EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

for

HIGH SCHOOL BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

ACCOUNTING

Lyman’s Business Education Website and Learning Activities. Accounting, keyboarding, information processing, teacher tools and other sites for business education. http://lyman.dtc.millard.k12.ut.us/

Great Ideas for Accounting. This site offers classroom management tips and lesson plans for Management Accounting, Statement Preparation and Analysis, Current Assets – Cash, Liabilities and Present Value Calculations, Plant Assets – Depreciation, and Stockholders’ Equity – Stocks. http://www.swcollege.com/vircomm/gita/gita.html

Investments and Future Value 1. Given the initial investment, rate and number of years, students will use a spreadsheet to set up a formula and calculate the final value of the investment. They will be able to demonstrate how a spreadsheet can be used to examine variation in interest rate, principal amount, and number of times per year that interest rates are compounded. Requires Microsoft Works. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp181

Amortization of a Loan. Students will calculate and compare the payments due on a loan when they are given the amount of the loan, different rates of interest, and different payment schedules. They will use a spreadsheet to set up amortizations. They will demonstrate an understanding of how the total amount paid on a loan is affected by the interest rate and the amount of the payment or length of the loan. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp178

Investments and Future Value 2. In this lesson, students compute and compare the future values of different investments. Using a spreadsheet program. They learn to approximate when an investment will double when given a specific rate of interest. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp180http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp180

Inflation Rates and Future Value 1. In this lesson, students are using a spreadsheet to solve problems involving future value. They will complete worksheets with problems and they will complete a project that involves computing the cost of an outing such as a day at the ball park, a dinner and movie date, or a trip to Disney World in the year 2012. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp186

Inflation Rates and Future Value 2. In this lesson, students will use a spreadsheet to set up a formula and calculate the final value of the investment, given the initial investment rate and number of years. They will also calculate the effect that inflation has on the investment. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp182

 

BUSINESS LAW


Making Binding Agreements. Contracts, offer and acceptance are the basic parts of the activities of a modern civilized society. Students do not realize how many of their everyday activities constitute making and keeping binding agreements. In this exercise, students explore "offer" and "acceptance" in relationship to making binding agreements. http://www.thegateway.org/lesson/lp_4188.html

Anatomy of a Murder: A Trip Through Our Nation’s Legal Justice System. This site introduces the students to the legal justice system by taking them through a criminal trial. It includes Supreme Court cases, a glossary of legal terms, and additional information about the law and law links.http://tqd.advanced.org/2760/

High School Lesson Plans. Plans for consumer law, legislative process, court system, housing and landlord/tenant law and much more. Developed by the Washington State Courts, these lesson plans incorporate state and federal law. Federal laws would apply to any state; however, teachers will need to look up the relevant, applicable laws of their state and adapt the plans dealing with state law. http://www.wa.gov/courts/educate/lessons/lphigh.htm

 

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Multimedia Presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint. (At the Web Page select Vocational Education - Lesson Plan 1495) Explicit directions, easy to follow, scoring guide included. Students utilize presentation software tools. http://encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/

 Corporate Product Summary: Product Presentation using PowerPoint. (At the Web Page select Information Technology - Lesson Plan 2494) Students will learn to create presentations that will sell their information to their audience. http://encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse

Multimedia Business Presentations. In this unit, business students create and deliver a highly polished business presentation making extensive use of presentation software tools. http://encarta.msn.com/alexandria/templates/lessonFull.asp?page=1495&lvstart=K&lvend=12&majorsubject=Vocational+Education&minorsubject=&source=%2D99&keywo

Business Education and Resources. This ambitious teacher has created this site full of links to lesson plans and resources for teachers of economics, business law, general business, and more. A MUST VISIT site. http://www.angelfire.com/ks/tonyaskinner/index.html

Professionalism: What is it? This lesson expresses the importance and main points of professionalism in the working world. It will also give students an idea of what is expected from them after graduation. http://encarta.msn.com/alexandria/templates/lessonFull.asp?page=1404&lvstart=K&lvend=l2&r2/24/99bject=Vo

Business Links. Teacher resources for General Business, Business Law, International Business, Economics, Accounting, Finance, Management, and Company Research. http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/businessed/resource.htm

 Cereal Box: Sell That Cereal. The goal of this lesson is to help students learn strategies used in developing an ad campaign for a product and to make them aware of career opportunities in the advertising field. Students simulate the organization of a company that produces cereal. They create a new cereal and plan an advertising campaign to sell their product. Computer software is used to create ads, brochures, banners, etc., and students plan live presentations in the form of TV commercials and interviews. Presentations are recorded if equipment is available. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/scripts/fcit/tnt/lp.idc?lesson_id=lp177

Group Project: Using A Computer to Run a Small Business. In this simulation, students will be placed in groups of 3-4. One student will service as the manager and the others will be executive assistants. Each group will have different assignments related to their particular business, including handling customer complaints, preparing billing statements, and preparing desktop publishing assignments. http://geocities.datacellar.net/CollegePark/Quad/5687/cbp.html

The Greatest Tyrant in the State of Pennsylvania: A Late Nineteenth –Century Rail Worker Describes Management. Although publicists for the Gilded Age corporations celebrated efficiency and the science of management, their employees did not always join the celebration. What looked like careful and disciplined management from one perspective was often viewed as petty tyranny from below. While some workers assailed upper management for this abuse others experienced the tyranny more directly in their day-to-day work lives. In this transcript taken from testimony before the U. S. House of Representatives in the late 1880s, Joseph P. Cahill, a worker in the freight department of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, describes the petty tyrannies inflicted on workingmen by the company dispatcher. http://www.thegateway.org/lesson/lp_1815.html

Columbia Education Center. This web site includes many lesson plans that were created by teachers for use in their own classrooms. http://www.col-ed.org/cur/
 

ECONOMICS

 Fiscal and Monetary Policy Via the Internet. This lesson exposes students to internet technology while introducing them to fiscal and monetary policy. Information gathering skills, economic understanding, policy application, and economic content retention should be enhanced by this program. Http://www.fte.org/zfiscal.html

EcEdWeb. A MUST VISIT site. This web site’s mission is to provide support for economics education in all forms and at all levels. This site contains a seemingly exhaustive list of economics resources for K-12 teachers. The following sites are a few of those that can be found at EcEdWeb. Http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/home2.htm

Lesson on Privatizing Schools: Schools for Sale. Across the country, some school districts are turning to private, for-profit corporations to run their schools. This role playing activity allows students to apply economic reasoning as they explore the costs and benefits of "for-profit" schools. In their roles as school board members, community leaders, and others, students will decide whether to turn over the management of a high school to a private, for-profit company. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ecedweek/lesson19.htm

Andersonville Prison: An Economic Microcosm. In this lesson, students examine how a group of civil war prisoners developed an economic system within their camp, a system designed to allocate scarce resources. This lesson gives students an opportunity to recognize the conditions faced by the prisoners of war at Andersonville during the Civil War. Students will join others to develop a method for providing the economic wants of the Andersonville prisoners through either a market or command economy. The activity helps students recognize how different economic systems can solve the same problems differently. Requires two class periods. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ecedweek/lesson2.htm

 Why Nations Trade. Why do countries trade? Why doesn’t a strong country like the United States produce all the computers, TVs, cars, cameras, and VCRs it wants rather than import them from Japan? Why does the Japanese government and other countries buy wheat, corn, chemical products, aircraft, and informational services from the US? This less is designed to teach students to recognize that comparative advantage is the basis for trade by engaging in a comparative advantage simulation. They must analyze the simulation results and use the comparative advantage model to make a decision about specialization. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/FEOG1.htm

The Constitution and the Economy. How Has the Constitution Shaped the Economic System in the United States? This lesson asks the students to apply the six basic characteristics of a market economy. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/fecg1.htm

Tarrifs. Can Business Profit from Tariffs? Students investigate the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers during the 1880s by looking at a political cartoon, solving a short math problem, and comparing protectionism in the 1980s to protectionism in the 1880s. They then generalize about the impact incentives have on encouraging special interest legislation in a democratic government. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/feus1.htm

Limiting Trade. This lessons provides a lesson about tariffs. Should they be used? Should they be high or low? What are the costs and benefits we have to consider when thinking about tariffs. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/feoga.htm

Prohibition Then; MADD Today. The production and consumption of alcoholic beverages involve market exchanges that carry with them external costs (externalities) borne by third parties. Examples of externalities associated with consumption of alcoholic beverages are domestic violence, decreased worker productivity, and health problems. Students examine problems related to alcohol abuse and alternatives historically used to address the problem and the effect of public policy on the economy. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/feusA.htm

Cost of Education. Lesson on the Economic Value of Education: Is the Tassel Worth the Hassle? Students will use economic reasoning to analyze both the short-term and long-term benefits and opportunity costs of educational choices. They will also be required to identify incentives that may influence students' career decisions. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ecedweek/lesson15.htm

Economic Function of Government. What are the Economic Functions of Government? Economists identify six major functions of governments in market economies. Citizens, interest groups, and political leaders disagree about how large a scope of activities the government should perform within each of these functions. Over time, as our society and economy have changed, government activities within each of these functions have expanded. Students learn to identify these functions, classify examples of government actions and policies within the various economic functions and evaluate different positions on the role of government in the economy. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/fecga.htm

Stock. What is a Stock? Or, Who Owns McDonalds? People who buy stock in corporations are owners of the corporation. This lesson introduces the ideas that individuals can become owners of a business by purchasing stock and that they risk their own money on the success of the business. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/mark1.htm
 
 

Where Did the Too Many Dollars Come From? The purpose of this lesson is to have students experience demand-pull inflation while gaining insight into three major sources of the "too many dollars" which chase after the "too few goods and services." http://www.fte.org/zdollars.html

Toxic Waste in Grand Banks. Toxic Waste in Grand Banks is an assessment task in which high school economics students have an opportunity to investigate the issues of economic prosperity, environmental concerns, government intervention in the market economy and responsible civic participation in solving community problems. Using a hypothetical situation in the local community of Grand Banks, the students participate in various roles to simulate a government hearing into the cause and effect of a toxic waste dump discovered within the city limits. This five-seven day exercise won first place by the Council of Economic Education in Maryland. http://www.fte.org/ztoxicwaste.html

The Bead Game Simulation. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the three basic economic systems (market, command, and tradition). By working in each of the systems, students internalize the fundamental values present in each system. They also gain insights into the basic advantages and disadvantages of each system. http://www.fte.org/zbead.html

In the Eyes of the Beholder. This is a learning experience in which students in a high school economics class have an opportunity to investigate the relationship between the consumers and producers with the role that the government plays in the free enterprise economic system. Using hypothetical cases involving disputes among consumers, producers and the government, students will use research and communication skills as well as their knowledge of the free enterprise system to analyze contemporary economic issues in a rational, critical and interesting manner. This is an award winning 6-day exercise. http://www.fte.org/zeyes.html

Lesson On Demand. By using a See’s Sucker (or other such lollipop/candy) students will be able to actively participate and to grasp the concepts of demand, demand schedule, demand curve, and the law of demand. This experience helps students understand the role consumer demand plays in the market system and experience how interactions in the market place help determine pricing. http://www.fte.org/zweaver.html

Business and Economics Internet Scout. This site provides excellent resources on the Internet including weekly Scout Reports and KIDS Report. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/index.html

Good News Bears. This is a web-based interactive stock market learning project that includes an overview, purpose and objectives, teacher resources, student resources and Web resources. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/rse/RSEyellow/gnb.html

Supply and Demand. This economics resource links to Explorations in Economic Demand, a lesson plan, related content standards and other resources. http://www.mcrel.org/resources/plus/supdem.asp

InvestSmart. Developed by students for the ThinkQuest competition, this site includes basics, lessons, a simulation, and examples. In the interactive stock market simulation, each "player" is given $100,000 to invest in over 5,000 companies. Other features include easy setup for classes, a "Group Directory" view of each student portfolio, research capability of stocks, benchmark of each portfolio, and helpful set up tips for classes from 20-100. http://library.advanced.org/10326/

Interpreting Economic Indicators. For grades 8-12. Students will access US Census Bureau by locating its internet site, and interpret individually five random listed indicators. Students will then develop hypotheses as to the potential impact these indicators had on the business cycle compared to the GDP statistics. Students will then share their conclusions with other classmates. http://ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Social_St/Economics/ECO0006.html

Teenage Consumer Price Index Project. The teenage consumer price index project began in the fall of 1998 when 40 high school classrooms across the country participated in the creation of a market basket of goods and services frequently purchased by teenagers. That market basket can now be used as a base that allows students to calculate an index – a numerical representation of changes in the price level of goods and services purchased by students. http://www.fte.org/cpi.html

Target: Microsoft. Designed for students in grades 10-12. In this lesson designed for social studies, current events/issues and economics, students take the role of a federal judge. They investigate the government’s charges against Microsoft, research the case, and write a decision paper. Includes additional sites that provide information that enable students to research this topic and make a well thought-out decision. (Click on "Social Studies" in box on left to locate this lesson plan) http://encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/default.asp

Sports Marketing. This lesson plan is intended for students of social studies and economics in grades 11-12. Since an active, sporty image is desirable, many companies contract sports stars to sponsor their products. This exercise asks students to think carefully about why companies like to associate their products with sports, sports figures, and celebrities in general. Time frame: 2-3 hours. (Click on "Social Studies" in the box on the left to locate this lesson plan) http://encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/default.asp

EDUSTOCK. Edustock in an educational web page designed to teach what the stock market is and how it works. It includes tutorials on the stock market and how to pick good stocks. It also provides information on a select group of companies to help start research into what stock is going to make a fortune. It also provides a 20 minute delayed Stock market simulation on the World Wide Web. http://wueconb.wustl.edu/~tchecndg/archive/1997/0342.html
 

MARKETING


A Lesson in Marketing. This online lesson introduces marketing and includes activities that are designed to help students who are beginning to use technology for accessing primary sources of information and, in turn using that information to solve a problem. Includes a Teacher-Facilitator Guide. Funded by a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. http://primarysources.msu.edu/curricula/lessons/manu/marketing/

Eco-Marketing Project. The Eco-Marketing Project uses a global market theme for students grades 3-12 to promote skills in descriptive writing, persuasive writing, artistic expression, critical reading, budgeting of resources (money), science, concern for the environment, entrepreneurship, and awareness of the global community. Includes an "Educator’s Toolbox." A MUST VISIT site. http://www.landmark-project.com/eco-market

Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing. The title says it all. The tips are teacher-tested and written, and they are categorized by marketing topics (e.g., product, consumer, behavior, pricing, etc.). http://www.swcollege.com/mm/gitm/gitm.html

Small and Home Based Business Links. This is a hot-list of links to pages on small & home based franchises, business opportunities, small & home based newsgroups, searching tools, services for small businesses, and more. http://www.ro.com/small_business/homebased.html

Corporate Product Summary. This lesson is designed for students in grades 9-12 studying social studies, vocational education, economics, business, retailing and/or marketing. In this activity, students give a product presentation using PowerPoint. Students provide shareholders and customers with information about their product. Students then give a presentation and post it on their corporate web site. (To locate this lesson plan, click on "Vocational Education" in the box on the left) http://encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/default.asp

TELECOMMUNICATIONS and NETWORKING

Telecommunications. Glossary of telecommunications terms listed alphabetically from Amplifier to WWW-World Wide Web developed by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. http://wiche.edu/telecom/news/glossary.htm

Federal Standard 1037C. Glossary of telecommunications terms from Abandoned cell to Zulu time. http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/

 

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