In fall 2011, the US Census Bureau in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics will unveil a new supplemental measure of poverty in the United States. The Wisconsin Money Smart presentations discuss the weaknesses of our current measure of poverty, and review the proposed improvements. See the Power Point and classroom worksheet:

Who is Poor in America?
Calculating Poverty Worksheet

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.

2008 Money Smart Week
In fall 2008, Norm presented at two Wisconsin Money Smart Week conferences (Madison and Green Bay). The presentation illustrates the underlying economic forces at work in rising world food prices and offers teachers an accessible framework to discuss these issues with their students.

Food Prices, Inflation, and Government Policy

Using Sports to Teach Economic Principles
In fall 2005, the UW-Parkside CEE hosted its first full-day professional development workshop. Norm and Dennis created three original lessons, each with interactive web-based graphs to help students understand the fundamental economic principles at work in the sport industry. One of these lessons (see below) was subsequently published by Journal of Economic Education 39(2), Spring 2008, online section.

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

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

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

2007 Economics of the Environment
In spring 2007, the UW-Parkside CEE hosted a full-day hybrid professional development workshop focusing on the economics of environmental issues. Teachers spent the day at UW-Parkside and then completed a short online course on environmental economics. Dennis created an interactive web-based tutorial that illustrates the economics behind NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). The tutorial illustrates and explains the Marginal Social Benefit-Marginal Social Cost Model and its use in environmental economics to analyze environmental externalities.

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

2007 Wisconsin Money Smart Week
In fall 2007, Norm presented at the Green Bay Wisconsin Money Smart Conference for teachers. The presentation focused on the fundamental principles of wealth building that teacher can offer their students.

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