Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This FREE online simulation is designed to give students experience in running a business. Registration is required to participate. Players can take on others in their geographic area, or play against the computer. Using variables like price and production quantity, players allocate their money to particular parts of the business, and consider advice from computer generated stakeholders as they compete against other "businesses" to make a profit. The graphics are fairly rudimentary, but there is plenty of complexity here for students to evaluate as they work through the game. You will need to spend a little time yourself in playing a practice game in order to be able to prepare students to get the best learning experience; otherwise they will just randomly click options without thinking about the impact on their business plan.

tag(s): business (52)

Created with input from the National Council on Economics Education, this site offers an eclectic set of lessons, most of which require some web access. They range from the introduction of simple concepts for elementary students to studies of economic forecasting for older students.

tag(s): consumers (14)

Looking for an easy to use free jeopardy game? Look no further than this site. Download the application for free or create the activity to be played online. View and try activities already created online. If you like your project you can save it to a folder on your computer. There is a short video in the "How To" section that will walk you through the process of making, saving, and playing a Flash Jeopardy game. Those of you who have used the PowerPoint Jeopardy will find this flash version much less time consuming to create and to recreate new Jeopardy games.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): grammar review (31), matching (8)

Find interesting graphs and statistics that are published daily on this site by The Economist. Check back daily for new charts to use as openers for discussion and writings in your classroom. This site does include some minor advertisements.

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), data (151), statistics (121)

TV411 offers lessons and games covering math topics from calculating area to reading a pay stub. Each lesson is offered in a slide format beginning with an introduction to the activity, followed by questions to answer. Upon answering questions, feedback is provided. If the answer was incorrect, an explanation of the correct solution is provided. The site also provides several math games practicing fractions, ratio, data, and percent. Spanish and ESL/ELL teachers will want to note that there is a small sample of lessons available in Spanish on the site. Many of the topics are also applicable in Family and Consumer Science or business classes, as well.

tag(s): charts and graphs (171), financial literacy (93)

At this wonderful site, learn about the history of Treasury securities, U.S. debt, and the importance of saving and investing. You can view an old video featuring an ancient superman talk about buying U.S. savings bonds, try several money interactives, and do money math. Learn about the important history of U.S. borrowing. Viewing old war bond posters is another way to learn history and learn about old styles of graphic design. Graphs of U.S. debt complete another approach to teaching about basic banking and debt. Many wonderful short videos show TV advertisements for savings bonds. The games on this site require Flash which is no longer supported.

tag(s): advertising (26), financial literacy (93), posters (43)

Shmoop has added Economics to its series of study guide sites. To call this "just" a study guide, however, would be to underestimate its depth and usefulness. The site includes content in the major subareas of economics (supply and demand, money and banking, macroeconomics, etc.), and within each area, there are content summaries, questions that require higher order thinking, an interactive to try and test student content mastery, and links to content elsewhere on the web. The layout is intuitive and easy to use, although there are ads on the side.

Students can create accounts on Shmoop to access more features, but the site is very useful even without an account. Creating an account does require an email address. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.

tag(s): financial literacy (93), money (113)

This comprehensive site on the African Slave Trade is robust enough for those doing serious research, and accessible enough for those who want an overview and supporting materials for a classroom survey. There are maps, 3D Video Reconstructions, links to resources, an image bank, and large, searchable and downloadable data bases of African names, ships used in the slave trade and their voyages, tables of data focused on the number of slaves involved, and timelines.

tag(s): africa (148), black history (133), cultures (180), slavery (79)

Every ten years, the United States participates in a census; the census represents both a raw count of the country's population, but also how that population is distributed demographically. The US Census Bureau has begun unrolling the data collected during this most recent census. This site will continue to update, so check back often for more. The ability of the Internet and computer data to be distributed widely has changed significantly since the 2000 census, and this site reflects increased transparency and ease of access to this vital information.

tag(s): census (13), demographics (13), population (51)

This site offers an in-depth look at statistics starting with looking at numbers then discussing ways to "lie and cheat using statistics." Range, median, mode, and standard deviation are explained with examples then methods of collecting data are discussed. The third page takes a look at ways that data is presented and what it really does or does not tell us. Although this site is rather "plain vanilla" as many math sites are, it does offer a lot of useful information on a topic that is sometimes hard to find.

tag(s): data (151), statistics (121)

The University of Virginia has collected the 19th century ads for runaway and captured slaves and indentured servants covering the period between 1736 and 1803 into a digital archive. This searchable data base reveals a rich archive of information about daily life in Virginia, including geographic detail, the habits, appearance, clothing, and behavior of slaves and indentured servants, and general cultural attitudes of times regarding slavery. The site also offers commentary and resources helpful in understanding the database.

tag(s): primary sources (117), slavery (79), virginia (15)

The Secret Millionaire's Club (SMC) will enhance any math, economics, language arts, or social studies lesson. This site provides students with financial and investing advice. The site is a partnership between AOL Kids and Warren Buffett. The site provides many areas for students to visit. There are episodes that students can watch that tackle a financial issue. The site also provides games for students to play and there is a blog that is written by one of the kids in the SMC. In addition, students can sign up to participate in the Buffett Bucks stock exchange where they can earn Buffett Bucks. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): letter writing (19), money (113), writing (325)

Does it sometimes seem as though students come to class with their minds already made up about so many complex subjects? You Decide is a site that guides students through a reasoned approach to making decisions about timely topics. Because this site is designed for the general public, not just for an educational setting, not all the questions will be relevant for students, however, there are plenty of engaging debates. Each question asks students to take a stand first, and then consider relevant information that may influence their opinions. Some of the topics at this time of this review included: Green Jobs, College Costs, Government Spending, Underwater Mortgages, Own or Rent, Spend or Save, and several others. There is a discussion forum and then a series of links to further information presented for each topic.

tag(s): politics (118)

Get to know the new $100 bill through this resource provided by the Department of Treasury. There is an interactive video quiz and an applet to design your own bill. The video quiz can also be seen with captions. In addition, there is a link to materials that can be downloaded for classroom use.

tag(s): currency (14)

This census site is huge! It will help you teach your students what they count and why! This site is for grades K-12. "Statistics - Census in Schools" has so many resources they can't all be given justice here. There are four tabs at the top for Activities, Resources, Standards, and About. scroll down the page to find Classroom Activities by subject; however the Activities tab includes grade levels and Home and Distance Learning. The Resources tab has Games, Maps, Fun Facts, Videos, Warm-up Activities, and more. There are a plethora of links to other sources on each page.

tag(s): census (13), statistics (121)

Students will enjoy comparing their knowledge with students around the country and the world through the interactive quizzes on this site. Six subject categories are offered (math, civics, history, geography, science, and economics)at 3 different grade levels (4th, 8th, and 12th). You can also choose 5, 10, 15, or 20 questions. Upon completion of quizzes, scores are shown along with all correct answers. Questions are provided from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Civic Education Study (CivEd) and National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) - all are institutes which are involved in assessing student achievement and performance. The questions are higher level, and many include diagrams and other visual aids.

tag(s): quiz (67), quizzes (90)

Build students' sense of historical context year by year. Help them to realize that Gershwin did not write during the Vietnam War and that World War II preceded the Beatles. This site gives an overview of any year students click on from 1900 to the present, including cultural events, national and world news, politics, sports, prize winners, movie releases, deaths, and --for more recent years -- links to news focusing on other topics such as science and people. It provides an interesting summary of any particular year; most students find it interesting to check the year of their birth and those of their family members. Many highlighted keywords link to the Infoplease encyclopedia and other reference sources.

tag(s): 20th century (62), news (228), politics (118), sports (82)

The Story of Stuff Project is named after a 20-minute web cartoon that illustrates how all the "stuff" we use affects our lives and our planet. While the cartoon clearly has a liberal-leaning political agenda, that should not deter you from using it. In fact, asking students to point out its biases would be an important lesson in sorting out perspective in a persuasive argument. The site adds cartoons and movies dealing with other "wasteful" topics fairly often, such as the "cap and trade" plastic beads, microfibers, water issues, energy issue, bottled water, and electronics. The "downloads" tab offers PDF versions of the script, posters and other promotional material, and short teaser video clips of the film.

tag(s): environment (252), sociology (23)