Lesson 11b: economic decisions in other systems :: comparative systems

Three Economic Systems: Traditional, Market, and Command Economies

Three Countries: Chad, United States, North Korea.

Objectives:

Students will be able to:
1)recognize and explain the different characteristics each economic system.
2)describe and compare how the three basic economic decisions are made in each economic system
3)use the internet to research data about Chad, United States, and North Korea.
4)recognize and define the five social goals of economic freedom, security, equity, efficiency, and growth.
5) evaluate the economic systems of each country based upon how well they achieved the social goals.

Activities:

1)Warm Up Activity

Students will complete a chapter 2 review sheet (fill in the blank/matching) for the upcoming exam.

2) Main Activity

a) a short of review of the three types of economic systems and their characteristics.

b) internet activity-researching and collecting data on Chad, US, and North Korea using a worksheet and internet [from online web lesson at http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM322]

-Students are divided into groups of three. Each person will be assigned a country within each group. Each person will research their country individually on the CIA Factbook website and then meet and share information as a group. Students will compare and contrast the different countries, making note of key differences.

c) a mini-lesson on the five social goals which can be used to evaluate an economic system of a country.
[from online lesson at http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM136]

-Once all groups have finishing sharing their information with each other, we will reconvene as a large group. In the large group, I will explain the five social goals used to evaluate an economic system. I will use the United States as an example and model how I would evaluate the country's economic system based upon the social goals.

-Each group will be given a grid-like worksheet that defines the five social goals with spaces for student evaluations for how well each country has achieved a particular goal. Each group should discuss how well each country has achieved the five social goals. On the worksheet provided, students must give each country a grade which reflects their evaluation of how well the country has achieved the social goals.

The grading scale is as follows: A=excellent B=good C=Average D=Fair E=Failing

3) Closing Activity: groups will share their "grades" with each other and discuss how they evaluated each country or each social goal.

Evaluation:

1) Class participation/Groupwork
2) Worksheets

see student sample work

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