MERCHANT

The book’s reproducible activities, which are backed up with excellent discussion guides, generate interest—and critical thinking—by proposing “mysteries” for students to solve.

Ten are classic lessons from the original book, Focus: High School Economics; others are best lessons from Focus: International Economics, Focus: Globalization, and Focus: Institutions and Markets; and ten, mostly macroeconomics, were created for this book.

For each standard, the guide outlines how students will be able to use the knowledge stressed in the standard, suggests exercises and projects, and presents benchmarks for what students should understand about that standard upon completing grades four, eight, and 12.

The program exposes puffery (because all aspirin brands share the same formula, every brand can claim to be “best”), shows the difference between facts (“regularly priced at $89”) and opinions (“an $89 value”), and points out “weasel words” (such as when ads say the product can help—not that it does help).

Chapters present observations of economic thinkers Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes in order to clarify the subsequent descriptions of such economic forces as gross national product, inflation, multinational corporations, recession, and deficit.

Each section contains one crossword, one or more matching challenges for defining words and phrases, plus a word search with approximately 30 hidden terms.

In this engaging simulation, students work cooperatively (under their CEO teacher) toward a common goal and, in the process, hone their writing and speaking skills.

Activities, puzzles, quizzes, and charts help students understand such concepts as gross national product, per capita income, and purchasing power.

How can you build a $600,000 nest egg by eliminating your afternoon snacks? Why is saving a million dollars far more realistic than winning the lottery? How much money will you lose if you stop saving for one year? This step-by-step program also covers the basics of simple interest, the pros and cons of various […]