Economics 8Th Grade

Economics 8th Grade

Teacher: Spencer Williams

Email:

Office Hour: By appointment

Unit

Economics

Subject

Social Studies

Grade

8

Standards

From the Arizona Department of Education website

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Strand 5: Economics

• Concept 1: Foundations of Economics
• PO 2. Analyze how scarcity, opportunity costs, and trade off influence decision making.

• PO 5. Describe the impacts of distribution and availability of natural resources on an economy.

• Concept 2: Micro Economics
• PO 2. Explain the impacts on governmental investment in human capital

Content Area / Instructional Objective / Bloom’s Level / Standards
Foundations / Provide a real life example of a decision influenced by scarcity or opportunity costs / Application / S5C1PO2
Micro Economics / Create your own basic social program that demonstrates investment in human capital. / Synthesis / S5C2PO2

Context -

Students have a basic understanding of the relationship between economics and an individual or organization. Students are able to provide examples of how the economy can affect the decision making of an individual or organization. Students are able to define and provide examples of investments in human capital within our own economy.

[given to students]

Economics and Human Capital

In this class students will demonstrate their understanding of basic economic concepts including: resource distribution, resource cost, scarcity, and opportunity costs. Students will then provide an example of how investments in human capital can improve or damage the condition of an individual or organization.

In order to demonstrate an understanding of these basic economic concepts students will come up with their own example of an individual or organization within a society. This can be anything from a individual fisherman in a small village, to a public transportation service in a major city. (use your imagination) The students must be able to relate the concepts learned in class to their example in a short story about their examples participation in the economy.

The short story must be no more than 4 pages in length, double spaced with 12pt font. In the short story, first identify your individual or organization, then provide examples of how the class concepts of resource distribution, resource cost, scarcity, and opportunity costs will affect the day-to-day business of the example actor.

After providing evidence of each of these concepts in your story, create a basic human capital program that would affect your example actor in either a positive or negative manner. Create a short presentation to be shown to the class on how the human capital program you created influences your example actor. Provide a small visual aid for your presentation such as a power point, poster board, hand-out, or other basic visual aid that demonstrates the relationship between your story actor and your human capital program.

Grading for class (given to students)

Concept 3 2 1 0

Resource Distribution / Clear understanding of concept as well as it's relation to story actor / Unclear or muddy relation of concept to story actor. / Incorrect understanding or application of concept / No mention of concept
Resource Cost / Clear understanding of concept as well as it's relation to story actor / Unclear or muddy relation of concept to story actor. / Incorrect understanding or application of concept / No mention of concept
Scarcity / Clear understanding of concept as well as it's relation to story actor / Unclear or muddy relation of concept to story actor. / Incorrect understanding or application of concept / No mention of concept
Opportunity Cost / Clear understanding of concept as well as it's relation to story actor / Unclear or muddy relation of concept to story actor. / Incorrect understanding or application of concept / No mention of concept
Human Capital / Clear understanding of concept as well as it's relation to story actor / Unclear or muddy relation of concept to story actor. / Incorrect understanding or application of concept / No mention of concept

__/15

5 4 3 2

Story / Story covers all of class concepts and relates them to example actor with clear understanding of relationships and concept influence over actor / Story covers most of class concepts with a fair understanding of relationships and concept influence. / Story covers a few class concepts with a poor demonstration of concept understanding and relation to story actor / Students neglects to mention 3 or more class concepts and/or neglects to explain their relationship to story actor.
Presentation / Presentation and visual aid both demonstrate a clear understanding of both class concepts as well as their relationship to the example story actor. / Presentation and visual aid demonstrate understanding of concepts, but their relationship to the example story actor is poorly represented. / Presentation lacks understanding or mentioning of concepts. Visual aid does not accurately represent concept of Human capital / Presentation lacks visual aid and does not demonstrate understanding of class concepts

__/10

Total- __/25