Throughout many districts across the nation, AP Microeconomics is taught as a single-semester course, forcing teachers to move through content as quickly as possible and make choices about what content to possibly cut. In my district, AP Microeconomics is taught as a full-year course. This allows us to cover topics more deeply and allots us the freedom to explore subject matter through hands-on activities, debates, and field trips. Because of the nature of most districts, this unit will help teachers understand how to incorporate income inequality into the lessons they already teach so as to not add significant content to an already time-sensitive course. This task can be accomplished by taking analysis the students are already required to do and posing questions around inequality. It’s a simple reframing. For districts that follow a similar full-year course model, this unit will provide additional strategies and ideas for how to deepen students’ understanding of income inequality by incorporating additional activities. AP Microeconomics teachers should feel free to piece together elements from this unit however they see fit to meet the time restrictions of the course.
The “Concepts and Content” section of this unit will highlight key background information that may help teachers better understand the concepts behind income inequality. The “Strategies and Methods” section will identify ways of incorporating these concepts into the course curriculum. Finally, the “Classroom Activities” section will identify various resources that teachers may want to include in their lessons.