A third-grade class and fifth-grade remedial reading students gained a positive attitude toward contemporary economic problems by studying economics as a puzzle in this award-winning project. The following concepts were each approached as pieces of the puzzle to be solved: money, wants and needs, income, goods and services, scarcity, consumption and production, inflation, taxes, market economy, public and private enterprise, resources, productivity, decisionmaking, and interdependence. Students were introduced to the unit through a current events study of the economic components of the 1980 presidential campaign platforms and the creation of a "good" and "bad" economic news bulletin board. Unit activities were many and varied and included studying the costs of favorite foods, enacting role plays, writing a story on the life of a $10 bill, listening to quest presentations on city services and school finances, conducting interviews, creating bulletin boards and murals, and taking a field trip to a local mall and supermarket. Students concluded their unit of study through several major projects: advertising and marketing hats, writing an economics newsletter, and conducting a schoolwide open house in which their economics activities were displayed. Project evaluation materials and a bibliography are included. (LP)