:: PART A :: PART B :: PART C ::
PARKWAY FOUNDATION GRANT ENTREPRENEURIAL SEARCH [in three consecutive lessons]
The Parkway School students are a diverse group of bright students who come from different ethnicities, cultures, socio-economic classes, school experiences, and neighborhoods within Philadelphia. The Parkway School, which is a small school desiring to be a "caring community', attracts students who desire to go to college, ultimately to make a difference with their life and their society. In this Economics class, I wanted students to understand how they represent the melting pot of the United States and understand their role as future employees and employers in this political, economic and social system. I wanted economics to become relevant to their lives both in terms of basic economic principles to consider [e.g. opportunity cost] as well as basic economic practices to apply [e.g. budgeting, saving money]. Because of the multicultural nature of the school and within the classroom, I was presented with an unique opportunity to discuss and bring together different perspectives in virtually every lesson.
In this sequence of three lessons, I wanted to try to expand upon the concepts learned and give the students a project that would enable me and the students to learn new things. For me, I wanted to implement a variety of teaching strategies such as giving information (lecture), modeling questioning and feedback, doing interactive cooperative groupwork, and enabling a kind of simulation of the business world. For the students, I hope to address the strengths and needs of the students by supporting multiple intelligences as well as fostering creativity, initiative, cooperation and leadership. I wanted to have an opportunity for students to reach a higher level of analysis through the feedback they anticipated and addressed as well as through the feedback they would give to themselves and/or to their peers.
:: PART A :: PART B :: PART C :: STUDENT REFLECTIONS
The Basic questions: what, how, and for whom?
What goods and services should be produced?
How should these goods and services be produced?
For whom is the benefit of these good and services being produced?
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Objectives:
Students will be able to:
1)recognize the three basic economic questions what, how, and for whom
2)explain how the three basic economic questions are generally answered in capitalism
Activity Focus:
Introductory Lecture/Discussion
1. Lesson on the three basic economic questions.
See Lesson 9: The Basic Economic Questions: What, How, and For Whom.
Evaluation: see below...
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Objectives:
Students will be able
to:
1)recognize the three basic economic questions what, how and for whom
2) explain and apply how the three basic economic questions are answered by
a business, entrepreneur, or individual.
3) work cooperatively with group members to brainstorm, create, design, organize,
analyze, and prepare to present a business plan.
Activity Focus: Cooperative Group Work
1. I would first review the basic economic questions on a flip-chart.
2. I would give an introduction to the project:
"So Jack [my mentor teacher] and I have decided that we have an unlimited amount of money to invest in something and we would like to start the Parkway Foundation grant to help budding entrepreneurs in our economics classes. Each group would have an opportunity to come up with an idea, specially a product (good or service), that would be beneficial to the Parkway students and staff. You must come up with a business plan that answers the three basic economic questions of what, how, and for whom. Specifically, "what" would be the good or service you come up with and the name of the product and/or business. Next, "how" would be broken down into the factors of production (labor, capital, entrepreneurship, natural resources). Finally, "for whom" would be a description of the group of consumers you are targeting specifically. In addition, each business must be prepared to present their answers to these questions in a brochure [a piece of newprint]. This brochure will be presented in front of the class and in front of the Parkway Foundation and your group must be prepared to answer questions. After your presentation, your group will receive constructive feedback from the Parkway Foundation and your proposal will either be accepted or rejected for a Parkway Foundation Grant."
After that introduction, I would go into detail about the specific aspects of the brochure and the possible questions each group must think about and analyze for their business/product [e.g. is there a market for my product or service? where is the best location for my business? what are the expenses involved in starting and operating a small business? Who are my competitors and what are their prices? What types of transportation will I need? Would I make a profit?). I also gave each student a guide to "being their own boss...starting a small business" (a handout) which lists the characteristics of an entrepreneur, the key questions to ask, and steps to becoming a successful entrepreneur. We expected each group to be evaluated for their presentation, evidence of preparation, use of economic principles, originality/creativity, and usefulness to the Parkway School.
3. Students would be divided into assigned groups (designed to ensure a diversity of abilities) and start the brainstorming for a product or business for the Parkway School. I would walk around and monitor the groups.
4. By the end of this part of the lesson, students should complete one poster presentation [the "brochure"] and be prepared for their presentation to answer questions and receive feedback on their project.
EVALUATION: see below...
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OBJECTIVES:
Students will be able to:
1)recognize the three basic economic questions what, how and for whom
2) explain and present how the three basic economic questions are answered by
a business, entrepreneur, or individual.
3) think about and respond to questions from their peers as well as to think
about and ask questions to their peers.
4) give and receive constructive feedback.
5) reflect and assess their own project as well as their peers.
ACTIVITY FOCUS: PRESENTATION, QUESTIONING, FEEDBACK
1. There are eight groups in the class to give their presentation for the Parkway Foundation. Each group will have 5-10 minutes to present and to respond to questions about their project. During the group presentations, students who are not presenting are responsible for completing at least two peer evaluations [I designated a rotation schedule whereby each student would assess the two groups presenting after his/her presentation]. This ensures active student attention as well as an opportunity to write down specific questions during the presentations.
2. Immediately after each group presents, the Parkway Foundation will ask questions about their project. The Parkway Foundation will then give them constructive feedback about their project (what we liked, what we saw could be improved/explained more/etc). Students would then be told whether or not they would receive a grant for us or what they needed to do to receive a grant from us in the future.
3. At the end of the presentations,
I would give general (mostly positive) feedback on the group presentations.
I would also give students an opportunity to do a written self assessment of
their project. I would also ask the class for feedback about the organization
and implementation of the Parkway Foundation Grant Entrepreneurial Search to
improve it for future use.
1. Introductory Worksheet with Definitions/Examples. [worksheet sample]
2. Observations of Groupwork.
3. Poster Presentation: Brochure, Questioning from Peers, Feedback by the Parkway Foundation.
4. Self-Assessment/Peer Assessments. [see STUDENT REFLECTIONS]
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