Economics · Week 15 · Government, the Macroeconomy, and Global Trade

The Fed and Your Wallet

Explaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.

Self-awarenessGrade 12About 20 minutesGrade 12, one semester

Open this activity All Economics activities

Students will: Students explain how the Federal Reserve influences short term interest rates, distinguish short term from long term rates, and calculate how rates change the cost of borrowing and the reward for saving.
SEL skill: Identify what you value enough to wait for and explain why
What it looks like: Students practice patience and recognize their own values when weighing a smaller reward now against a larger reward later.
Content focus: The Fed and your wallet
Format: Partner exchange

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is knowing your own values, strengths, and thoughts and how they shape the goals you choose and the choices you make. More self-awareness activities

What you get

A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.

Standards

12.3.4: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 12: Principles of Economics (standard 12.3, item 4)
12.5.3: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 12: Principles of Economics (standard 12.5, item 3)
CA HSS Analysis Skill: HI1 Show the connections between particular historical events and larger social, economic, and political trends. (Historical Interpretation)
C3 Framework (national): D2.Eco.10.9-12 Use current data to explain how changes in spending, production, and the money supply influence economic conditions.
Literacy in history: RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as used in a text, including political, social, or economic vocabulary.

Fits these textbook chapters

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More self-awareness activities for Economics

Thinking Like an Economist Self-awarenessStudents list the choices they already make with limited time and money and name the economist identity they bring into class.
Why Jobs Pay Differently Self-awarenessUsing supply, demand, and productivity to explain differences in wages and mapping the skills students want to grow next.
Reading the Economy's Pulse Self-awarenessCalculating unemployment and inflation rates and comparing nominal with real data, then checking in on students' own emotional indicators.

Previous: Taxes, Spending, and Choices · Next: Reading the Economy's Pulse

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