With record-level credit card debt in the headlines, this December 2023 issue of Focus on Finance addresses credit card history, statistics, and usage, as well as reasons for the increase in credit card debt. The information in the article can help in managing credit card accounts, and students will better understand the economics of using revolving credit as they prepare to become cardholders!

This lesson will provide high school students with information about how a credit card works, and understand what information determines a personal credit score.

Credit can be a powerful tool in your financial toolbox if you understand how to use it wisely. In this course, you'll learn about different types of credit and the costs associated with using credit. You'll learn the importance of building strong credit by borrowing wisely and paying promptly, arranging credit for making major purchases like a car or home, avoiding common credit mistakes, and monitoring your own credit. You'll also learn about credit reports, your credit score, and steps you can—and should—take to build your own credit cred!

In this lesson, students first learn how credit history and credit scores are determined. Then, to better understand the protections of the Equal Credit Opportunities Act, they participate in a card-sorting activity where they evaluate creditworthiness based on borrower characteristics, determine which characteristics may be legally considered, and sort the applicants from most likely to least likely to get a loan. Next, they examine a primary source document to see how information that can be legally used to evaluate credit changed with the act. In an optional extension activity, students sort cards again to match primary borrowers with cosigners. They then learn about the pros and cons of cosigning.

This lesson will provide high school students with information about what information is collected by the three main credit bureaus and included on a credit report, and how credit bureaus share the information. Free resources for viewing personal credit scores also discussed.

In the story Curious George Saves His Pennies, George wants to buy a new bright-red train, but he does not have enough money. At the suggestion of his friend, George saves his money to buy the train. In this lesson, the students draw an outline of a piggy bank, within which they write a word for or draw a picture of something they would like to buy. This becomes their savings goal. They listen to the story, and as George finds some ways to earn money, the students come up with ways they can earn money to reach their savings goals. Students are introduced to the difference between income and gift money. They participate in an activity where they determine if they are receiving income or gift money and how many weeks it will take them to reach their savings goal. Students also discuss why George did not buy the original red train he wanted.

This task asks the students to solve a real-world problem involving unit rates (data per unit time) using units that many teens and pre-teens have heard of but may not know the definition for. While the computations involved are not particularly complex, the units will be abstract for many students.

This purpose of this task is to help students see two different ways to look at percentages both as a decrease and an increase of an original amount. In addition, students have to turn a verbal description of several operations into mathematical symbols.

Discrete mathematics is applied in many areas including the physical, engineering, and increasingly, the social sciences. This online textbook, written by mathematics and information technology professors, is aimed at students of information technology, computer science, and applied mathematics. The focus is on applying discrete math techniques from the two broad component areas of discrete math, namely combinatorics or enumerative techniques, and graph theory.

This course describes discrete mathematics, which involves processes that consist of sequences of individual steps (as compared to calculus, which describes processes that change in a continuous manner). The principal topics presented in this course are logic and proof, induction and recursion, discrete probability, and finite state machines. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Create compound statements, expressed in mathematical symbols or in English, to determine the truth or falseness of compound statements and to use the rules of inference to prove a conclusion statement from hypothesis statements by applying the rules of propositional and predicate calculus logic; Prove mathematical statements involving numbers by applying various proof methods, which are based on the rules of inference from logic; Prove the validity of sequences and series and the correctness or repeated processes by applying mathematical induction; Define and identify the terms, rules, and properties of set theory and use these as tools to support problem solving and reasoning in applications of logic, functions, number theory, sequences, counting, probability, trees and graphs, and automata; Calculate probabilities and apply counting rules; Solve recursive problems by applying knowledge of recursive sequences; Create graphs and trees to represent and help prove or disprove statements, make decisions or select from alternative choices to calculate probabilities, to document derivation steps, or to solve problems; Construct and analyze finite state automata, formal languages, and regular expressions. (Computer Science 202)

This task asks students to find a linear function that models something in the real world. After finding the equation of the linear relationship between the depth of the water and the distance across the channel, students have to verbalize the meaning of the slope and intercept of the line in the context of this situation.

Students are given a portfolio of investments, and they assess the relative risk associated with the products in their portfolios. They later determine which savings and investment instruments might be most suitable for clients of different ages and economic status.

Before buying an extended warranty or a service contract for your home, a car, or an appliance, be sure to read the fine print and weigh the costs and benefits.

Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electrical power output for a hypothetical situation—helping scientists power their electrical devices while doing research on a remote island. Teams explore how blade size, shape, weight and rotation interact to achieve maximal performance, and relate the power generated to energy consumed on a scale that is relevant to them in daily life. A PowerPoint® presentation, worksheet and post-activity test are provided.

Understanding the reality of inflation can help consumers make decisions in personal finance. Learn more about inflation, how it’s measured, and how the inflation rate is calculated in the December 2021 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance.

How many calories are in your favorite foods? How much exercise would you have to do to burn off these calories? What is the relationship between calories and weight? Explore these issues by choosing diet and exercise and keeping an eye on your weight.

Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary is the first step in learning a new discipline like economics or personal finance. We can help with that! Create and print flashcards, or have your students create and print their own, from more than 300 economics and personal-finance terms. Create flashcards for each new chapter or unit of study.

Here you will find links to Economics resources for grades K-12, curated from Smithsonian Learning Lab, Council for Economic Education (CEE), Econ Lowdown, EconEdLink, Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF).

America has evolved into an ownership society. Home-buying decisions, resource allocation, debt exposure, and financial planning for the future are now left to individuals, many of whom may lack the financial understanding to evaluate and make sound decisions. Economics, with its insistence on quantifying ideas and putting specific quantitative values on all manner of phenomena, can help sort through the questions. Economics for Life: Real-World Financial Literacy is designed to help soon-to-be college graduates start their "real lives" with a better understanding of how to analyze the financial decisions that they will soon have to make. Written in an easy-to-read, conversational style, this textbook will help students learn how to make decisions on saving and investing for retirement, buying a car, buying a home, as well as how to safely navigate the use of debit and credit cards.