History · Economics

SEL activities for Economics

18 RoseThread Connect activities matched to the chapters of Economics (McGraw Hill). Each one teaches the chapter's content and builds one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill in about 20 minutes.

We look only at each book's table of contents (chapter titles and topics) to suggest activities that fit the flow of your course. We don't use or reproduce any textbook content, and your edition's chapter order may differ slightly. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by these publishers.

Chapter 1: What Is Economics?

• Thinking Like an Economist Self-awareness · EconomicsStudents list the choices they already make with limited time and money and name the economist identity they bring into class.
• The Cost of Every Choice Responsible decision-making · EconomicsCalculating opportunity cost and marginal benefit, then using the same reasoning to weigh one real decision about how to spend an afternoon.
• Why Incentives Work Self-management · EconomicsComparing monetary and nonmonetary incentives and discovering which motivators actually move students toward their own goals.

Chapter 2: Economic Systems and Decision Making

• Markets and Freedom Responsible decision-making · EconomicsReading Adam Smith alongside economists who stress the limits of markets and practicing how to summarize a view fairly before responding to it.
• The Cost of Every Choice Responsible decision-making · EconomicsCalculating opportunity cost and marginal benefit, then using the same reasoning to weigh one real decision about how to spend an afternoon.

Chapter 3: The American Free Enterprise System

• Markets and Freedom Responsible decision-making · EconomicsReading Adam Smith alongside economists who stress the limits of markets and practicing how to summarize a view fairly before responding to it.
• Profit and the Entrepreneur Self-management · EconomicsStudying the role of profit and risk for entrepreneurs, including family businesses in the valley, and sketching one small creative venture.
• Competition and Quality Relationship skills · EconomicsAnalyzing how competition affects price and quality and distinguishing healthy competition from rivalry that damages relationships.
• What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-making · EconomicsWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.

Chapter 4: Demand

• Supply, Demand, and Dates Self-management · EconomicsCharting how a heat wave affects the supply and price of Coachella Valley dates and noticing how students' own stress rises and falls with the demands on their time.
• Why Incentives Work Self-management · EconomicsComparing monetary and nonmonetary incentives and discovering which motivators actually move students toward their own goals.
• The Cost of Every Choice Responsible decision-making · EconomicsCalculating opportunity cost and marginal benefit, then using the same reasoning to weigh one real decision about how to spend an afternoon.

Chapter 5: Supply

• Supply, Demand, and Dates Self-management · EconomicsCharting how a heat wave affects the supply and price of Coachella Valley dates and noticing how students' own stress rises and falls with the demands on their time.
• Profit and the Entrepreneur Self-management · EconomicsStudying the role of profit and risk for entrepreneurs, including family businesses in the valley, and sketching one small creative venture.
• Why Incentives Work Self-management · EconomicsComparing monetary and nonmonetary incentives and discovering which motivators actually move students toward their own goals.

Chapter 6: Prices

• Supply, Demand, and Dates Self-management · EconomicsCharting how a heat wave affects the supply and price of Coachella Valley dates and noticing how students' own stress rises and falls with the demands on their time.
• When Prices Are Capped Responsible decision-making · EconomicsExamining the intended and unintended effects of price controls such as rent control through the views of several economists, and pausing to separate feelings from evidence.
• Competition and Quality Relationship skills · EconomicsAnalyzing how competition affects price and quality and distinguishing healthy competition from rivalry that damages relationships.

Chapter 7: Market Structures

• Competition and Quality Relationship skills · EconomicsAnalyzing how competition affects price and quality and distinguishing healthy competition from rivalry that damages relationships.
• What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-making · EconomicsWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.
• Profit and the Entrepreneur Self-management · EconomicsStudying the role of profit and risk for entrepreneurs, including family businesses in the valley, and sketching one small creative venture.

Chapter 8: Business Organization

• Profit and the Entrepreneur Self-management · EconomicsStudying the role of profit and risk for entrepreneurs, including family businesses in the valley, and sketching one small creative venture.
• Competition and Quality Relationship skills · EconomicsAnalyzing how competition affects price and quality and distinguishing healthy competition from rivalry that damages relationships.

Chapter 9: Labor and Wages

• Why Unions Formed Relationship skills · EconomicsStudying why workers formed unions, including the United Farm Workers in the Coachella Valley, alongside the concerns of employers, and practicing collective problem-solving.
• Why Jobs Pay Differently Self-awareness · EconomicsUsing supply, demand, and productivity to explain differences in wages and mapping the skills students want to grow next.
• Why Incentives Work Self-management · EconomicsComparing monetary and nonmonetary incentives and discovering which motivators actually move students toward their own goals.
• Work in a Changing Economy Self-management · EconomicsExploring how automation and global competition change jobs and naming coping strategies for an uncertain future.

Chapter 10: Money and Banking

• The Fed and Your Wallet Self-awareness · EconomicsExplaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.

Chapter 11: Financial Markets

• The Fed and Your Wallet Self-awareness · EconomicsExplaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.
• Supply, Demand, and Dates Self-management · EconomicsCharting how a heat wave affects the supply and price of Coachella Valley dates and noticing how students' own stress rises and falls with the demands on their time.

Chapter 12: Evaluating the Economy

• Reading the Economy's Pulse Self-awareness · EconomicsCalculating unemployment and inflation rates and comparing nominal with real data, then checking in on students' own emotional indicators.
• Work in a Changing Economy Self-management · EconomicsExploring how automation and global competition change jobs and naming coping strategies for an uncertain future.

Chapter 13: Economic Instability

• Reading the Economy's Pulse Self-awareness · EconomicsCalculating unemployment and inflation rates and comparing nominal with real data, then checking in on students' own emotional indicators.
• Work in a Changing Economy Self-management · EconomicsExploring how automation and global competition change jobs and naming coping strategies for an uncertain future.
• What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-making · EconomicsWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.

Chapter 14: Taxes and Government Spending

• Taxes, Spending, and Choices Social awareness · EconomicsExamining the aims of fiscal policy and modeling a budget in which different community members' needs compete for limited funds.
• What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-making · EconomicsWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.

Chapter 15: Fiscal Policy

• Taxes, Spending, and Choices Social awareness · EconomicsExamining the aims of fiscal policy and modeling a budget in which different community members' needs compete for limited funds.
• What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-making · EconomicsWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.
• Reading the Economy's Pulse Self-awareness · EconomicsCalculating unemployment and inflation rates and comparing nominal with real data, then checking in on students' own emotional indicators.

Chapter 16: Monetary Policy

• The Fed and Your Wallet Self-awareness · EconomicsExplaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.

Chapter 17: Resources for Global Trade

• Trade Across Borders Social awareness · EconomicsComparing gains from trade with the concerns of workers, businesses, and farmers about free trade, and listening for the interests behind each view.
• Gratitude for the Hands Behind Our Goods Relationship skills · EconomicsStudents trace one everyday product back through the workers who made it and write thank you notes to people whose work sustains them.

Chapter 18: Global Economic Development

• Gratitude for the Hands Behind Our Goods Relationship skills · EconomicsStudents trace one everyday product back through the workers who made it and write thank you notes to people whose work sustains them.
• Trade Across Borders Social awareness · EconomicsComparing gains from trade with the concerns of workers, businesses, and farmers about free trade, and listening for the interests behind each view.
• Caring for What We Share Social awareness · EconomicsExamining how property rights and stewardship shape the use of scarce desert water and considering how shared spaces are cared for when no one owns them.

Chapter 19: Personal Financial Literacy

• The Fed and Your Wallet Self-awareness · EconomicsExplaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.
• Why Jobs Pay Differently Self-awareness · EconomicsUsing supply, demand, and productivity to explain differences in wages and mapping the skills students want to grow next.

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.