From: Scott Wolla (misterwolla@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 07 2003 - 17:13:37 EDT
Next message: Scott Wolla: "[Channel-talkeconomics] Video #4 - Learning, Earning, and Saving observations"
Video #7 – Monetary and Fiscal Policy
I really sharpened my understanding of some of these
concepts in this video as well as getting some great
ideas from this video. One of the areas where I filled
in my knowledge base was by thinking of Aggregate
Supply as the productive capacity of an economy. If
Aggregate Demand fall short of capacity, unemployment
rises. If Aggregate Demand is greater than potential
GDP, then inflation results. The goal of managing the
economy is to keep AD growing at the same rate as
potential GDP. This way of thinking of the
macroeconomy really clicks and brings many of these
concepts together in a cohesive group.
One of the activities I really enjoyed and will adapt
for my classroom is the lesson on how money works. The
lesson combined the balance sheet with how money is
created by banks engaging in loan activities and the
federal reserve regulating the activity with the
fractional reserve system. I think this activity does
a great service for students by taking a very abstract
process and puts real issues on them. Students see how
money is created. Students often have difficulty with
this because they equate printing money with money
creation.
The last segment deals with the “Fed Challenge”. The
competition looks very enjoyable and really motivates
students to acquire knowledge and understanding of
Economics. We do not have Fed Challenge in our part of
the country, but we do have the “Economics Challenge”
– which pits teams from various parts of the state
against one another on the basis of Economics
knowledge. The competition involves two individual
written tests (micro and macro), team written test
(international and comparative) and a quiz bowl
playoff between the two top teams. I have had the
privilege to coach this activity for three years. In
fact, I started coaching the team before I was
teaching Economics. Students really enjoy the activity
and take great pride in their knowledge. I have found
that coaching Economics team is more rewarding than
any other activity I have coach or advised because I
can see the direct result of what I do in the
classroom and what the result is on competition day.
It drives me to be a better classroom teacher.
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