Do you know the difference between nominal and real interest rates? If you're not sure, then it's time to "get real" about interest rates. In this episode of The Economic Lowdown, you will learn how inflation influences the real return on your deposits, how it impacts borrowers and lenders differently, and why price stability—a responsibility of the Federal Reserve System—is important.

Using some form of credit is a necessity for most adults. Unfortunately, some misuse credit, and the consequences can be devastating. The earlier young people learn about credit, the more likely they are to use it responsibly as adults. In this short course from our Ella’s Adventures series, your students will learn what credit is, why people use credit, and how interest can affect the final cost of a good or service when bought on credit.

Students listen to the story, Glo Goes Shopping. They learn about saving, spending, decision making and opportunity cost. They learn to use a decision-making grid to make decisions. Mathematics skills include learning about rows and columns in a grid.

To understand why people trade, suppose you were limited to consuming only items you could find within walking distance of your house. Or, perhaps even worse, only items you could produce yourself. For most of us, this restriction would severely diminish the variety of goods and services we enjoy on a daily basis. Therefore, the simplest answer to the question is that people (or entire countries) trade because they will enjoy a wider variety of goods.

Students listen to the book The Goat in the Rug, about a Navajo weaver who uses a number of resources and intermediate goods to make a traditional Navajo rug. The students are placed in groups to learn about productive resources and intermediate goods. They play a matching game and make posters to classify the natural resources, human resources, capital resources and intermediate goods used in the story.

This video is only one and half minutes long but discusses the importance of a central banking system separate, but answerable to the US Federal government. It is part of a series (Part 5) on The Gold Standard and will help to ensure standard EPF. 6 is met.

This video from the Explore Economics series helps kids understand that people buy and use both goods and services. Kids learn that goods are objects that satisfy people’s wants and services are things people do for us that satisfy our wants. Kids are encouraged to draw a picture of a good or service that starts with the first letter of their first or last name and to write a sentence that describes the good or service they drew. They learn a song about goods and services.

In this course, your students will play the role of a freshman lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives trying to serve his or her constituents' goals and the long-term goals of the United States. Along the way, they'll learn about the federal budget process and how federal government initiatives and programs are funded.

Students engage in an activity that matches programs for low-income people with the type of economic inequity the program addresses and observe an activity simulating tax payments and transfers.

Learn about the Great Depression using a crossword puzzle and word search. You can play online or print the activities. Also included are printable teacher's guides.

History holds many economic lessons. The Great Depression, in particular, is an event that provides the opportunity to teach and learn a great deal about economics-whether you're studying the economic reasons that the Depression took place, the factors that helped it come to an end or the impact on Americans who lived through it. This curriculum is designed to provide teachers with economic lessons that they can share with their students to help them understand this significant experience in U.S. history.

History holds many economic lessons. The Great Depression, in particular, is an event that provides the opportunity to teach and learn a great deal about economics-whether you're studying the economic reasons that the Depression took place, the factors that helped it come to an end or the impact on Americans who lived through it. This curriculum is designed to provide teachers with economic lessons that they can share with their students to help them understand this significant experience in U.S. history.

Learn about the Great Depression using a crossword puzzle and word search. You can play online or print the activities. Also included are printable teacher's guides.

All inflation isn't bad—a moderate amount can signal a healthy economy. But high inflation, such as that during the Great Inflation, can lead to a vicious cycle where expectations of higher inflation lead to further increases in the price level. Read the October 2012 issue to find out what caused the Great Inflation, how tough (and painful) policy brought it to an end, and two key lessons learned.

In this course, superhero Jack of All Trades and his sidekick Andy are confronted by a villain that threatens to disrupt society and rob the world of the certainty people have come to expect. And this dastardly villain is...Inflation. Jack and Andy time travel to the period known as The Great Inflation to discover the truth about inflation. With the help of Dr. Equilibrium, professor of economics, they learn that inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods and that the Federal Reserve System plays a key role in maintaining stable prices.

In this video (8 minutes long) students will learn about the factors that make up the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and what impact and significance the GDP has on our economy and economies around the world. This video will aid in the mastery of EPF. 5(a).

GDP data are among the most important economic data available for measuring economic growth, but measuring the output of a large, dynamic economy is a complex task. In this podcast, hear what GDP measures, how it is calculated, how it is useful in determining whether and how quickly the economy is growing, and how GDP can be used as indicator of standard of living.

In this first episode of the No-Frills Money Skills video series, economic education specialist Kris Bertelsen explains compound interest, or "Growing Money."

In this lesson, students participate in two rounds of a role play to help them understand the role of banks in facilitating economic growth through loans. Round 1 is conducted without a bank. After the first round, students read excerpts from Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 report to Congress in which he proposes a national bank because the United States had few banks at the time. Students then conduct Round 2 of the role play with a bank. After the round, students read excerpts from and summaries of the statute creating a national bank, Thomas Jefferson’s opposition, and Hamilton’s rebuttal.