From the UC-Berkeley Center for Community Economic Research. Excellent team activity for the classroom. It integrates research techniques, writing skills, math strands, and collaborative learning. This is an integrated learning project and a great cross-curricular project. Web sites with current economics information and data are also included.
Teachers can deal with the content at several levels, and the model itself is worth a try.
This could be a great simulation for students who want to take their study of economics a step further. Depending on your students' grade level, it can be useful for illustrating the role of time in financial calculations, and showing why prices from the 1930s don't necessarily mean that everything was in expensive in grandma's day. This site would be useful when discussing global economic development policies. Very sophisticated site not particularly geared to the classroom teacher. The Christian Science Monitor produced this surprisingly detailed chronology of 1,000 years of the evolution of work and economies.