Lesson 1
Introduction to Economics

Objectives:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1) define economics
2) examine how economics relates to their lives

Materials:
-6 -7 large markers
-6-7 large pieces of different colored poster paper taped equal distance around the room

Activities:
1) Intro: Hand out textbooks. Pretest.

2) Warm-up- a)students brainstorm informally definition of economics b) Students will be asked to look up and write down the definition to economics from their textbook.
Students will be asked to pick out/identify the key words of the definition-
Study } study of decisions?
Decisions}
Production, Distribution, Consumption , Goods, Services
[each word will be put on paper to be pasted to board to later be the headings for the posters]

3) Defining Economics
a) Students will be divided into six-seven groups and each be assigned to work at one of the seven posters around the room. After being told that each poster contains part of the definition of economics, each group will then unfold their poster, read it, and 1) define what their word or phrase means 2) think about how it relates to what they know about the word “economics” 3)give real-world examples. One student will be the recorder and record the group’s ideas on the poster under the word/phrase. (I will walk around and monitor student responses/interactions).
b) When completed, students will be asked present their poster.
If necessary, I will ask relevant questions to further discussion and understanding of each phrase.

4) After reviewing students’ posters, I will hand out a worksheet to be handed in for credit/homework
a)Name four things that you learned about economics.
b)How does economics relate to your life? How does it affect your family?
c)What role do you play in the economy? What role does your family play?
d)What role do you hope to play in the future economy?
e)How does the economy affect your neighborhood?

5) Time permitting: students divided into groups of four (may be same groups as poster groups) to start work on a collage categorizing goods and services using magazines and materials provided

Evaluation:
1) group poster
2)Homework

see student sample work

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