National Association of Teacher Educators for Family and Consumer Science
Consumerism in the Classroom: Effective Strategies for Today's Teenage Consumers
Help class members become savvy consumers with a series of activities that has them analyzing marketing strategies, comparing the value of brand name versus off-brand clothing, and considering the advantages and...
Consumer Action
Talking to Teens About Money
Your teenagers are probably very good at spending money, but how good are they at managing it? Teach class members about banking, checking accounts, interest rates, car insurance, and many other relevant concepts with a series of...
Curated OER
The Credit Safari
How cool, an interactive personal finance game! Young consumers play a real-life scenario game to practice making credit decisions. They play the game then discuss good and bad credit choices. The scenarios revolve around the use of a...
Federal Reserve Bank
Market Basket SMART/ActivInspire Lesson Plan
Inflate your knowledge, not the economy! Pupils learn more about inflation with detailed worksheets and exciting activities such as role play, an interactive PowerPoint presentation, and a project in which they design...
Curated OER
Buying Power
Students use a magazine article/picture to explain consumer spending and discuss the key elements that influence consumer spending.
Council for Economic Education
Inflation Data: Is the Economy Healthy?
What stories do current trends tell about society, fashion, and the future? Scholars investigate the concept of inflation and its impact on the future of the American economy. They compile current economic data to determine the level of...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Arctic Smorgasbord
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
Curated OER
Marriage and Financial Goals, Budgeting Strategies
There is no more useful life skill to learn than budgeting and setting financial goals. It's math that is used by every person, everyday. Learners examine the responsibilities and costs involved in family economics. Through a series of...
Visa
Money Responsibility
Introduce young learners to the important life skill of responsibly managing money and recording how much they spend and save.
University of Missouri
Money Math
Young mathematicians put their skills to the test in the real world during this four-lesson consumer math unit. Whether they are learning how compound interest can make them millionaires, calculating the cost of remodeling...
Curated OER
Thinking About Shopping and Spending
Pupils list and discuss recent commercials they have viewed. They identify advantages and disadvantages of the advertised items, and write about the effects of advertising, planned spending and spontaneous spending.
Curated OER
Marketing to Teens: Introduction
An introductory lesson shows learners how pervasive and influential advertising is in our culture; particularly, how teenagers are actively targeted by advertisers. As teenagers, your learners already have all the information they need...
NASA
Planning Time
Ever feel there's just not enough hours in the day? Young adults explore an important part of personal development using a group of activities. After comparing how they actually spend their time with how they would like to, scholars...
Curated OER
Demand Shifters
Students explore concept of demand and factors that cause demand for a good or service to change; students recognize factors that influence their behavior as consumers. Real world examples are provided through an interview with William...
Curated OER
Potato Ways
Learners analyze the packaging process. In this consumer awareness lesson, students analyze the process of packaging a potato and identify positive and negative ways of packaging. Learners study statistics on an overhead transparency to...
Curated OER
Pocket Money And Pester Power
Students participate in a number of activities to examine how young people think about, use and make money. They determine what young people prefer to spend money on, if there are gender differences and how they compare to students in...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Media Literacy
Young learners today are bombarded by media manipulation. Help them develop the skills they will need to become savvy 21st century media consumers with a unit on media literacy.
University of Nebraska
Why Do I Want All This Stuff?
How do advertisers influence consumers? The big idea here is that once consumers understand the factors that influence their desire for a product or service, they are better able to consider substitute and/or complementary products.
Council for Economic Education
Opportunity Cost
The price of those new shoes involves more than just money! Individuals explore the concept of opportunity cost using a video clip and gratification discussions. They prepare a budget based off of their set of values in regards to...
Learning to Give
Five Thousand Dollars!
How does consumerism affect global poverty? Upper graders find out about cost benefit, wants and needs, and making good consumer choices as they explore this global topic. They role-play an impulse spending experience and work through...
Illustrative Mathematics
Summer Swimming
Here is a real-world application for systems of equations. When is it better to pay an enrollment fee and lower daily rate, and when is it better to pay the regular price? The local swim center is having a special offer, reductions in...
Federal Reserve Bank
Measuring the Great Depression
Young historians examine the cost of goods and services through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), output measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and unemployment measured by the unemployment rate to gain an understanding of the economic...
PLS 3rd Learning
Priceless
The message that buying things brings happiness is everywhere. Teenagers are not immune to this marketing strategy and benefit from reflecting on the relentless pressure to spend. This exercise invites young adults to consider the value...
Illustrative Mathematics
Discounted Books
Adolescents love to shop, especially when an item is discounted. Here, shoppers only have a set amount of money to spend. Will they be able to make a purchase with the discount and tax added in? Percent discounts can be calculated...