In this issue:
- Advanced Placement Webinars
- Teaching the News
- This Day in History
- Teach the Theme: Debt Ceiling
- Featured Lesson Plans
- FRED in the Classroom: Debt and Deficit
- Mineral-Rich Mongolia
- What is the “Dutch Disease”?
Download the Newsletter
Download a PDF copy of the February 2013 Teaching Opportunity Newsletter:
Advanced Placement Webinars
For current or future teachers of Advanced Placement Microeconomics, these webinars are for you!
Gary Norman Petmecky, Teacher-in-Residence at the Georgia Council on Economic Education, will discuss some changes and improvements that have been made to CEE’s 4th edition of Advanced Placement Economics.
In these 30-minute webinars, one for Micro and one for Macro, Gary will give an overview of the teacher and student resources, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions. Learn about the most-trusted AP Econ materials in the business—RSVP today for the Macroeconomics webinar or the Microeconomics webinar!
Teaching the News
Use these current events to teach the news in your classroom. Following each article you’ll find several related resources from EconEdLink.org for teaching the underlying economics and personal finance concepts.
Fed waits for job market to perk up
The Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy is a root cause of the “currency wars” that some see as a looming threat to the world economy, but don’t expect the U.S. central bank to signal a shift back to normal any time.
Davos warns on global economy
Where for the two previous years a sense of crisis had hung over the World Economic Forum, the mood was sunnier in 2013 as speaker after speaker said they were now cautiously optimistic.
This Day in History
The Calendar of Historical Events provides 365 days-worth of historical facts and interesting developments in personal finance and economics. See what happened on this day in history, and use the related lessons in your classroom.
Income Tax Becomes Effective
February 3, 1913
The sixteenth amendment to the constitution, which authorizes a federal income tax, was ratified; this was pushed through in part because of tariff reform.
Original Five-And-Dime Opens
February 22, 1879
Frank Winfield Woolworth opens the Great 5 Cents Store in Utica, New York on this day in 1879. This store soon fails but Woolworth finds success using the same concept in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, selling nothing for over a dime. In 1912 Woolworth’s stores became known as F. W. Woolworth. With the rise of stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and K-mart Woolworth’s stores eventually closed in 1997.
Black Market = Good Money
February 29, 1944
The Office of Price Administration announced on this day that over $1 billion had been made on the American black market in 1943 alone. Profits would only increase as rationing continued throughout WWII.
Teach the Theme: Debt Ceiling
With a federal budget of $3.6 trillion, a deficit of $1 trillion and a total debt of $16 trillion, it can be difficult to fully comprehend where all this money comes from and what the U.S. government spends it on.
Here are two MAKING SEN$E WITH PAUL SOLMAN videos and related lessons to help you teach the debt ceiling:
Featured Lesson Plans
Understanding the Debt Ceiling Debate and the Budget Control
|This lesson provides an introduction and an overview of the Budget Control Act of 2011. Students will be given information about the legislation and presented with different proposals for dealing with the long-term deficit problem of the United States.
Focus on Economic Data: The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy, December 12, 2012
|This lesson focuses on the December 12, 2012 press release by the Federal Reserve System’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on the current Federal Reserve monetary policy actions and goals, and specifically, the federal funds rate target. This lesson is intended to guide students and teachers through an analysis of the actions the Federal Reserve is taking and can take in influencing prices, employment, and economic growth. Through this lesson, students will better understand the dynamics of the U.S. economy, current economic conditions and monetary policies.
FRED in the Classroom: Debt and Deficit
Integrate economic data in your classroom by using this lesson on the U.S. deficit, debt, and debt to GDP ratio to be used in conjunction with FRED® (Federal Reserve Economic Data), a database of 45,000 U.S. economic time series.
Imagine a nation discovers a massive source of oil off of its shore that it never knew existed. Imagine that this oil discovery has made the country instantly rich. Now consider your understanding of human nature. How would you expect people to behave once this discovery was revealed to everyone in the country?
Listen to this podcast from NPR, then consider the following questions with your class:
- What would oil drilling companies want to do?
- What would the government want to do?
- What would the people want for their own personal condition?
- What would happen to the balance of economic activity in the country?
- Describe the impact on wages, prices and costs that this new found wealth would have on the country’s markets.
What is the “Dutch Disease?”
Listen to the podcast from NPR, “How to Avoid the Oil Curse,” then have your students answer these questions:
- What type of government typically rules oil-rich nations? Why?
- What was the plan to save Norway from destruction?
- What is the “Norwegian Miracle”?
- Based on your answers from the questions asked before the first podcast, how does this “miracle” differ from your expectations?
- Does America seem to practice this level of discipline? Support your answer.
- Look into the future about fifty years and speculate on what you believe will be the financial condition of the U.S. and what you believe is in store for Norway.