The second lesson in the Economics and the Great Migration curriculum teaches about the Harlem Renaissance, of which Jacob Lawrence was a part, as well as the economic and societal challenges Harlem faced over the years.

This lesson follows the rise and fall of Harlem in New York City, New York, from the promise of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s to the neglect after WWII that that led to declines in residents’ quality of life. Today, Harlem is experiencing a revitalization, and this lesson traces the evolution of its social, economic, and cultural history.

In this lesson, students learn how businesses use advertising to influence the choices consumers make. Using magazines, students see that advertisements use a combination of facts and opinions to influence tastes and preferences. Students also listen to a story about a Korean-American family that owns a food cart. They learn how the business changes as a result of competition and how business owners can influence consumers’ tastes and preferences. Working in groups, students create print advertisements for the food cart in the book to see firsthand how advertisements can influence consumers’ choices through tastes and preferences.

In this lesson, students participate in a simulation using the idea of herd immunization to investigate the concept of positive externalities related to market failure and the role of government. The lesson also introduces the concept of negative externalities.

This unique activity features a primary source from the Fed's online archive, FRASER. 75 Years of American Finance: A Graphic Presentation, 1861-1935, is an 85-foot long detailed timeline compiled in 1936. The activity reviews the document layout and provides historical inquiry questions divided into four sections: observe, reflect, question, and analyze. Students can evaluate any given year(s) of the timeline, and the document may be used to introduce historical inquiry and/or to support study of historical themes, years or eras noted in the timeline.

Historians are experts at assessing and analyzing documents to build a narrative but may be stymied by numbers. Charts (tables, graphs, maps, diagrams, and so on) provide a graphical view of information and can be a powerful way to display evidence. This toolkit provides a series of resources for students to read, interpret, and think critically about charts in textbooks and historical documents.

This activity reveals a snapshot of declared church affiliation in 1870. It provides historical inquiry questions for students to evaluate the chart. The questions are divided into the following topics: observe, reflect, question, and analyze. This activity may be used to introduce and engage students in the process of historical inquiry and/or to process and reflect about the influence of church affiliation in the United States.

This activity allows students to compare and contrast U.S. occupational categories and school attendance in 1870 across genders and states. It provides questions for students to practice historical inquiry and evaluate the chart. The questions are divided into the following topics: observe, reflect, question, and analyze. This activity may be used to introduce and engage students in the process of historical inquiry and/or to supplement study of workforce participation in the United States.

This activity features a primary source from the Fed's online archive, FRASER. The activity allows students to see maps depicting the best data available for the U.S. population at the time and to practice historical inquiry skills. The activity may be used as a way to introduce early migration or as a supplemental activity.

This activity features a primary source from the Fed's online archive, FRASER. The Statistical Atlas of the United States Based on the Results of the Ninth Census, 1870 includes a "Chart Showing the Principal Constituent Elements of the Population of Each State" that details U.S. population distribution by race. This activity reviews the layout and format of the chart and provides historical inquiry questions divided into four sections: observe, reflect, question, and analyze. The chart may be used to introduce and engage students in historical inquiry and to reflect about race in the United States.

In this lesson, students act as buyers with a fixed amount to spend on beverages. They identify a favorite beverage from a list of beverages offered for the same price. They then react to changes in the price of that favorite beverage. Students use the data collected from this activity to describe the relationship between price and quantity demanded. They analyze other examples and learn that the relationship between price and quantity demanded holds for most goods, and that this relationship is called the law of demand.

In this lesson, students listen to a story about a little girl who wants to make an apple pie. When she finds the market closed, she travels around the world gathering natural resources to make the pie. Students will follow along with the story by connecting each natural resource to its country of origin and pointing out those places on a globe or world map. They will also identify the capital goods used to transform the natural resources into ingredients by examining the pictures from the book. Students will take part in two rounds of a trading activity, collecting the ingredients required for vanilla ice cream to go along with the apple pie. They will learn about trade and how middlemen, such as grocery stores, help make trade easier.

Want to learn about the Federal Reserve? Have no fear! In Plain English describes the structure and functions of the Federal Reserve System in an easy-to-understand interactive format.

Students learn the concepts of money and inflation in the context of world history. They first participate in a role play to learn how debasement increased the Roman money supply and caused inflation in the Roman Empire. They receive a soldier’s wages in coins (candy) and participate in an auction, and then receive higher wages in debased coins (candy) and participate in a second auction. They compare the outcomes of the auctions and learn that inflation occurs when “too much money is chasing too few goods” and that this outcome characterized the economy during the last centuries of the Roman Empire. Finally, students analyze historical data and read historical quotes that show how people in the Roman Empire responded to inflation.

Students will examine and interact with two economic data websites—FRED®, of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)—to develop their understanding of the information creation process. They will learn about differences between data aggregators and data sources and the capabilities and constraints of each in presenting economic data. Students will examine in detail gross domestic product (GDP) data.

It's Your Paycheck! is designed for use in high school personal finance classes. The curriculum contains three sections: "Know Your Dough," "KaChing!" and "All About Credit." The lessons in each of these sections employ various teaching strategies to engage students so that they have opportunities to apply the concepts being taught. Each lesson includes black-line masters of the handouts and visuals needed to teach the lesson.

It's Your Paycheck! is designed to introduce personal finance content. Course participants learn about a variety of personal finance topics including the link between education and income, budgeting, the benefits of saving, and credit reports. These learning modules will help participants make sense of W-2s, W-4s, pay -day Loans and APRs in an interactive online format. It's Your Paycheck! consists of nine individual programs that can be used together or individually to enhance personal finance learning.

This first lesson in the Economics and the Great Migration curriculum uses the art of Jacob Lawrence to teach the history and economics behind the early years of the Great Migration.

Students learn about the Great Migration by combining the paintings of Jacob Lawrence with economic concepts. In the lesson, students are shown paintings from Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series. They are asked to match economic concepts and graphs to the paintings, helping the students understand how different disciplines view an event in history. While it is helpful if students have been exposed to supply and demand and graphical analysis before the lesson, it is not required. Part of the fun is to match the many modes of communication—paintings (visual) to captions (words) to economic concepts and graphs—even when a student may be unfamiliar with paintings or economic concepts.

Students read the story Journey to Jo'burg: A South African Story and learn about effects of apartheid in South Africa. They also learn about the relationship between investment in human capital and income by examining several careers and the skills required for those careers. Using math skills, students compare the number of people in various occupations and interpret and analyze educational attainment data from graphs and tables.

In this lesson, students learn about saving, savings goals, and income. They listen to the book Just Saving My Money by Mercer Mayer, a story about how Little Critter saves his money to buy a skateboard. Students use clues in the book's text and pictures to answer questions. After listening to the story, students play a game where they each have a savings goal, earn income, and save money until that savings goal is met. Students write math sentences to determine whether they have saved enough to reach their goals. Students also set their own savings goals and tell how they could earn income to meet them.

Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for Young Learners is a set of lessons designed to introduce young children to the economic way of thinking. Informed decision-making is a critical thinking skill that students can use throughout their school, personal, and work lives. And, as citizens in a democratic society, they should understand basic principles of how the economy operates. Beginning economic education early and building on that learning throughout students’ education is the best way to ensure they develop vital decision-making skills.