Browse lesson plans, videos, activities, and more by grade level

Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Can America's Jobless Fill American Jobs?

With the U.S. unemployment rate stuck around 9 percent, economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether widespread joblessness is simply the...

Key Concepts: Business Cycles, Division of Labor/Specialization, Employment and Unemployment…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Americans Facing More Inequality, More Debt and Now More Trouble?

Did America's record-high level of economic inequality in 2007 help cause the financial crisis of 2008? With Americans' borrowing back...

Key Concepts: Borrow, Budgeting, Credit…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Land of the Free, Home of the Poor

Financial gains over the last decade in the United States have been mostly made at the "tippy-top" of the economic...

Key Concepts: Budgeting, Distribution of Income, Financial Markets…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Amid Debt-Ceiling Drama, Interest Rates Have Hardly Followed the Script

On Wall Street, stocks initially rallied Monday on the news of a debt-ceiling deal, but a weak report on manufacturing...

Key Concepts: Budget Deficits and Public Debt, Credit, Decision Making/Cost-Benefit Analysis…

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Grades 9-12

Jokes, Quotations, and Cartoons in Economics

Students will apply their knowledge of economics to the analysis and interpretation of jokes, quotations, and cartoons in economics. Students...

Key Concepts: Budget Deficit, Business, Business Cycles…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: How to Succeed in Business by Really, Really Trying

Is the aptitude for business (the legal kind) distributed among convicted criminals as it is in the general population? One...

Key Concepts: Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments, Character, Division of Labor/Specialization…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: From Ball and Chain to Cap and Gown: Getting a B.A. Behind Bars

What college is tougher to get into than Harvard, Princeton or Yale? Bard College. Not the campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.,...

Key Concepts: Character, Division of Labor/Specialization, Goods and Services…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Protecting Its Fannie: How Mortgage Giant Primed the Bubble, Covered Its Assets

As part of his Making Sen$e series, Paul Solman reports on the new book, "Reckless Endangerment," which argues that for...

Key Concepts: Budgeting, Business Cycles, Credit…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Is Your Pension Safe? States Struggle With Pricey Challenges

As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sen$e of financial news, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports from Rhode Island...

Key Concepts: Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments, Budgeting, Business Cycles…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: 'Sesame Street' Tells You How to Get to Sunnier Days Financially

As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sen$e of financial news, business correspondent Paul Solman reports on how "Sesame...

Key Concepts: Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments, Budgeting, Decision Making/Cost-Benefit Analysis

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Grades 9-12

Balance of Payments (BOP)

International trade allows countries to buy and sell both domestic and foreign goods, as well as services and financial assets....

Key Concepts: Balance of Payments, Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Tracking Inflation: How Fast Are Prices Rising?

As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sense of financial news, Paul Solman reports on the growing rate of...

Key Concepts: Fiscal Policy

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Oscar-Winning 'Inside Job' Director Attacks Economists' Ties to Financial Sector

As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sen$e of financial news, Paul Solman reports on the aftermath of the...

Key Concepts: Character, Division of Labor/Specialization, Economic Incentives…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: How Would Raising Debt Ceiling Impact U.S. Bond Market?

As part of his series on Making Sen$e of financial news, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on how raising the...

Key Concepts: Budget Deficit, Budget Deficits and Public Debt, Credit…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Returning Vets Face a New Battle: The Job Market

As part of his series on Making Sen$e of financial news, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on the challenges veterans...

Key Concepts: Business Cycles, Division of Labor/Specialization, Employment and Unemployment…

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Grades 9-12

Making Sen$e with Paul Solman: Many Americans Feel 'Stuck in a Rut' as Economy Improves, But Inequality Grows

As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sen$e of economic news, Paul Solman examines the struggles to close the...

Key Concepts: Budgeting, Business Cycles, Distribution of Income…

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