It is important for teachers to understand both their eye care needs and the services offered in the eye care market in order to make intelligent decisions regarding their own needs. (LH)

In order to determine the evidence upon which the Federal Trade Commission decides that an advertisement or other sales representation has the capacity or tendency to deceive, a census was conducted of the 3,337 cases in which such decisions have been made from 1916 through 1973. Findings showed that, of 22 categories of evidence, the three most…

Information and resources are provided for teachers in developing a unit to help students become smarter consumers and understand the purposes of merchandise packaging. (DF)

Assesses the magnitude and incidence of experimentally determined deceptive advertising decisions in supermarket advertisements. Shows that many reduced-priced items are displayed less prominently, lessening a consumer's ability to show economically. (RL)

This booklet on shopping, 1 in a series of 12, covers all the basic aspects of personal- and family-money management. Suitable for use by high school and college students as well as adults, this handbook tells how to plan spending, develop shopping skills, and handle consumer problems effectively. Section 1 on consumers and the economy overviews…

Self-contained units of study on advertising will help secondary students to critically analyze the utility, completeness, and accuracy of various sources of product information. In the first of five units, students are asked to think about the many benefits consumers and producers derive from advertising. The second unit makes students aware that…

Consumer education activities are presented for developing skills of handicapped students in critical reading, comparative shopping, avoiding consumer swindles, assessing product guarantees, and complaining about defective/unsatisfactory products. The activities are adaptable to a variety of age and ability levels and designed to be coordinated…

A study examined the type and extent of consumer education that occurred since the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) amended the 1972 federal safety standards (effective January 1997) to permit marketing of snug-fitting, nonflame-resistant cotton garments as sleepwear. Three voluntary point-of-sale (POS) practices recognized as important…

The enormous and rapidly-increasing number of goods on the market makes it difficult to ensure that all consumer products are safe to use. Public concern about product safety has caused the enactment of a wide range of consumer protection laws. The result of this legislation has been that many agencies have been established to protect the public.…

An analysis was made of the extent to which the safety characteristics of new vehicles affect consumer purchase decisions. Using an extensive data set that combines vehicle data collected by the Automobile Club of Southern California Target Car Program with the responses from a national household survey of new car buyers, a statistical model of…

The Illinois State Board of Education in cooperation with the Illinois Consumer Education Association produced this lesson plan book as a resource for teachers as they implement the consumer education mandate in secondary schools. Classroom instruction ideas, techniques, and lessons were provided by teachers from Illinois. A committee of consumer…

This module, consisting of materials for use in conducting a consumer education mini-course, deals with effective consumerism. Covered in the individual lessons are the following topics: being prepared with information (sources of consumer information and subscription forms); evaluating warranties and service contracts; evaluating advertising and…

Guides librarians in evaluating "filtering" software which schools may purchase for restricting access to potentially inappropriate Internet sites. This article discusses the workings of filtering programs and practical and ethical questions such as: how sites are restricted, who decides, and whether transactions are monitored.…

A short fictional work for limited English speakers relates a young couple's experience in learning about buying home furnishings. The newly married couple need a comfortable place to sit in their living room but cannot afford to buy a sofa in one payment, and they do not qualify for credit cards. They consider the prices and credit arrangement at…

A booklet for limited English speakers on buying furnishings provides information on what to do before going shopping for furniture, how to make a selection, and how to pay for the acquisition. Cartoons, questions about the message in cartoons and narrative passages, checklists on things to evaluate, and the phonetic pronunciation of key words are…