  JA
Economics for Success explores personal finance and students’
education and career options based on their skills, interests, and
values. It also demonstrates the economic benefits of staying in
school. Six required, volunteer-led activities.
The key learning objectives listed beside each activity state
the skills and knowledge students will gain.
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Activity One: Mirror, Mirror Students make choices to
understand the concept of self-knowledge—their skills,
interests, and values—and the structure of the world of work
as they consider education, career, and other life choices.
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Key
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- explain self-knowledge.
- identify careers of interest and how they are classified
within the world of work.
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Activity Two: You Decide Students learn the steps to
reflective decision-making, a process important to use when
making major decisions. They play the game Choose Your
Success, in which reflective decision-making is applied to
education and career options.
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Key
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- identify and explain when it is important to use
reflective decision-making. decision-making.
- apply reflective decision-making to education and career
decisions.
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Activity Three: Choose Your Success Students apply
their knowledge of decision-making, self-knowledge, and the
world of work by again playing the Choose Your Success game.
Students gain an understanding of the important relationship
between education, work, and opportunities for success.
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Key
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- apply decision-making strategies to education and career
choices.
- recognize the importance of staying in school.
- understand the relationship between education and
success in life.
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Activity Four: Keeping Your Balance Students receive
Occupation Cards and observe how different jobs provide
different monthly salaries. Based on these monthly salaries,
students evaluate the opportunity costs of decisions as they
form a budget. Based on their decisions, students compare
their spending to suggested amounts.
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Key
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- recognize that a balanced budget is important for
workers of all income levels.
- differentiate between gross and net income.
- name ways to balance a budget.
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Activity Five: Savvy Shopper Students examine how
consumers pay for goods and services. They discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of using cash and credit, and
participate in an activity that reinforces their understanding
of the cost of credit.
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Key
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- identify the opportunity costs associated with using
cash and credit.
- explain the advantages and disadvantages of using
credit.
- identify appropriate situations to use cash and credit.
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Activity Six: Running the Risk Students learn that life
involves risks and that insurance helps reduce the financial
consequences of risk. Students examine
how insurance premiums vary for different people and policies.
They role-play to demonstrate how insurance can reduce the cost
of medical, home, and
auto emergencies.
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Key Learning Objectives Students will be able to:
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identify ways people try to avoid risk.
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explain how insurance provides benefits.
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identify the opportunity cost of having insurance.
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JA Economics for Success enhances
students’ learning of the following concepts and skills:
Concepts–Credit,
Debt, Decision-making, Gross income, Insurance, Interest, Needs
and wants, Net income, Opportunity cost, Risk, Self-knowledge,
World of work
Skills–Critical
thinking, Decision-making, Following directions, Interpreting
data, Math calculations, Oral and written communication,
Problem-solving, Role-playing, Self-assessment, Working in groups
JA Economics for Success was
purposefully and strategically developed to align with academic
content area. This program’s focus on reading, writing, and
mathematics standards ensures relevance in all classrooms affected
by high-stakes testing.
JA Economics for Success is a series
of six activities recommended for students in grades six, seven,
and eight. The average time for each activity is 45 minutes.
Extended learning opportunities were developed to enhance and
extend core activities. JA Economics for Success provides
interactive, take-home materials for students, including a CD-ROM
supplement and a newsletter with directions to complete an online
career assessment. Materials are packaged in a self-contained kit
that includes detailed activity plans for the volunteer and
materials for 32 students.
All JA programs are designed to support the
skills and competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st
Century Skills. These programs also augment school-based,
work-based, and connecting activities for communities with
school-to-work initiatives.
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