People should understand what the commodity futures market is and who uses it. The commodity futures market should be studied in a high school economics course so a one-week unit was developed for students that involved them in a simulation as hedgers and speculators. (AM)

Describes a simulation game developed to introduce elementary school students to basic economic concepts, including scarcity, availability, resource utilization, trade-offs, and demand and barter. The simulation, based on a shortage of chocolate milk in the elementary school lunch room, stressed problem solving skills. (DB)

Describes a two-part energy unit for gifted fifth and sixth graders. Students conduct energy use/waste surveys and participate in a simulation game concerning a particular environmental/energy problem. (SJL)

A self-teaching module on queues, dealing with the use of random numbers in the simulation of realistic queueing or waiting-line situations, is described. Both mathematical content and teaching methods are considered. (MNS)

This teaching unit represents a specific "dramatic moment" in history that can allow students to delve into the deeper meanings of selected landmark events and explore their wider context in the great historical narrative. Studying a crucial turning point in history helps students realize that history is an ongoing, open-ended process,…

A lesson for teaching elementary students about black history, culture, and relationships with other people is provided. The plan contains performance objectives, activities, games and suggested list of readings. This journal is available from the Institute of Open Education, 133 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. (DE)

This teaching unit, one of a series of eight, contains an overview, objectives, suggested teaching procedures, and expanded activities. In the three learning activities provided, students are presented with real situations that businesses faced during the Depression. They are asked to make decisions for each situation based on three different…

Background information and a role playing activity which examines the conflict over control of the oceans are provided. (DE)

Describes a unit on advertising used in a ninth-grade English class. The class participated in a student-run simulation of an advertising agency. Working in teams, they created, presented, and used criteria to evaluate advertisements. (AM)

This unit is designed to investigate the reasons for international trade and the issue of trade protectionism by focusing on the case study of the U.S. trade relationship with Taiwan. The unit begins with a simulation that highlights the concepts of global interdependence, the need for international trade, and the distribution of the world's…

A simulation designed to examine American responsibility with respect to global hunger is provided. Students play American leaders who must choose between conflicting national and international priorities. (Author/DE)

Described is a unit, SAMPLING, which focuses on developing student understanding of probability and data collection for junior high school students. Activities in SAMPLING incorporate physical materials, simple computer simulations, surveys of subjective data, computer simulations of complex situations, and a culminating activity requiring the…

Lessons and learning activities to teach children in the primary grades about citizenship responsibility and social decision making are provided. Active learning is emphasized. Section I contains five lessons, for use in kindergarten and grade 1, that deal with the themes of freedom and responsibility. The activities focus on home life and the…

A unit on medieval religion, monasteries, and convents for seventh-grade students is presented. Students converted the classroom into a monastery and experienced as realistically as possible the life and spirit of medieval religion. (RM)

To enliven her fourth-grade class on rainy days, the author grouped the students into five teams to study the Westward Movement in the United States. Each team became a wagon train, tracing a different pioneer route and marking their progress with group reports, research projects, and diaries. (SJL)