Favorite Economics activities

[cintinative]

I am teaching Econ at a co-op next year. The intention is for the class to be more of a working out of the concepts and not lecture.  If you have taught Econ before and found some activities you really enjoyed relating to these topics, could you please share? topics: the U.S. economy, the market, supply and demand, international trade, business and labor, taxes, economic institutions

I already have the following planned:

• World Economy game
• Free Trade game
• Living wage mock trial
• Investment activity
• GDP activity
• Business simulation
• Discussion of health care based on survey of family members/friends

 

Thanks in advance hive!  

I am off to do some more googling. I am sure there is stuff out there, I just haven't found the right things yet.

Edited June 27, 2019 by cintinative

[Jennifer in CO]

My daughter took an econ class at our Co-op last year. The teacher organized a business selling candy during lunch. They shares and did all the bookkeeping. It was really fun for them and they learned a lot

[merylvdm]

I teach Economics at co op and online and one of the activities we do is play the Stock Market Game. I play the official student one with them, but if you want a free version you could use How the Market works. Also NEEC has good materials with simulations you can use. I am on the road for the next 2 1/2 weeks but there is a book I use with the sort of activities you are looking for that I bought from them

[cintinative]

7 hours ago, merylvdm said:

I teach Economics at co op and online and one of the activities we do is play the Stock Market Game. I play the official student one with them, but if you want a free version you could use How the Market works. Also NEEC has good materials with simulations you can use. I am on the road for the next 2 1/2 weeks but there is a book I use with the sort of activities you are looking for that I bought from them

 

Could you please clarify what NEEC is? I googled NEEC and economics and none of the hits seem to be right.

[merylvdm]

17 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

Could you please clarify what NEEC is? I googled NEEC and economics and none of the hits seem to be right.

Sorry - should be NCEE - National Council for Economic Education - that was a typo

[cintinative]

4 hours ago, merylvdm said:

Sorry - should be NCEE - National Council for Economic Education - that was a typo

 

Oh! That makes a lot more sense. I have been on that site.  😃

[mom31257]

We did a specialization activity to show that it increases production. I used three different origami projects (airplane, cup, and a little box). I put the kids in three groups, and then I had each student make all three in a certain time frame (can't remember how long). We counted up each kind. Then. I had each person making only one item and counted again. Then, I had each group only make one item. The numbers didn't come out quite like I had hoped, but I think it's because one particular group had all the kids who were good at paper folding. 

We did this market structure activity. 

 

We read Animal Farm when we studied economic systems. We did an in-class, quick mock trial using pages 43 and 44 of this activity file. 

I can't find the exact instructions, but we did an inflation game, too. I'll keep looking, but it was basically me giving them money to purchase something. Then I introduced more money into the classroom economy, and they were willing to pay more.