The Everyday Consumer. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Consumer Education. Developed for Grades 9-12.

This manual contains activities and resources for infusing consumer education into English, business, mathematics, social studies, science, and home economics courses in grades nine through 12. The activities are intended to help students become more knowledgeable and efficient in managing their personal and collective economic affairs. The activities are based on four concepts: (1) basic economics of the marketplace, (2) legal rights, redress, and consumer laws, (3) major purchases of products and services, and (4) special problems such as advertising and product safety. The manual begins by listing consumer education competencies within each of these concept areas. The bulk of the manual is divided into six sections according to subject matter content. Within each section competencies, activities, resources, and performance indicators are listed for the various concepts. The activities are many and varied. Students read and discuss books, conduct panel discussions on shoplifting, view filmstrips, conduct research, give class reports, interpret data from graphs and apply findings to a practical solution for a problem, prepare maps, and set up resource files of information on savings, insurance, investments, and financial planning. The manual concludes with bibliographies of print and non-print student materials and free materials for educators. (RM)