Economics

=Grade 8 Economics=

  The 8th Grade Economics Curriculum has students establishing their own businesses. The students generate an idea, write a business plan, and create and sell their products to the rest of the school. This is a small group activity that lasts throughout the school year, and works in conjunction with the classroom government the students establish in their Civics course. The groups compete against each other for market share, and they also determine the significance of an organizing structure that must regulate some business behavior.

Through this process, the students are able to identify and explain the following basic economic concepts: //supply, demand, production, exchange, and consumption; labor, wages, and capital; inflation and deflation; market economy and command economy; public and private goods and services//. In addition, the students learn about quality of life issues, profit motive, investment, stock markets, and banking.

The student businesses- as well as the student government- are used as frames of reference for the study of United States History

In addition to establishing businesses and a government, the students also participate in a Family Economics project in which small groups of students establish fictional "families" and calculate all the incomes and expenditures associated with adult living in the United States. In this activity, the students learn how to find employment, calculate various taxes, and manage a family budget. They present their projects using Wikis, blogs, and [|Voicethread].

As a culminating Economics activity, the students use the SimCity 2000 program to build simulated computer cities. Here, the students must apply the economics and civics concepts they have learned, in addition to learning about how urban communities function. Business Links: **:
 * Resources
 * [|One Red Paperclip]
 * [|Rocketboom "trading up"]
 * [|Business Plan Examples]
 * [|Business Startup Examples]
 * [|Applying for a Loan]
 * [|60 minutes]
 * [|Market Survey Examples]
 * [|Survey Console]
 * [|Wal-Mart]
 * [|Lemonade Game]
 * [|Very Cool Commercial]
 * [|Supply and Demand]
 * [|US Patent and Trademark]

**Economics Links:**  Project Description
 * [|Monster.com]
 * [|Jobs.com]
 * [|Financial Definitions]
 * [|Tax Calculator]
 * [|State / Payroll Taxes]
 * [|IRS]
 * [|Autotrader]
 * [|ADAMM]
 * [|Realtor.com]
 * [|total tax]
 * [|mortgage]
 * [|property tax search for Milwaukee]
 * [|Auto Loan Calculator]
 * [|Auto Insurance]
 * [|City of Milwaukee Property Data]
 * Family Project Resources:**
 * Student Examples 1
 * Student Examples 2

**Student Sim City Projects** 
 * Student Example 1
 * Student Example 2
 * SimCity Resources:**
 * [|Old Cities]
 * [|Milwaukee Zoning Map]
 * [|Retrofuture]
 * [|New Urbanism]
 * [|future transportation]
 * [|future transportation]
 * [|science museum]
 * [|Yesterday's Tomorrows]
 * [|future cinema]
 * [|future arena]
 * [|future cities]
 * [|Victory Cities]
 * [|The Venus Project]
 * [|Green City] [|future city images]
 * [|Island Cities]
 * [|Building Big]
 * [|Competition Photos]