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Theme/Unit: Introduction to Economics?

Unit Objectives:  Students should be able to explain basic economic concepts and the development and operation of economic systems in the United States and other nations, and make informed decisions about economic issues.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

·                     State 5.10.1, 5.10.2, 5.10.3, 5.10.4, 5.10.5, 6.10.7, 8.10.5, 9.6.1

[Students will use the following content topic or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

terms: economics, scarcity, resource, utility, want, need, opportunity cost, production possibilities, marginal benefit, marginal cost, capital, factors of production, land, labor capital and entrepreneurship, laissez-faire,  renewable and non renewable natural resources, macro economics, microeconomics, free enterprise, paradox of value, circular flow of economic, economic models, schools of economic thought, tangible, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, tangible.

[Students will know and be able to do….]:

·       What is Economics?

·      The relationship of scarcity to our   needs and needs

·      Resources-factors of production

A. Land

B. Labor

C. Capital

D. Entrepreneurship

·      Goods and Services

Economic trade offs

A. trade Offs

B. Production possibility curve

Economic Models

A. Circular Flow

B. Predictive Models

C. Ideal

Schools of Economic models

A. Classical

B. Historical

C. Institutional

Economic goals.       

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

·Define basic terms

·TINSTAAFL Activity

·Participate in the Wilderness Activity

·Write an essay on the opportunity cost of  going to college

Andersonville Video

The grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck

The Christmas Carol By Dickens

Guns v. Butter Video

PBS Video "Oil"

Does Bill Gates have a scarcity problem activity?

Bead Game

Explain how the factors of production work to bring you a happy meal?

An objective test to be administrated that will include all the topics and concepts.

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Theme/Unit:

Economic Systems

Unit Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding of different types of economic systems, their advantages and disadvantages, and how the economic systems used in particular countries may change over time.  

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

State 17-

District 7- “Be … individuals who can recognize and value differences, abilities, ideas, and talents as well as culture, race and relig

[Students will use the following content topic or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

Terms: Basic economic question, choice, Circular flow of economics, command system, competition, contract, economic system, ethics, Free Enterprise, household, incentive, loss, Market system, mixed system, private good, private property, profit incentive,  public good, public property, profit, total cost, total revenue, traditional system.

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

·      Investigate how a free enterprise economy answers the four economic questions.

·      List and discuss the five major features

 of the free enterprise system.

·      Report how the role of profits and losses play in a free enterprise economy.

·   Evaluate the qualities or characteristics of an ethical economic system.

List the major characteristics of pure capitalism and the command economy.

List the major characteristics of a socialist economy.

list the major characteristics of a communist economy.

Compare and contrast traditional, command, and market economies.

. Define the role of an Entrepreneur.

. Evaluate why individuals in a free-enterprise economy will not produce a public good.

. Interpret and explain the circular flow of economic activity diagram. 

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*All students will prepare a two page biography of one of the following:

· Milton Freeman

. John Kenneth Galbraith

. Henry George

. John Maynard Keynes

. Thomas Robert Malthus

. Alfred Marshall

. Karl Marx

. David Ricardo

. Paul Samuels

· Adam  Smith         

Students will present 5 min. speech to the class on their economist.

*Student groups make list of the characteristics of other economic systems and compare and contrast these characteristics with those of the market economy.

* Ask students to draw a circular flow model showing the roles of households, business, and government in a mixed capitalistic economy.

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Theme/Unit:

Supply and Demand

Unit Objectives:  Students analyze the elements of America's market economy in a global setting. The student will also describe the operation of the laws of supply and demand in a market economy and supply students with analytical tools they can use throughout their lives.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

[Students will use the following content topic or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

Terms: advancement in technology, complement, demand, demand curve, demand schedule, direct relationship, elastic demand, elastic supply, elasticity of supply, equilibrium, equilibrium price, equilibrium quantity, inelastic demand, inelastic supply, inferior goods, inverse relation, inventory, law of demand, law of marginal diminishing utility, law of supply, market, neutral good, normal good, per-unit cost, price effect, quantity demanded, quantity supplied, quota, rationing devise, service substitute, supply, supply curve, supply schedule, technology, unit-elastic demand, unit elastic supply

[Students will know and be able to do….]:

· Define supply and demand.

· Graph  demand curve.

· Analyze the factors that can cause the demand curve to shift.

· Define elasticity of demand and predict its influence on society in various settings.

· Investigate the law of supply.

· Analyze the factors that can cause the supply curve to shift.

. Investigate how supply and demand work together to determine price.

. Predict what happens to price when there is a surplus or shortage.

. Illustrate why, in a world of scarcity, there is a need for a rationing device.

. Summarize how price rations resources and goods.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Define basic terms

*Chapter Test

*Teacher Observation/participation.   *Section Quiz.

*Students can identify three products whose prices they will monitor once a week over a two month period. Each week the students record the price for each product on a graph. After the two month period, the students must try to explain any price changes. Students must also be familiar where the  products they chose are made.

*Students can draw demand/supply schedules and curves and determine equilibrium prices. Students can participate in discussions on what effect of shifts in the demand curve and or supply curve have on quantity demanded and supplied.

*Conduct a classroom debate on the following issue: "Resolved: Competition is the best way for individuals to improve themselves and for businesses to improve their products."

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Theme/Unit:

Types of Business Organizations and the Stock Market

Unit Objectives: Students will explain or describe: how a business gets started: the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorship, partnerships; and the advantages and disadvantages of corporations as business organizations. Students will also explore the influence of competition and pure monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition: and government regulation. Students will also be able specify sources of financing methods of production available to companies .

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE the OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

District 1- “Understand the world and their position in it.”

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

I. Elements of business operation.

II. Sole proprietorships

    A. Legal obligations

    B. Advantages

    C. Disadvantages

III. Partnerships

    A. Legal obligations

    B. Advantages

    C. disadvantages

IV. Corporations

    A. Legal obligations

    B. Selling stock

    C. Advantages

    D. Disadvantages

V. Miscellaneous forms of business organization.

VI. Investing in business

    A. Stock market

    B. Bond Market

    C. Mutual funds

VII. Perfect competition

    A. Conditions necessary

    B. American agreement

VIII. Pure Monopoly 

    A. Characteristics of monopoly

    B. Importance of monopolies

Oligopoly

    A. Definition

    B. Advantages

X. Monopolistic competition

    A. Contrasting oligopoly & pure monopolies

    B. competitive advertising

XI. Governments role in monopolies

    A. Antitrust legislation

    B. Regulatory Agencies

    C. Role of deregulation

XII. Role of management.

    A. Managing business operations.

    B. Financing business operations.

         1. Short term

         2. Intermediate term

          3. Long term

XIII. Operations in the production process

    A. Operations in the production process

    B. Planning

Terms: AMEX, barriers to entry, bond, Bulls and Bears, competition, copyrights, cooperative, corporations, cost

  diminishing, dividend, franchise, imperfect competition, liability, marketing, mergers, monopoly, NASDAQ, NYSE, oligopoly, partnership, patent, price leaders, price takers and price structure, product differentiation, promotion,    proprietorship, returns, pure price competition,

revenue, security and exchange, stocks, trademarks, Wall Street.

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

·         list factors causing an individual to form a business.

·         Realize the five basic elements of all business ventures.

·         Form and understand a partnership.

·         Form and understand a corporation.

·         Realize that other forms of business organizations do exists.

·      Describe the process that businesses use to obtain the necessary funds to start a business.

·         Recognize the relationship between risk and yield.

Explain what is the stock market and what is it used for.

Understand how the stock market operates.

Describe how the stock market is regulated.

Analyze various forms of investment tools available to individuals and businesses.

Calculate a closing price for a selected stock or mutual fund.

Describe the characteristics of a pure competition scenario.

List the conditions for a perfectly competitive market.

Define Oligopoly.

Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of pure competition, oligopoly and a monopoly.

Describe the purpose of federal legislation regarding business competition.

State the different types of financing available to business organizations.

Explain trade offs & opportunity costs involved in making financial planning decisions.

List the operations involved in the production process.

Realize the impact of technology on production methods since the industrial revolution.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Define basic terms.

* Field trip to a local business.

*Business Simulation. Students can use software program to open a hypothetical business. Students will have to study the different legal structures and explain the differences between the following types of enterprises: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and non profit organization. Students will compare these enterprises from the perspectives of ownership, taxation, legal structures, and profits. Students will work in small groups and select a type of business and evaluate it in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.

* Students can go online to the Small Business Administration website at www.sba.gov/starting/indexfaqs.html

to find answers to frequently asked questions about starting a small business.

* Students can prepare and present a business plan and present it to the class. For an example of an online plan, go to http://biztech,nfte.com/

* Invite local entrepreneurs to speak to the class about their business.

*"Do you have the traits to become an entrepreneur?" There are a number of websites that have quick easy quizzes to rate if you have the qualities to become an entrepreneur. Students may also pick an entrepreneur of their own choice and research and present a paper on their findings.

* Students may want to visit the website for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) at http://www.nyie.org/ or they can call 1-877-275-6943

Students can research the economic, social, and political effect that globalization has had on a various local businesses and or industries. Students can investigate the effects of companies that move their manufacturing processes to other parts of the world. Students will need to explain how outsourcing or contracting out has influenced the local labor market.

* View the award-winning documentary film Roger and Me in which Michael Moore exposes the effects that General Motors had on Flint, Michigan. 

**Class Debate: "Resolved: Some businesses are too big and important to fall. Therefore, the government should take all necessary steps to prevent it from happening."

*Students can compare and contrast the problems the workers faced in the 19th century with workers today in various industries, such as the garment and steel industries, railroads, and on farms that employ migrant workers.

Students will look at actual cases of businesses and corporations that ignored their moral, ethical, or social responsibilities. Students will look at the cases and describe the corporate action and propose remedies. Students will also look at how the courts have dealt with these kinds of business practices.

* Students can participate in a Mock Trial Students can find a case on www.nysba.org/lyc/lyc.html

This case is a fictional case study concerning a corporation that was charged with illegal disposal of hazardous waste materials.

* Students can investigate socially conscience companies and business leaders at the following websites: The social Venture network at http://www.syn.org/home.html

     Verizon Foundation at http://www.foundation.verizon.com/indes.html

     Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream at http://www.benjerry.com/foundation/index.html

*Virtual tour the New York Stock Exchange. www.nyse.com/about/about.html

*Virtual tour of the NASDAQ. www.investor.nasd.com/teach/default.html

*Students can investigate how a major stock brokerage firm operates by visiting Merrill Lynch at http://www.ml.com/

*Students can create their own portfolio by visiting Yahoo Finance at http://www.yahoo/ or at the Solomon Smith Barney Young Investors website at http://www.solomonsmithbarneyyoung.com/

*Participate in the "Stock Market Game"

http://www.smgww.org/

http://www.virtualstockexchange.com/ 

http://www.thinkqueststockquest.com/

Manchester Union Leader Corporation offers a competitive stock market game through their paper.

*History Channel Modern Marvels The Stock Exchange

*Students will experience the turbulence of a bull market by participating in a mock stock market.

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Theme/Unit:

College Career Exploration

Unit Objectives:  .

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

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Theme/Unit:

Consumers, Savers and Budgeting

Unit Objectives:  Students will demonstrate the ability and willingness to apply economic concepts in the examination and resolution of problems and issues in educational, occupational, civic, and everyday settings.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

I. Consumption & income

   A. Disposable income

   B. Discretionary income

II. Buying principles or strategies. 

III. Consumerism

   A. Consumer movement

   B. Fed agencies & Consumer Protection

   C. Consumer right & responsibilities

IV. Credit arrangements

   A. Size of personal debt

   B. Sources of loans

   C. Charges & credit cards

   D. Role of debit card

V. The cost of credit

   A. Financial

   B. Misuse costs

VI. Applying for credit

VII. Government's role in credit regulation

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

Describe the relationship between consumption & income.

Apply each of the buying principles to a decision about a purchase.

Identify the purpose of the consumer movement.

Compare credit purchase of the consumer movement.

Contrast six major sources of loans. 

Know annual percentage rates.

Understand process for obtaining credit.

Determine the purpose of governing the credit industry. 

Explain the purpose of saving income. 

Realize the difference between simple & compound interest.

State tax benefits of a Keogh v. an IRA plan.

Develop decision making process for saving & investing.

Understand liquidity, risk, compounding, the rule of 73, asset allocation and equity.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Define basic terms.

* Invite a representative from a local bank, credit union, insurance company, brokerage firm, or financial planning company to visit the class and discuss their institution's different products and services. Students can prepare questions before the presentations and develop a financial plan after the presentations.

*Students can develop a personal financial plan in which they indicate their financial goals, income needs, and investment strategies. Students will be required to include how they will evaluate progress towards their financial goals.

*Useful websites that describe products and services that banks offer to customers. http://www.bankofamerica.com/, http://www.chase.com/, http://www.db.com/

*Students response Question: You must spend less than you make."

*Useful websites:

 Finance related topics http://www.finpipe.com/.

 Highly recommended financial site for teachers. http://www.jumpstartcoalition.com/.

Information about financial markets, investment choices, fraud, and unethical behavior at the National Institute of Consumer Education.

http://www.nice.emich.edu/

Students create a spreadsheet to compare costs of borrowing $15,000 to purchase an automobile at interest rates of 6%, 9%, and 10.5% over 36 and 48 months.

Students can learn about credit by visiting one of the following consumer protection agency websites: Consumer product safety Commission, at http://www.cpsc.gov/: Federal trade Commission http://www.fda.gov/ and students can learn about the dangers of credit cards when used unwisely by visiting www.studentcredit.com/learn.htm

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Theme/Unit:

Labor

Unit Objectives: Students will explain or describe the past or current categories of workers in the labor force; the factors that determine how supply and demand effect wages; the rise of unions; the resistance of management and government; the types of union shops; and the major issued addressed and the negotiating methods used in collective bargaining.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

1. Labor force

A. Categories of workers

     1. Changes occurring

     2. Problems categorizing

B. Supply & demand in labor market

II. Organized labor

A. Types of unions

B. Union organization

C. Negotiation process

III. Managerial responses to labor initiatives.

IV. Strikes

A. Types

B. Other weapons of labor

C. Third party initiatives

V. Labor legislation

A. Sherman/Clayton ant-trust acts.

B. Norris-LaGuardia

C. NLRA

D. Taft & Hartley

E. Landrum-Griffin Act

F. OSHA

VI. Future of the union movement

arbitration

closed Shop

collective bargaining

downsizing

mediation

minimum wage law

labor union

National labor

negotiation Relations Board

outsourcing

privatization

right to work

strike

Taft-Hartley

unemployment

unions

Wagner Act

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

Define wages or wage rate.

Distinguish between money wages & 

real wages. 

Explain the determinants of wage rate & the level of employment. 

Enumerate the devices used by the labor unions to increase wage rates. 

List the factors that have led to a generally high level of real wages.

Present the major economic arguments for and against a legally established minimum wage.

Explain the theory of investment in human capital.

Differentiate among open, union & closed shops.

To describe the possible future of unionism in the U.S.

List major issues involved in collective bargaining.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Explain vocabulary terms.

* Students can investigate various labor strikes during the 19th and 20th centuries in terms of causes and results. Their research should be presented to the class.

*Students can collect news articles about the changing role of women, teenagers, minorities, and elderly in the workforce.

*Debate topic: "Resolved: Affirmative action is an important tool to allow women and minorities to gain greater access to education and employment."

*Students can visit the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor and Statistics websites to collect demographic information about the changing composition of the United States workforce. 

http://www.census.gov/ Census Bureau

http://www.bls.gov/

*Students can role-play  a management-labor issue like improved working conditions, better wages, and benefits, or potential layoffs, Students can take sides on the issues and present their cases and try to come to an agreement. Students may need to take their case to an arbitrator and/or a mediator.

* Students can investigate and report about a current labor-management issue and possibly propose solutions to the problem.

*Guest Speaker. Union Official

* labor Unions with informative websites: http://www.uaw.org/

http://www.aflcio.org/

*Read Lost Futures: The Problem of Child Labor, available from The American Federation of Teachers, International Affairs Department, (202)879-4400.

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Theme/Unit:

Role of Government in the Economy

Unit Objectives: 

Students should be able to analyze the influence of the government on the American economy.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

 Terms: budget deficit, budget surplus, economic security, expenditures, external costs and benefits, federal/state/local budget and finances, government and circular flow, government spending, interdependence, laissez-faire, managed economy, National Debt, proportional/progressive/and regressive taxes, public goods and services, receipts, social security

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

List the common economic responsibilities of government-enforce private property rights, deal with externalities, ensure market competition, provide public goods and services, promote economic security, and stabilize the economy.

Identify the principal categories in federal, state, and local budgets.

Compare the "ability-to-pay" and "benefits received" approaches to taxation.

Compare proportional, progressive, and regressive taxes.

Define and distinguish between national debt and budget deficit

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Define basic terms.

*Class Debate: "Resolved: Some businesses are too big and important to fall. Therefore, the government should take all necessary steps to prevent it from happening."

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Theme/Unit:

Macro Economics

Unit Objectives:  Students will focus on the larger economy and the roles of government, financial institutions, and monetary and fiscal policies used to moderate the "economy's ups and downs.".

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]:

School Goal #7: . . . .individuals who can recognize and value differences, abilities, ideas, and talents as well as culture, race and religion.

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

Terms: barter economy, currency, debit card, demand deposit, double  coincidence of wants, face value, federal reserve note, fiscal policy, fractional reserve banking, Gresham's law, inflation, medium of exchange, monetary policy, money, money supply, near-money, savings account, store of value, unit of account, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, discount rate, excess reserves, federal funds rate, federal reserve system (FED), inflation, monetary policy, open-market operations, required reserves, reserve requirement and total reserves, treasury bonds.

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

. Define money.

. List the three functions of money.

. Summarize how money evolved out of a barter economy.

. define what is meant by "good money" and "bad money."

. Illustrate how the early bankers, who were goldsmiths, increased the money supply.

. Diagram the structure of the Federal Reserve system.

. Illustrate how banks create demand deposits (money).

. Identify and evaluate the ways in which the Fed can change the money supply.

Describe how the government carries out fiscal and monetary policy.

Explain what inflation is and what causes inflation to occur.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

*Define basic terms.

*Students can investigate the history of money by reviewing the website on the Federal reserve bank at http://www.bos.frb.org/, the United States Mint website at http://www.usmint.org/ and the Department of treasury website at www.treas.gov/usss

*Students can explore and learn the functions of the Federal Reserve Bank by visiting http://www.newyorkfed.org/

*The federal reserve offers free material to teachers in the classroom at http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/

http://www.newyorkfed.org/

*Field trip to the Federal Reserve bank in Boston to see the exhibit "Fed Works". Use the Fed Works activities in the Fed Works Teacher's Guide.

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Theme/Unit:

Global Economics

Unit Objectives:  Students should be able to analyze issues of international trade and explain how the U.S. economy affects, and is affected by, economic forces beyond the United States' borders. Students will also look at economic growth in industrialized and developing countries.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

TOPICS and CONCEPTS

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

[Students will be able to:  Usually from State Frameworks or National Goals]

School Goal #7: . . . .individuals … can recognize and value differences, abilities, ideas, and talents as well as culture, race and religion.

[Students will use the following content topic  or concepts to meet the curriculum standards]:

Define: absolute and comparative advantage, balance of payments, barriers to trade, benefit of trade, communism, consumer v. producer economies, current & capital account, developing countries, economic cooperation, economic development and growth, European Union, exchange rules, GATT, NAFTA, privatization, quotas and subsidies, socialism, revenue and protective tariffs, trade deficits,

[Students will know and be able to  do….]:

Understand the benefits of international trade.

Understand the costs of International Trade

Explain how nations control their international trade

Understand how international trade takes place financially.

Analyze the current economic trends.

[In order to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do, students will]:

Analyze social and economic data and use the data to identify specific problems.

List common problems in developing countries

Compare countries in terms of:

Life Expectancy

Infant Mortality

Assume role of economic advisers who are trying to identify ways to improve the standard of living in selected developing countries.