Home    >    Capstone: Exemplary Lessons Teacher and Student Set
Capstone: Exemplary Lessons Teacher and Student Set
ISBN: 978-1-56183-515-7
If you're an economics, business or marketing teacher and want to teach your students about the market economy, Capstone is your ticket to success.

Capstone: Exemplary Lessons for High School Economics is a supplemental program that uses hands-on activities, exercises, simulations and projects to teach your students the ins-and-outs of high school economics.

With 45 lesson plans, you'll use a methodical approach to cover all the crucial economics principles your students need to know:

  • Introductory Economics
  • Microeconomics
  • Macroeconomics
  • Civics & Government
  • Global Economics
  • Personal Finance and Business Economics
Combined with your primary source curriculum, Capstone enhances your economics, business and marketing courses with standards-based lesson plans and rigorous student activities.

Turn Theoretical Principles Into Action with Activity-based Lesson Plans
Teaching a wide portfolio of economics concepts to high school students can be a challenge.

That's why the hallmark of Capstone is the easy-to-use lesson plans, plus the unique mix of activity-based lessons, simulations, exercises and worksheets.

You teach by infusing real-world examples into your classroom and your students learn by doing.

That way, your students will leave your classroom with an applied understanding of how a market economy operates. You'll challenge them to apply economics concepts to bite-size problems in your classroom, then transfer their knowledge to big-picture situations.

Who Should Use Capstone
  • Economics Teachers -- for your mainstream or honors Economics course
  • Business Educators -- give your students an all-important foundation in micro- and macroeconomics
  • Marketing -- show your students the power of pricing and how to compete in the global economy
  • Curriculum Directors, Department Chairs -- become an expert on the Capstone program and use it as a high school economics curriculum guide
How to Use Capstone
You'll use two elements to introduce your students to the key economics concepts you want to cover: lesson plans for you, and applied activities and exercises for your students.

Activities cover a broad range of critical thinking skills and utilize:

  • Simulations -- bring the markets to life with the 'Silver Market,' or create a greeting cards production line to demonstrate productivity
  • Readings -- I, Pencil by Leonard Read, Four Models of Market Structures and The Economics of the US Constitution
  • Role playing -- your students star in a two-act play, plus visit with Adam Smith and a panel of famous economists
  • Case studies -- students read 4 environmental case studies, examine the issues and debate solutions
  • Data analysis -- analyze and plot demand schedules, curves and more; identify voting trends
Key Features of Capstone
Simple, Turnkey Lesson Plans -- everything you need to teach the lesson is included: background content, standards-based concepts, visuals, handouts, activities and multiple choice and essay assessments.

Correlated to National Content Standards in Economics -- teaching to the standards is crucial, and Capstone's 45 lesson plans cover every single economic content standard.

New Student Experiences, Every Class Period -- you'll add variety and action to your classroom so that every student -- regardless of learning level or interest in economics -- will find a way to learn about the market economy in a fun, interactive environment.

The Key Concepts Every High School Economics, Business and Marketing Course Should Cover...
Capstone is a one-stop resource to find, demonstrate and evaluate the economics concepts you need to teach in your course, in an activity-based format that keeps your students focused and on-task.

Unit 1 -- The Economic Way of Thinking (Introduction)

This unit introduces your students to the fundamental building blocks of high school-level economics: scarcity, opportunity cost and more.

Unit 2 -- The Invisible Hand at Work (Microeconomics)

Now that your students are "thinking like an economist," they're ready to tackle core Microeconomics principles like supply and demand, pricing and resource allocation.

Unit 3 -- How You Can Prosper in a Market Economy (Personal Finance)

Why do some people earn more money than others? Give your economics program a unique personal finance perspective:

  • Saving and Investing
  • Earning an Income
  • Credit Management
  • Budgeting
Unit 4 -- The Business of Doing Business (Business Economics)

Immerse your students in the market economy with lesson plans that cover:

  • Profits
  • Productivity
  • Competition
Unit 5 -- The Visible Hand: The Role of Government in a Market Economy (Civics & Government)

What role should government play in environmental regulation, income redistribution and taxes?

Unit 6 -- The Macroeconomy (Macroeconomics)

An essential component of any high school economics course, your students explore:

  • Inflation
  • GDP
  • Fiscal policy
  • Aggregate supply and demand
Unit 7 -- Markets without Borders: The Global Economy (International Economics)

These lessons give your students the confidence and knowledge to succeed in a global economy.

Give Your Classroom a Dose of Economic Mystery and Intrigue
The Guide to Economic Reasoning is the foundation of Capstone's economic reasoning framework, and gives your students the critical thinking skills to tackle any economic problem. The Guide is used to introduce mysteries to your students, which they then solve using a methodical approach. Your students unravel mysteries such as:

  • "Why Did Communism Collapse?"
  • "Should We Worry About the National Debt?"
  • "Why Does Unemployment Increase When People Are Getting Jobs?", and many more mysteries...
Economic Content, Plus a Lifetime of Critical Thinking
Each engaging lesson helps your students polish their life skills through group discussions, debates, critical thinking and data analysis… skills they will use their entire lives as consumers, producers and investors in the global economy.

Resources: