Lesson series

FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMICS

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Course Overview

This course introduces learners to the core principles of economics and how they shape individual choices, business decisions, and national and global outcomes. Through real-world examples, interactive activities, and applied analysis, students explore how scarcity, markets, government policy, and global forces influence everyday life. The course emphasizes practical economic thinking, data interpretation, and ethical decision-making to help learners understand complex economic issues and apply economic reasoning to real-world challenges. 

What You’ll Learn

By completing this course, learners will be able to:
  • Explain how scarcity, opportunity cost, and trade-offs drive economic decision-making
  • Analyze how supply and demand determine prices and market outcomes
  • Compare economic systems and evaluate the role of government in the economy
  • Understand money, banking, inflation, unemployment, and economic indicators
  • Apply economic concepts to real-world issues such as inequality, sustainability, and global trade 

Learning Experience

This course includes a mix of:
  • Structured, lesson-based instruction
  • Real-world examples and economic case studies
  • Interactive simulations and applied activities
  • Reflection exercises and data analysis
  • A midterm assessment and a collaborative group project focused on real economic issues 

Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, learners will have a strong foundation in economic principles and the ability to think critically about financial, business, and policy decisions. Students will be prepared to apply economic reasoning to personal choices, workforce pathways, entrepreneurship, and continued study in business or economics.

Course contents

Course instructor

Dr. Dawn Lindsey

Dr. Dawn Lindsey’s entrepreneurial journey began at age seven, when she first earned money guiding blind community members through town. Raised by a mother who successfully ran multiple home-based businesses with only a second-grade education, she learned early that ingenuity, determination, and work ethic create opportunity. Despite not completing high school, she founded Malotane Building Services, becoming one of the first Black woman-owned construction companies in South Africa and earning international recognition for her leadership in housing development. After immigrating to the United States with just $2,000 and her youngest child, she built Next Generation Fuel into one of the few Black woman-owned oil and gas companies supplying Fortune 500 organizations and later founded Vari-Tek LLC, serving infrastructure and construction markets.

Alongside building multiple successful companies, Dr. Lindsey earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business, a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, a PhD in Public Policy, and a Doctoral Certificate in Educational Leadership, and she is a licensed Business Educator with the Indiana Department of Education. Drawing on decades of business leadership and lived experience, she created the accredited Youth Entrepreneurial System (YES), the foundation of IndyEXCEL’s business education model, designed to equip youth and aspiring entrepreneurs with practical skills, economic knowledge, and pathways to ownership, independence, and generational wealth.