Education Resources Recommended by Katrina Stierholz

Katrina Stierholz is Vice President and Director of Library and Research Information Services. Katrina's favorite resources are listed below.

Resources to Develop Data Literacy using FRED and FRASER.

10 FRED Activities in 10 Minutes

Take a 10-minute guided tour of the newly updated FRED, the St. Louis Fed's free economic data website. Simple step-by-step activities equip users to find and graph economic data, mastering FRED's new look and feel. The guide also shows how to customize, save, and share a FRED graph.

Analyzing the Elements of Real GDP in FRED Using Stacking

This online activity shows how to use FRED, the Federal Reserve's free online economic data website, to analyze changes in real gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP makeup over time. Following simple instructions, you will locate spending data for the individual components of real GDP, and then combine them into a highly informative area graph. You will also use FRED's ability to stack data and see how trade—imports and exports—contributes to GDP. The resulting customized graph will let you see how economic output varies from year to year.

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink - Progressive Reforms and Economic Wealth in the 1920s Lesson for Grades 10-12

Students learn that economic forces have an impact beyond the financial world. First, they learn that Progressive Era public health reforms inspired a commercial response to the growing demand for sanitation through the rapid increase in bathroom-fixture production. Students then use FRED, economic data from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, to analyze how bathroom-fixture production changed throughout the 1920s. They examine primary documents—1920s advertising—to see how companies fused the Progressive Era with the new consumer culture. Finally, students complete the lesson by responding to AP U.S. History-style short-answer questions.

FRED Classroom Newsletter

This newsletter includes tips, tricks, and activities to use for teaching economics using live data from FRED.

Historical Inquiry with Charts Toolkit

Historians are experts at assessing and analyzing documents to build a narrative but may be stymied by numbers. Charts (tables, graphs, maps, diagrams, and so on) provide a graphical view of information and can be a powerful way to display evidence. This toolkit provides a series of resources for students to read, interpret, and think critically about charts in textbooks and historical documents. It has three main parts: (i) the Glossary of Charts Terms, (ii) the Glossary of Chart Types, and (iii) Historical Inquiry Questions for Charts. It also includes a suggested procedure for how to use the Toolkit. Keep the Toolkit resources bookmarked to use each time you come across a chart for study.

Tools for Teaching the AP Comparative Government Course with Six Nations' Data from FRED

A free online dashboard that integrates updated development markers such as literacy and GDP across the six nations central to the AP Comparative Government curriculum.

View upcoming events and webinars.

Subscribe to the Econ Lowdown e-newsletter. It's the most convenient way for economics and personal finance teachers to stay up-to-date on the latest videos, podcasts, curriculum and classroom activities from the St. Louis Fed. Each issue also includes a list of upcoming events where teachers can get ideas for their classrooms, earn continuing education credit and network with their peers. Other email alert options are available.