Where Is That Summer Paycheck Going?
Summer is near and for many high school students that means it’s time to start working at summer jobs. For many students the first real paycheck that they receive comes with a surprise in the form of tax withholding. PBS Learning Media has a free lesson plan through which students learn about reasons for taxes […]
The True Costs of Owning a Car – A Lesson Plan for High School Students
I paid $1500 for my first car. That was a hefty sum for me back in the fall of 1996. That car needed a little bit of brake work to pass the state’s safety inspection and then it needed about a dozen other little repairs over the next two years. Fortunately, I had someone in […]
The Difference Between Stocks and Bonds
Last week I finished reading Liar’s Poker written by Michael Lewis. The book is partly about his experience as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers in the 1980’s and partly about expansion of the bond market itself during the 1980’s. The parts about how the bond market evolved to compete with the stock market in […]
A Student Video Contest for Economic Education Month
October is Economics Education Month and the Council for Economics Education is hosting a student video contest to promote student awareness of how economics is a part of their daily lives. The contest is open to students and teachers in the United States in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. To participate students and teachers should create […]
Seven Good Resources for Teaching and Learning About the Value of Money
My daughters have recently started receiving a little weekly allowance. One of them is very interested in saving as many of her dollars as possible for as long as possible. The other sees the money and immediately thinks of the things she’d like to buy. This has led to some conversations around our dinner table […]
A Lesson About Money for Students Getting Summer Jobs
Summer is near and for many high school students that means it is time to start working at summer jobs. For many students the first real paycheck that they receive comes with a surprise in the form of tax withholding. PBS Learning Media has a free lesson plan through which students learn about reasons for taxes being […]
Living Wage vs. Minimum Wage
Last night I was reading a discussion on FlyerTalk that got into the question of whether or not tipping should be an expectation of hotel housekeeping staff. That discussion veered off into a bigger question of minimum wage versus livable wage. That discussion reminded me of two resources that I’ve highlighted in the past to […]
A Punny Explanation of Savings Bonds
Last weekend I was talking with a friend about Christmas presents for our kids when I sarcastically said, “just give them savings bonds, that’s what every kid wants.” A day later I was still thinking about that conversation when I wondered if kids even know what a savings bond is. That thought prompted me to […]
Life on Minimum Wage – A Personal Economics Simulation Game
Almost twelve years ago I published a Google Document that outlines a personal economics simulation that I conducted in my classroom. For many years after that it was the most-requested Google Doc that I published. Then for the last few years I haven’t had any requests for it. In fact, I forgot that I had […]
Tax Help for High School Students
Yesterday afternoon one of my students said, “Mr. Byrne, how do you do taxes?” It was one of those questions and moments that embodies the idea that we teach students first and content area second. I was happy to explain to her that her employer (Walmart in this case) would be giving her a W-2 […]
The Cost of Owning a Car – Free Lesson Plan
The cover image on my personal Facebook page is currently a picture of my first car. I’m pretty sure I paid $1500 for it which was a hefty sum for me back in the fall of 1996. That car needed a little bit of brake work to pass the state’s safety inspection and then needed […]
Where Is That Summer Paycheck Going? – A Lesson for High School Students
Summer is near and for many high school students that means it’s time to start working at summer jobs. For many students the first real paycheck that they receive comes with a surprise in the form of tax withholding. PBS Learning Media has a free lesson plan through which students learn about reasons for taxes […]
By Request – Life on Minimum Wage Simulation
Last week I received a handful of requests for the Google Docs version of my Life on Minimum Wage economics game. While I no longer grant print or edit access to my public Google Docs, I do make PDFs of my documents available to download through Box.com. The purpose of Life on Minimum Wage is […]
300+ Free Economics Lessons, Videos, and Educational Games
Econ Ed Link hosts hundreds of lesson plans and interactive games for teaching students about a wide range of topics in economics. Teachers can search the lesson plan index by grade level, concept, standard, or length of lesson (one class period vs. multiple class periods). Most of the lessons attempt to provide “real world” context. The interactive section of […]