These lesson plans provide teachers with a step-by-step guide to using the Money Matters: The Importance of Global Cooperation online exhibit. The guide is divided into three sections, focusing respectively on how to use the curriculum in Business classes, History and Geography classes, and Economics classes.

Each lesson begins with a list of learning objectives, a concept map that encourages students to brainstorm meanings for the word "money," and a general introduction to the Money Matters curriculum.

14-18 year olds (9-12 graders, US) studying Social Studies and Economics in school.

Standard 2 — Marginal Cost/Benefit
Effective decision-making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Most choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something; few choices are all-or-nothing decisions.

Standard 4 — Role of Incentives
People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.

Standard 5 — Gain from Trade
Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain. This is true for trade among individuals or organizations within a nation, and among individuals or organizations in different nations.

Standard 6 — Specialization and Trade
When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost and then trade with others, both production and consumption increase.

Standard 7 — Markets - Price and Quantity Determination
Markets exist when buyers and sellers interact This interaction determines market prices and thereby allocates scarce goods and services.

Standard 10 — Role of Economic Institutions
Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and well-enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy.

Standard 11 — Role of Money
Money makes it easier to trade, borrow, save, invest and compare the value of goods and services.

Standard 16 — Role of Government
There is an economic role for government to play in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs. Governments often provide for national defense, address environmental concerns, define and protect property rights and attempt to make markets more competitive. Most government policies also redistribute income.

Standard 17 — Using Cost/Benefit Analysis to Evaluate Government Programs
Costs of government policies sometimes exceed benefits. This may occur because of incentives facing voters, government officials, and government employees, because of actions by special interest groups that can impose costs on the general public, or because social goals other than economic efficiency are being pursued.

Standard 18 — Macroeconomy-Income/Employment, Prices
A nation's overall levels of income, employment, and prices are determined by the interaction of spending and production decision made by all households firms, government agencies, and others in the economy.

Standard 20 — Monetary and Fiscal Policy
A government's budgetary policy and its monetary policy influence the overall levels of employment, output and prices.

Lesson Plan for Business classes includes:

• Political cartoons
• Research
• Case study videos
• Vocabulary review: natural resources, economic systems, monetary unit, legal systems, GNP GDP, infrastructure, comparative advantage, per capita income, exchange rates
• Final written project compiles from research findings

Lesson Plan for History and Geography classes includes:

• Political cartoons
• Research
• Case study videos
• Discussion of protests against the IMF
• Written essay: "The IMF: Why Do We Need It?"

Lesson Plan for Economics includes:

• Political cartoons
• Research
• Analysis of the IMF's role and processes
• Role playing activities
• Creation and analysis of an original case study
• Synthesis of economic, social and political data

Money Matters Curriculum

EconEd Online