Over the course of our research, we've gathered a number of resources to help explain financial and economic information to our students. These short motion graphics captured their attention and engaged them in the learning process far beyond our expectations. Since the videos are scattered throughout our posts on financial literacy, we decided to do a quick roundup here for the sake of convenience. Feel free to click on each of the headings below for lesson plans and project ideas related to each topic.

The United States of Financial and Economic Literacy

This motion infographic prepared by the Council for Economic Education shows the alarming statistics about monetary awareness. It brought to light the ever-growing need for more financial literacy in our schools. Even though many states have recently enacted requirements for students to take an economic or personal finance class to graduate high school, we should push for curricula in the middle school years when financial habits are beginning to form.

I, Pencil, The Movie

This animated film on economics and the interdependence in producing manufactured goods in a free market economy captivated our students. By using a low-tech tool that all kids use, the presentation provided an insightful look at the intricacies that go into producing a pencil, and it gave learners a real-life look at the many people who worked together to make it.

Wealth Inequality In America

This motion graphic highlighted the reality in earnings between the rich and the poor, which is quite different from the perception of most Americans. This visualization used charts, graphs, and images to give the students the hard reality of the distribution of wealth in the United States. Our students were quite surprised at how skewed the reality is from what most believe to be true.

U.S. Debt Visualized As Physical $100 Bills

Demon-Ocracy Info produced the following powerful, animated video to visualize the debt in the United States as physical $100 bills. Somehow the swallowing effect created by the bills engulfing Lady Liberty really hit home with our students. It set in motion a host of questions, particularly with regard to the "fiscal cliff" earlier this year.

100th Anniversary Of The Income Tax

Last year the 1040 Tax Form reached its centennial anniversary. This short video paved the way for kids to learn how the federal income tax works and who pays what percentage. They quickly learned why "tax day" on April 15 is not something working Americans look forward to every year.

Source: Digital Aptitude

Since we integrate financial literacy into our program wherever we can, we keep an eye out for visual resources to aid our students in comprehending complicated ideas. It also helps provide a greater understanding of things they hear about in the news. For months they’ve listened to the constant political fight in Washington over taxes, the fiscal cliff, and sequestration. So it is no surprise that students cannot fully grasp what the wealth distribution in America actual looks like, particularly the top 1% that is so often referred to in these debates.

We recently came across this excellent motion graphic called Wealth Inequality in America from Visually. It highlights the reality in earnings between the rich and the poor as opposed to what most people think. What most Americans perceive is not quite the reality. The visualization begins with percentages comparing the ideal distribution with what people believe. Then it hits the reality of the discrepancy. It reinforces the comparison with multiple charts and images to drive home the point. The actual distribution of wealth is significantly skewed far more in reality. This powerful visualization puts things in perspective for students.


Other motion graphics we’ve used to enrich our students’ awareness of financial issues include the following:

• US Debt Visualized in Physical $100 Bills
• I, Pencil, The Movie

Source: Good.is

So what do the Mayan calendar and the Fiscal Cliff have in common? Perhaps nothing more than counting down the end of days for the world or allowing taxes as we know them to increase. There's certainly no shortage of information in the media, and it seems hard to avoid talking about these "events" with our students.

Source: KarBel Multimedia

The presidential election was no sooner over in November than we started heading for the precipice. Judging from the current state of affairs in Washington, we just might fall.

Nevertheless, we are always looking for ways to keep our students engaged as we approach the holiday break, and there are plenty of dynamic infographics available. Here are some of our favorites that we've shared with our students, and as always, they can be used in a variety of disciplines.

It's the End of the World As They Know It from Good.is has some interesting statistics regarding countries that believe the apocalypse is coming and the dire predictions of how it will happen. Another is the visualization called Countdown To 2012 from KarBel Multimedia. This design shows the ticking away to the end as gears inside a clock. There are others, such as the End of the World or the believers and skeptics infographic, which parallels the views from both sides about the prophecy, celestial significance, cataclysm, and consciousness shift.

Source: Demon-Ocracy Info (detail)

As for Fiscal Cliff infographics, there are plenty that do a nice job of showing the two sides of the issue, both on the tax increases as well as on the political points of view. Any of these visualizations make for great discussions about economics, finance, and politics. It's hard not to see how they would fit into any social studies class.

One particularly interesting visual is The Fiscal Cliff - 2013 - Cheat Sheet by Demon-Ocracy Info that uses mounds of $100 dollar bills to illustrate the financial situation. It also produced the following powerful, animated video using the same concept of using $100 dollar bills to visualize debt in the United States.



A few others include the infographic from ABC News, incorporating the red and blue color scheme to highlight the political affiliation, and The Fiscal Cliff: What Does It Really Mean?, showing a different representation of the information.

Source: ABC News

In all of these designs, it's important to carefully dissect the details. One of the things we do with our students whenever we use visualizations is to compare the data and information for discrepancies.

A key component in our curriculum is media literacy, and it's important always to include the core concepts of media literacy whenever students are looking at infographics to check for possible biases or misinformation.

Source: Colorlines (detail)

In addition, we continually want to reinforce the skills of graphicacy to build our students' abilities to be visually literate and to be visual thinkers. So much of what they see depends on a solid foundation in these areas.

Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute

The pencil is a simple "technology" compared to today’s tablet computers and smart phones. It looks easy to make such an uncomplicated tool. After all it's only wood, graphite and rubber, right? Not exactly.

The pencil, although much less complex to operate, takes a "village" to manufacture. The film I, Pencil: The Movie by the Competitive Enterprise Institute is based on a 1958 essay by Leonard E. Read and explains this multifaceted process and the network of people needed.



This animated film is a lesson in economics and collaboration. It's perfect for helping students understand the interdependence in producing manufactured goods in a free market economy and can be used at any grade level. Watching it will change the way they think and open their eyes to the worlds of industry, teamwork and dependency.

This simple presentation on the intricacies of producing a low-tech tool they all use is a perfect segue to introduce economics and promote greater financial literacy. Its straightforward presentation also demonstrates how it takes millions of people working together to produce a good so fundamental to learning, writing and communication.