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Activities and Resources

Activities

Bubble Trouble?

Discuss credit as a class. Ask students: What is credit? In economics, it is the willingness of sellers and lenders to allow consumers to buy products or take out loans on a promise of repayment, usually over time. Students are likely to be most familiar with credit cards but less so with other forms of credit. What does the term bad credit mean? Why are people denied credit? Why might a large loan to someone with bad credit or no credit be risky for a lender?

Looking for Smart Stuff? Click here to download (PDF).

Answers to this week's SmartStuff are listed on Page 2 of the Issue 15 Teacher's Guide that accompanies Current Events magazine.

Resources

To download the Teacher's Guide click here (PDF).

Bubble Trouble?

For economics made easy for kids, check the Web sites of the Federal Reserve and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation .
Check this site for a long list of economic terms and their definitions.
Play games and puzzles and learn about investing at Young Investor, a Columbia Management Web site.
Teachers can find additional lesson plans at The Center for Economic Education and James Madison University.

Nine-Hour School Day

Have students plan their own ideal nine-hour school day. Remind students of your district’s requirements for the classes that they must take. Have them think about elective classes that they would enjoy, such as Web site design, video editing, or dance. Have them think about classes that could be longer to include time for experiments and projects, such as math leagues or science labs. Have them also consider other ways that they could use the time, such as working with mentors, training for jobs, spending time in computer labs, or tutoring younger students. Then have them build their own ideal nine-hour class schedules.
Check this site for a list of each state’s minimum number of hours or minutes that students must be in school.

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