Economics Exploration using a Global View

1. Economics Exploration
using a Global View
Presenter: Celisity Cadotte
Subject: HS Economics
Unit: Foundational
Economics
Conceptual Lens: Influence

2. Conceptual Lens: Influence
Influence is “the capacity or power of
persons or things to be a compelling force
on or produce effects on the
actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of
others.”
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/influence?s=t&ld=1087
Influence synonyms:
power, consequence, control, effect, force, guidance,
impact, importance, imprint, leverage, pressure, pull,
repercussions, sway, weight
http://thesaurus.com/browse/influence?s=t

3. Critical Content
Intradisciplinary Web for Economics
Conceptual Lens – Influence
Scarcity Economic Systems
Opportunity Cost
Efficiency
Productivity
Equity
Freedom
Unit Title
stability
Economic Growth
Foundational Economic Development
Unemployment Economics
Inflation Economic Systems
Technological Change
Concepts Italicized
Gross Domestic Product
Supply / Demand
(GDP)
Market Value Elasticity
Exports Marginal Cost
Recession

4. Concepts
Macro concept Micro concepts
• Economic Systems • Scarcity
• Opportunity Cost
• Economic Growth
• Unemployment
• GDP
• Productivity
• Supply / Demand

5. Generalizations
1. A countries economic system is influenced by the government’s decisions on what goods
will be produced, how they will be produced, how much will be produced and how goods
will be distributed with the goal of economic growth in mind.
2. Resources are scarce for both nations and individuals. Individuals, communities and
nations have to make choices which involve an opportunity cost.
3. Fluctuations in unemployment are influenced by changes in Gross Domestic Product or
public policy on the labor market. Unemployment and GDP have an inverse relationship.
Lower DGP and higher unemployment can have a negative influence on individuals every
day lives.
4. Supply and demand influence each other and are interdependent upon
each other. When supply is low demand is high. When supply is high
demand tends to be lower.
5. “Nations that have a strong economic infrastructure wield greater political
power in international relations.” (Erickson, 2007, Ch. 4 Video)

6. Guiding Essential Questions - FACTUAL
1. What does opportunity cost actually mean?
2. What kind of economic system does the U.S.
have?
3. Explain the criteria used to calculate the
unemployment rate.

7. Guiding Essential Questions - CONCEPTUAL
1. Why (and which ones) are resources scarce?
2. Why should you, as an individual, be concerned
with the U.S. GDP?

8. Guiding Essential Questions - PROVOCATIVE
1. Debate the governments role in helping people that are unemployed.
Should the government provide unemployment compensation? Should
the government let individuals fend for themselves? Should the
government provide work programs or training? Justify your answer.
2. If GDP is an indicator of a nation’s standard of living, what decisions can
a government make that can influence an increase in GDP? … what
decisions can businesses make to increase GDP? … what decisions
can individuals make to increase GDP? Of the three, government,
businesses, individuals, which one influences GDP most? Which do you
believe should have the greatest role in influencing GDP and
ultimately your standard of living? Justify you answer.

9. Key Skills
• Compare and Contrast
• Graphing and Charting
• Estimating and Calculating
• Research and Information Fluency

10. Learning Experience 1
WHAT: Calculating Opportunity Cost
WHY: Establish the concept of opportunity cost
HOW: Students will work in groups of 2-3 to complete the following tasks. Conclusions will be shared for whole group
discussion.
1. Estimate the amount of money you can earn if you take a job immediately after you finish high school. Think
about this: Many high school students work part time jobs now. Would your hourly rate of pay remain about the
same after you graduate?
2. Now estimate the total amount you would earn in the following 5 years if you had a full time job.
3. Then estimate the costs of attending college (include tuition, fees, and books). You may need to do some online
research to find college costs.
4. Compute the expenses you will incur to earn a four-year college degree.
5. Within your group, discuss the opportunity costs you might pay if you decide not to attend college after high
school. You may have to research what your estimated income would be if you were to earn a college degree.
Compare your earnings if you go to work right after high school with just a diploma and your earnings if you earn
a four-year college degree.
6. Discuss the scenario if you were to go to work immediately after high school, what things
are you giving up?
7. On a piece of paper, draw some kind of graph, chart or table showing your conclusions.
Discuss your general conclusions with the whole group.
http://cepfe.nmsu.edu/?q=node/408

11. Learning Experience 2
WHAT: Learning about different economic systems
WHY: Establish a foundation of the U.S. economy and differences within the world
HOW: Students will work in groups of 3-4 to complete the following learning activity.
1. Each group will be assigned a different economic system (Tradition-based, Command, Market, or Mixed) to
research using textbooks, library reference, classroom materials or internet resources.
2. Each group will report to the class the characteristics of economic system they have researched.
3. Then whole group discussion on the influences that may have caused a country to change from the
tradition-based to a Command market economy or what influences caused a country to change from a
Market to Mixed market economy.
(During this discussion the concepts of limited or scarcity of resources, economic growth, economic
problems and the six broad social goals each country addresses as well as the influences and implications
those goal choices make)

12. Learning Experience 3
WHAT: Calculating GDP
WHY: Establish a the components that influence GDP and a nation’s standard of living.
HOW: 1. Whole group discussion on the factors that are used to calculate GDP using the expenditures
approach. Students will discover the following concepts:
• Household consumption
• Business purchases of capital goods
• Government purchases of goods and services
• Exports of goods and services
• Imports of goods and services
2. Students will work in pairs. Each pair will research using the website http://www.gpo.gov/ to find the last
years numbers of the above factors and calculate the U.S. GDP.
3. Return to whole group discussion on how GDP being a measure of economic
activity and level of wealth of the society therefore it determines a nation’s standard of
living. Class will calculate last year’s standard of living based on their calculated GDP
divided by the U.S. population.

13. Performance Task 1: Economic Systems
Students will compare and contrast the U.S. economic system
with another country of their choice. Students will identify
similarities, differences, scarcity of resources, and influences
and implications of government choices. Students will be
accessed using the checklist shown on the next page.

14. Economic Systems Project Checklist
Component Yes (1) No (0)
Researcher's Name
Other country & their economic system identified
Use of some type of graph, chart, table or graphic organizer
within project
Find similarities & differences between U.S. and other
country of the following characteristics:
Economic System
Polictical System
6 Broad social goals
Limited or Scarce resources
Current Unemployment Rate
Current GDP
Identify relationship between the U.S. and other country
(i.e. trade, international affairs, etc. )
Sources are cited properly. At least 2 online sources and 1
text source is used.
Spelling and grammer used correctly
*Double (2) Points* Find and explain an instance where one
country influenced the other.
TOTAL

15. Performance Task 2: GDP
1. Students will calculate U.S. GDP for 2011 and 15 year prior (1996) using the website
http://www.gpo.gov/. Students will chart out each component to help make observations
and comparisons. An example chart is shown here.
Component 1996 % of GDP 2011 % of GDP
Spending
Consumption
Investment
Net Exports
Government
Expenditures
TOTAL
2. Students will critically evaluate which component(s) have changed over
the 15 year period and hypothesize why (what influences) they may have
changed. http://cepfe.nmsu.edu/?q=node/408
PROJECT CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

16. Performance Task 2 Continued
3. Students will estimate the economic growth or decrease using the following equation,
((GDP 2011 – GDP 1996)-1) * 100.
4. Students will debate three positives and three negatives of such an increase or decrease then
determine how this influences or impacts their daily life now.
http://cepfe.nmsu.edu/?q=node/408
5. Students will research via online resources the 2011 GDP of two additional countries to
compare them to the U.S. 2011 GDP. Students will propose what economic conditions
influences the differences of the GDP between the countries.
6. Students will put findings and analysis in a Word document. Students will be accessed using
the checklist on the following page.

17. GDP Project Checklist
Component Yes (1) No (0)
Researcher's Name
Use of Word document with at least
1 table
15 year chart/table is complete with
accurate information
Evaluation of which component(s)
have changed over 15 year period
Hypothesis of what influences
caused component(s) to change
Economic growth or decrease is
calculated correctly
3 positives of economic
growth/decrease are listed
3 negatives of economic
growth/decrease are listed
A determination of how the 15 year
economic growth/decrease
influences personal life now
Evidence of a comparison between
the U.S. 2011 GDP and 2 other
countries is shown
Discussion on economic conditions
influencing the differences of the
GDP between each of the countries
TOTAL

18. Economic Standards from
National Council of Economic Education
NCEE Standard 1: SCARCITY; Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people cannot have all the goods
and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.
NCEE Standard 3: ALLOCATION; Different methods can be used to allocated goods and services. People
acting individually or collectively must choose which methods to allocate different kinds of goods and services.
NCEE Standard 6: SPECIALIZATION; When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can
produce at the lowest cost and then trade with others, both production and consumption increase.
NCEE Standard 10: INSTITUTIONS; Institutions evolve and are created to help individuals and groups
accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, markets, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit
organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and enforced
property rights, is essential to a market economy.
NCEE Standard 13: INCOME; Income for most people is determined by the market
value of the productive resources they sell. What workers earn primarily depends on
the market value of what they produce.

19. NCEE Standards continued
NCEE Standard 15: ECONOMIC GROWTH; Investment in factories, machinery, new technology and in the
health, education, and training of people stimulates economic growth and can raise future standards of living.
NCEE Standard 16: ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND MARKET FAILURE; There is an economic role for
government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs.
Governments often provide for national defense, address environmental concerns, define and protect property
rights, and attempt to make markets more competitive. Most government policies also have direct or indirect
effects on peoples’ incomes.
NCEE Standard 18: ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS; Fluctuations in a nation’s overall levels of income,
employment, and prices are determined by the interaction of spending and production decisions made by all
households, firms, government agencies, and others in the economy. Recessions occur when overall levels of
income and employment decline.
NCEE Standard 19: UNEMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION; Unemployment imposes
costs on individuals and the overall economy. Inflation, both expected and
unexpected, also imposes costs on individuals and the overall economy.
Unemployment increases during recessions and decreases during recoveries.

20. Other Standards
More Economics Technology
Framework for Teaching Economics
Key Concept Category 1: Fundamental Economics.
International Society for Technology
Fundamental Economics comprises of 13 key
Education
concepts: Decision Making and Cost-Benefit; Division
of Labor and Specialization; Economic Institutions; NET-S #3 Research and Information
Economic Systems; Incentives; Money; Opportunity Fluency. Students apply digital tools to
Costs; Productive Resources; Productivity; Property gather, evaluate, and use information.
Rights; Scarcity; Technology; Trade, Exchange and
Interdependence. NET-S #4 Critical Thinking, Problem
Solving, and Decision Making. Students
Key Concept Category 2: Macroeconomics. use critical thinking skills to plan and
Macroeconomics comprises of 11 key concepts: conduct research, manage projects, solve
Aggregate Demand; Aggregate Supply; Budget problems, and make informed decisions
Deficits and Public Debt; Business using appropriate digital tools and
Cycle; Economic Growth; resources.
Employment and Unemployment;
Fiscal Policy; GDP; Inflation;
Monetary Policy and the Federal
Reserve; Real vs. Nominal.

21. More Standards
SD Math Content SD Reading Content
9-12.M.1.2. Students are able to use 10.R.2.1 Students can formulate
suitable units when describing rate of associations between texts and
change. experiences.
9-12.N.3.1. Students are able to use 10.R.2.2 Students can read fluently to
estimation strategies in problem situations comprehend grade-level text.
to predict results and to check the
reasonableness of results.
9-12.S.1.3. Represent a set of data in a
variety of graphical forms
and draw conclusions.

22. Resources
Content Standards. (2012). South Dakota Department of Education. Retrieved on July 18, 2012, from
http://doe.sd.gov/ContentStandards/index.aspx
Economic Report of the President. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved on August 1, 2012, from
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=ERP&browsePath=2011&isCollapsed=fals
e&leafLevelBrowse=false&isDocumentResults=true&ycord=0
Erickson, H. L. (2007). Chapter 4- Designing Concept Based Units and Lessons [Video]. Available at
https://d2l.sdbor.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=375678&tId=1926994
High School Economics Topics. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved on July 24, 2012, from
http://www.econlib.org/library/Topics/HighSchool/HighSchoolTopics.html
High School Economics Web-Based Curriculum. Center for Economics and Personal
Finance Education. Retrieved on July 27, 2012, from
http://cepfe.nmsu.edu/?q=node/408

23. Resources Continued
Influence. Dictionary.com. Retrieved on July 19, 2012, from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Influence?s=t&ld=1087
Influence. Thesaurus.com. Retrieved on July 19, 2012, from
http://thesaurus.com/browse/influence?s=t
NETS for Students. International Society for Technology Education. Retrieved on July 19, 2012,
from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx
Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics Education, 2nd ed. National Council for
Economic Education. Retrieved on July 18, 2012, from http://www.councilforeconed.org/