Understanding Economicsin

U.S. History

How Economics Can Strengthen the Teaching of History

Today You'll Discover How To:

1. Apply Economic Reasoning to Historical Events

2. Use Mystery-based Lesson Plans and Activities

3. Find Supplemental Online Lesson Plans

Resources:

Focus: Understanding Economics In U.S. History -- http://ushistory.councilforeconed.org

EconEdLink -- http://www.econedlink.org

Troy D. White, Director of Sales and Marketing

Council for Economic Education

twhite@councilforeconed.org

212-730-1791 work

917-270-0634 cell

GMNY 2009

February 7, 2009

I became a teacher because

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What are some of the challenges of teaching history?

How Economics can help

Economics stresses that all people make choices. But...

... they don’t know, at the time, what the consequences of their choices will be.

So, people make decisions by weighing costs vs. benefits.

Your GoalGet your students to see a range of possibilities by looking at historical events

through a prism of costs vs. benefits analysis

GUIDE TO ECONOMIC REASONING

1 People choose.

2. People’s choices involve costs.

3. People respond to incentives in predictable ways.

4. People create economic systems that influence individual choices and

incentives.

5. People gain when they trade voluntarily.

6. People’s choices have consequences that lie in the future.

Visit

http://ushistory.councilforeconed.org/related_lessons.php

to find online lessons

Finding Teachable Moment Lesson Plans on EconEdLink.org

Step 1. Scroll to the bottom of http://www.econedlink.org and click on "quick search" to finda particular concept

Step 2. Refine your search with the "Find a Lesson" section on the left side of the screen.Click the "advanced" button to search the title and body for keywords

Step 3. Use these links to navigate the site:

a) Current Events – latest economic news, with "related lesson plans" that help youapply economics lessons to current events

b) Weblinks – online resources and Web sites

c) Datalinks – key economic data, and what it means

d) Cyberteach – includes a "Today In History" with related lessons to teach that topic;EconEdLink Tools, http://www.econedlink.org/cyberteach/tools.php, has interactives

e) Standards – find lesson plans that meet the NY economic standards

References, Additional Resources for Teaching Economics inU.S. History

Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition, Edited by Richard Sutch and

Susan Carter with contributions from 200 other scholars, Cambridge University Press, 2006

History of the American Economy, Gary M. Walton and Hugh Rockoff, South-Western

Thompson Learning

American Economic History, Jonathan Hughes and Louis P. Cain, Pearson Education, Inc.

An Entrepreneurial History of the United States, Gerald Gunderson, Beard Books

Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, Thomas Sowell, Basic Books

Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity

James Gwartney, Richard Stroup and Dwight Lee, St. Martin’s Press

www.commonsenseeconomics.com