One Stop Shop For Educators The following instructional plan is part of a GaDOE collection of Unit Frameworks, Performance Tasks, examples of Student Work, and Teacher Commentary for the Economics course.
Economics Unit 1 – “Connecting Themes in Economics”
Elaborated Unit Focus The important unit is designed to introduce students to the FOUR themes that feature prominently in the Principles of Economics course. Activities will focus on how people gain from trade, the role of incentives, the costs and benefits of interdependency, and how the condition of scarcity effects all individuals, firms, and nations. By the end of the unit students should demonstrate that they are comfortable with the enduring understandings and can apply them to practical, everyday situations. Standards/Elements This unit is designed to teach the themes used in the course. There are no standards and elements for this introductory unit.
Enduring Understandings/Essential Questions
The student will understand that parties trade voluntarily when they expect to gain.
Why don’t we make everything we need? Why don’t we have everything we need? Why should I trade?
The student will understand that parties respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.
How do you decide whether or not to do your homework? Why did you choose to come to school today? What are some different types of incentives you respond to?
The student will understand that, because of interdependency, a decision made by one party has intended and unintended consequences on other parties.
How do your choices affect others? Why are the decisions I (or other students) make important to you?
The student will understand that scarcity of all resources forces parties to make choices and that these choices always incur a cost.
What did you give up recently to get something you wanted? Why can’t I have everything I want? How can the word “costs” describe more than just money?
Georgia Department of Education Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools ECONOMICS UNIT ONE Approved 5/31/2007 Page 1 of 3 Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators The following instructional plan is part of a GaDOE collection of Unit Frameworks, Performance Tasks, examples of Student Work, and Teacher Commentary for the Economics course.
*NOTE: The balanced assessment plan included in this unit is presented as a series of suggested activities. It is not expected that the teacher complete all assessments for a successful unit. Balanced Assessment Plan Description of Assessment
Type of Assessment Use the Socratic method to question students about how the Dialogue and themes relate to them personally. At the end of questioning discussion students respond to the prompt “How (insert theme) relates to my Constructed life.” Teacher may use all the themes or select certain ones for Response the prompt. SelfAssessment Match a list of events (current or historical) to an appropriate Dialogue and enduring understanding and explain why they fit. discussion Selected Response Students will create a resume describing how their personal Informal productive activities demonstrate each of the connecting themes. Observation The final product will serve as a reference for the performance Dialogue and task. Discussion Constructed Response
Sample Performance Task (attach rubric) This unit is intended as a brief introduction to the themes for the course. Therefore, there is not a performance task for this unit.
Map and Globe Skills:
Information Processing Skills:
Georgia Department of Education Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools ECONOMICS UNIT ONE Approved 5/31/2007 Page 2 of 3 Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators The following instructional plan is part of a GaDOE collection of Unit Frameworks, Performance Tasks, examples of Student Work, and Teacher Commentary for the Economics course. Homework: Day One Unit One: Connecting Themes in Economics Each of the five content units in this course will connect to four main themes. These four themes are: 1. 2. 3. 4. The ways in which people gain from trade (voluntary exchange). The role of incentives (for example, profit motive) in making choices. The costs and benefits of interdependency (economic interdependence) between two or more individuals, businesses, and/or nations. The effect of scarcity on making choices.
In tonight’s homework, you will connect these themes to your current life. Please follow the steps. Step One (16 point daily grade): Look up and define the following terms. Voluntary Exchange Economic Interdependence Profit Motive Scarcity
Step Two (80 point Creative Expression Grade): Write a short story (a minimum of 15 sentences and a maximum of 25) based on an event in your life or a situation from a movie/book. You are welcome to exaggerate the situation for the sake of humor or creativity. The story should be appropriate for the school context (no profanity or explicit sexual/drug references). Please make sure your story illustrates all of the following: 1. Two individuals, businesses, or nations must gain by voluntarily exchanging one good/service/resource for another. The reason why both parties considered their trade to be fair. (Why did they agree to the particular “price” requested by the other?) A benefit of relying on the other party for the good/service/resource and a cost of not being self-sufficient. A least two ways scarcity affected the character’s choices.
2.
3. 4.
Example using Stars Wars
On upon a time, Luke Skywalker realized it was his destiny to bring down the evil empire of Darth Sidious. Unfortunately, he lacked the skills of a Jedi knight. His friends told him to visit a far away planet and ask a Jedi Master named Yoda to train him. Luke was concerned about diverting valuable time and the use of his xwing ship away from helping the weakening rebel army. However, he knew that the cost of facing Darth Vader and Darth Sidious without the skills of a Jedi was greater than the benefit his time and ship would provide to the rebel army. Knowing this, he set out to find Yoda. Upon landing on the planet Dagobah, Luke inadvertently stumbles upon Yoda. Yoda recognizes the role Luke is destined to play in the war against the empire. Although Luke has no money to pay Yoda for his Jedi lessons, Yoda’s incentive to train Luke is his desire to have him defeat Darth Sidious and restore peace to the galaxy. Although Luke had to give up time and fuel to travel to Dagobah, he could not have trained himself as well as Yoda trained him. Although Yoda had to use great amounts of energy and time to train Luke, it was worth the price because he could not have defeated Darth Sidious without Luke.
*This unit was created by Mark DeCourcy and Sherilyn Narker with additional input from Dr. Bill Cranshaw, Chris Cannon, and Marlo Mong. It was approved by the Social Studies Advisory Council 7/06/07.
Georgia Department of Education Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools ECONOMICS UNIT ONE Approved 5/31/2007 Page 3 of 3 Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved