What+is+Economics

** // Essential Question // **** :   ** ** How do choices and incentives influence the behavior of individuals, businesses and economics institutions? ** 1. Develop a working definition for economics   || -Core principles of economics: how people make choices, how people make decisions, there are limited resources; the study of how people make choices in situations of scarce resources -Group discussion to reach a final definition on the board; needs, wants, resources, etc. -PPT – direct instruction exploring definitions and vocabulary -Think/Pair/Share bell ringer to class discussion -Groups of 4; basic prompt or provide different examples to create a working definition (jigsaw into class discussion) -“** Wordle **” – show all of their initial thoughts and then compare to working definition  || 2. Define the basic problem of scarcity: unlimited wants versus limited resources   || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Evaluation of current events issues to provide examples <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Discuss whole class needs versus wants; use pictures around the world in various situations (individual, national, global) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Discuss individual limits of resources <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-PPT/direct instruction <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Try to prove that a cell phone is not a necessity <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Ask a hypothetical question? If you won the lottery, what would you do? Now, what decisions do you make with your money <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Tie scarcity and opportunity cost together <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Simulations (FTE) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">3. Demonstrate the implications of opportunity cost on daily decisions <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Handout on opportunity cost to log decisions made throughout the next 24 hours <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Decision tree <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Video clip from St. Louis Federal Reserve on Youtube.com “Why don’t you feed your paycheck to a jaguar?” <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">4. Identify and explain the factors of production <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Factors of production – land, labor, capital (3 essentials) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Entrepren. and incentives; depend on economic system <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Pizza place simulation; students have to create a pizza restaurant and use the factors of production <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Use clothing as an idea or pick a product to explore the factors of production <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Bring in circular flow chart to show the connections (with personal experiences) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">5. Apply principles of the production possibilities frontier/curve/graph <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-PPT/Lecture <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Use textbook examples (guns and butter) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-New Orleans; pre-Katrina, post-Katrina || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">6. Evaluate different economic systems using the three core economic questions  || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Traditional (Native American, tribal communities, sustainable) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Continuum = command/central, market, and mixed market economies <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Define the systems and the characteristics <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-CIA World Factbook; 60 minutes clip <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">7. Explain the rationale for public goods and provide an example <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> || <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Why do governments provide public goods? <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Discussion; How do you get to school? <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Analyze current events <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Video Clip: Firemen Auction “en espanol” (youtube.com) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">[] <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Debate over public goods (should they exist?) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">-Make lists of public goods <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> ||
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Unit 1: What is Economics? __ **** <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> 3 weeks **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">