2009 -2010 Economics –Unit Three
Unit Title
Grade Level
Timeframe
Subject or Topic Area
Summary of Unit
Economics, New Ways of Thinking
11 + 12
Three Weeks
Microeconomics
You may be one of the lucky people who can
turn something you really enjoy doing into a
business becoming an entrepreneur. Imagine creating
a website that allows you to work from home. One of
the many challenges you will face is finding the best
way to organize your business. You will have the
opportunity to study about local business
organizations and learn why some businesses
succeed and others fail. You will learn about the role
of goods and services and the impact this has on the
type of business organization you would develop.
You will also learn about nonprofit organizations
which are not organized to maximize profit, but
instead have a goal to work for the good of all their
members or the good of society in general.
Have you ever considered how you want to earn a
living when you get out of school? You may be one
of those people who have focused on a career goal
for a long time or you may not have a clue. Is your
goal to help others, make a lot of money, or travel?
Whatever career you decide on, you will have to be
prepared for change. Economic trends affect workers
in many ways. The U.S. and global economy has
shifted from a manufacturing economy towards a
service-producing economy. As jobs in industries
such as technology and financial services have
soared, the numbers of manufacturing jobs have
dwindled. The Law of Supply and Demand applies
to the world of labor and wages.
You will have the opportunity to demonstrate
your knowledge and enduring learning about the
community you live in and complete the unit
Performance Assessment.
Overarching/Essential Questions
Topical Questions
Economics Overarching Questions:
1. What are the basic principles of economics
needed to interpret local, state, national, and
international economic activity? (6.15)
2. What is the impact of economic systems on the
needs and wants of all people and on the
environment in various times in their local
community, in Vermont, in the United States, and
in various locations world wide? (6.16)
3. How do governments affect the flow of
resources, goods, and services? (6.17)
4. From whose viewpoint, perspective or angle are
we seeing, reading and/or hearing? (6.2, 6.4)
5. What is the interaction and interconnectedness
between humans, the environment, and the
economy?
6. What does it mean to be a consumer, producer,
saver, investor, and a citizen?
1. How does competition affect your choices?
2. Who benefits from a free economy and
why?
3. What are Economies of Scale?
4. What is monopolistic competition and
oligopoly?
5. How is broadcasting regulated?
6. How can businesses and labor achieve
their goals?
7. Why do some businesses succeed and
others fail?
8. How can a small business grow?
9. What is a corporation?
10. How can workers best meet the challenges
of a changing economy?
11. What is productivity of labor?
12. How can collective bargaining settle
disputes?
Established Goals: (Grade Cluster 6.1 Causes and Effects in Human Societies:
Expectations (Goes) and Standards) 6.2 Uses of Evidence and data
6.4 Historical Connections
6.15 Knowledge of Economic Principles
Students use the basic principles of economics to
interpret local, state, national, and international
economic activity.
6.16 Impact of Economic Systems
Students evaluate the impact of economic systems
on the needs and wants of all people and on the
environment in various times in their local
community, in Vermont, in the United States, and
in various locations world wide.
6.17 Governments and Resources
Students understand how governments affect the
flow of resources, goods, and services.
Vital Results:
1.8 Reports
1.19 Research
1.21 Selection
1.22 Simulation and Modeling
2.1 Types of Questions
3.3 Respect
3.10 Teamwork
3.11 Interactions
4.1 Service
4.2 Democratic Processes
4.3 Cultural Expressions
4.4 Effects of Prejudice
4.5 Continuity and Change
4.6 Understanding Place
Introductory Activities
Introductory Activities:
1. Students will read literary text and be
responsible for the unit’s vocabulary
2. Students will interpret charts and graphs and
share their conclusions of what they have
learned with their peers.
3. Students are given the Theme, Topic, and
Purpose of the Unit, Standards,
Overarching/Essential and Topical Questions,
the Five Big Ideas and the unit Performance
Assessment.
4. Students will participate in activities, e.g.,
cooperative group work, ABCD, Exit Cards,
and Comparing/Contrasting reflecting their
prior knowledge of economics connecting to
Overarching/Essential and Topical Questions,
the Five Big Ideas and share in class.
5. Students will participate in a Brainstorming
Group Activity on the types of business
organizations that exist and share their results
with their peers.
6. Students will explore on the Internet sites
allowing for the understanding of basics of
microeconomics and create a visual reflecting
their knowledge and share in class.
Enabling Activities
1. Students will write and participate in
the writing/peer review process, e.g.,
Response Student Logs, Journals and
Exit Cards relating to the visual and
literal texts for their portfolios.
2. Students will maintain a portfolio of
their work and self-assessments.
3. Students will participate in various
writing activities, e.g., KWHL,
Comparison/Contrast, Exit Cards,
Student Response Logs, Compare and
Contrast, various journal formats,
group work and free writes relating to
the visual and literal texts, the Five Big
Ideas- geography/environment,
politics, economics, social/cultural and
science/technology and the unit’s
Overarching/Essential and Topical
Questions to be placed in their
portfolio.
4. Students will work in cooperative
groups on The Economics of
Information activity and (who, what,
where, when, why and how) and share
their results in class.
5. Students will work in cooperative
groups on The Wage War activity and
make connections locally and globally,
incorporating the Five Big Ideasgeography/environment, politics,
economics, social/cultural and
science/technology and the unit’s
Overarching/Essential and Topical
Questions and share their results in
class.
6. Students will work in cooperative
groups on Is It Worth It? Sharing
Opinions about the Value of a College
Degree activity and (who, what, where,
when, why and how), make
connections locally and globally,
incorporating the Five Big Ideasgeography/environment, politics,
economics, social/cultural and
science/technology and the unit’s
Overarching/Essential and Topical
Questions and share their results in
class.
7. Students will read articles and analyze
the texts in various writing activities.
8. Students will take traditional content
assessments.
Performance Tasks
Performance Assessment: Economics, New Ways
of Thinking –Local Businesses Interview and
Essay
You are to think about businesses that offer
essential goods and services, e.g., food,
transportation, medicine, and those that offer luxury
goods and services, e.g., beauty, entertainment and
travel and the impact of a recession.
You will choose one type of local business you
would like to investigate further and interview the
proprietor - owner, manager, etc., about the
experience of running the business in the current
economic climate.
You will need to contact the business, think
creatively about local proprietors such as a
supermarket manager about items or brands that are
selling well, or those who offer local services, such
as baby sitting, home construction or improvement,
or lawn care to interview. You will summarize the
main qualities of your chosen business.
You are address the following questions in your
research and final product Has the business changed or adapted to the
needs of the community and why?
 What changes have yielded positive results
and why?
 What changes have proved to be less
successful and why?
 What has the business done to make
themselves more recession-resistant?
 Would you apply to this business and why?
 Did anything you discovered surprise you
and why?
 Do you see this local business differently
now and why?
 What did you learn about the recession from
a business perspective?
 How might this business appeal more
actively to local customers and why?
You will participate in the writing and peer
review process, present a formal verbal presentation
in front of invited guests who will assess your work
and performance and complete the rubric and check
the GRASPs checklist.
GRASPS Task Design Prompts
Goal
Your task is to conduct research, set up an interview and write an essay.
The goal is to choose a local business and apply your knowledge of Microeconomics in the completion of your
task.
The problem or challenge is placing yourself in the position of being a local business proprietor.
The obstacles to overcome are placing yourself in another role in your community and demonstrating your
knowledge and empathy for the people involved.
Role
You are to become a business person of the times.
You have been asked to thoughtfully plan out the components of your work addressing each of the Five Big
Ideas and Overarching/Essential and Topical Questions and make clear connections to the local business
community.
Your job is to very thorough in your research and to complete each stage of the assignment on time.
Audience
Your clients are your peers, invited guests and the teacher.
The target audience is a classroom of students
You need to convince your peers, guests and teacher of your knowledge and ability to convey your topic in an
original creative but economically accurate presentation.
Situation
The context you find yourself in is current economic times in your local community.
Product, Performance, and Purpose
You will create a product that is based on research and reflects the reality of current economic times.
You need to present detailed reflections and make clear connections to the unit’s Overarching/ Essential
Questions and Topical Questions and show a mastery of the topic.
Standards and Criteria for Success
Your performance needs to be complete, economically accurate, well-prepared, practiced, peer reviewed, and
handed in on time.
Your work will be judged by your peers and teacher.
Your product must meet the following standards planning, organization, historical accuracy in content, original
thinking, use of time in the writing and peer review process, connection to Overarching/Essential Questions, the
Five Big Ideas, speaking skills and evidence of learning.
Performance Assessment: Economics, New Ways of Thinking –Local Businesses
Interview
In what ways does my Interview Essay make clear connections to the Overarching/
Topical questions of the unit and reflect the story of the person and events of the
era?
Option C:
Option B:
Option A:
(Level 3 difficulty)
(Level 2 difficulty)
(Level 1 difficulty)
Essay:
Essay:
Essay:
1. 200- 250 words - word
1. 300-350 words – word
1. 400-450 plus wordsprocessed narrative
processed narrative
word processed
double-spaced
double-spaced
narrative double2. Three
2. Four
spaced
Overarching/Essential
Overarching/Essential
2. Five
Questions analyzed
Questions analyzed
Overarching/Essential
3. Connection to three of
3. Connection to four of
Questions analyzed
the “big ideas.”
the “big ideas.”
3. Connections to all of
4. Three quotes from
4. Four quotes from your
the five “big ideas.”
your interviewee.
interviewee.
4. Five or more quotes
from your interviewee.
In order to receive credit, the In order to receive credit, the In order to receive credit, the
Writing and Peer Review
Writing and Peer Review
Writing and Peer Review
Process must be completed Process must be completed Process must be completed
on time.
on time.
on time.
Verbal Presentation:
Verbal Presentation:
Verbal Presentation:
1. Can refer to and read
1. Can refer to refer your
1. No reference to your
your notes
notes briefly
notes during the
presentation.
Verbal Presentation Rubric - Performance Assessment - Economics, New
Ways of Thinking –Local Businesses
CATEGORY 4
Preparedness Student is
completely
prepared and has
obviously
rehearsed.
3
2
1
Student is mostly
prepared but
needed more
rehearsals for
presentation.
The student is barely
prepared, but it is clear
that rehearsal was
lacking as well as clear
understanding of the
topic in depth.
Student is not
prepared to present
and does not clearly
understand the
topic in depth.
Time-Limit
Presentation is 5- 6 Presentation is 4
or more minutes
minutes long.
long.
Presentation is 3
minutes long.
Presentation 3
minutes or less.
Speaks
Clearly
Speaks clearly and
distinctly all the
time, and
mispronounces no
words.
Speaks clearly and
distinctly all the
time, but
mispronounces one
word.
Speaks clearly and
distinctly most of the
time. Mispronounces
more than two words.
Student does not
speak clearly and
mispronounces
more than three
words.
Vocabulary
Uses vocabulary
appropriate for the
audience. Extends
audience
vocabulary by
defining words that
might be new to
most of the
audience.
Uses vocabulary
appropriate for the
audience. Includes
1-2 words that
might be new to
most of the
audience, but does
not define them.
Uses vocabulary
appropriate for the
audience. Includes
words such as
whatever, whatnot,
like, etc. Does not
include any vocabulary
that might be new to
the audience
Uses several (5 or
more) words or
phrases that are not
understood by the
audience. Includes
words such as
whatever, whatnot,
like, etc.
Connection to
Economic
Principles and
Evidence of
Knowledge of
the topic
Student
demonstrates clear
knowledge of the
topic, addresses it
in depth, and can
answer questions
from the audience
Student
demonstrates
knowledge for the
most part addresses
the topic but can
not answer all the
questions asked
from the audience
The student is
struggling with the
topic and has fair
knowledge, can not
answer most questions
from the audience
Student does not
know the topic well
and can not
answers questions
that demonstrate
understanding of
the topic
Performance Essay Rubric- Economics, New Ways of Thinking –Local Businesses
Essay
CATEGORY 4
3
2
1
Writing and
Peer Review
Process
Writing/Peer review
process are met and
in on time.
Writing and Peer
Review process are
met and in on time
Writing/Peer Review Writing/Peer Review
process are met and process not met or in
in on time
on time
Introduction
Captures the
audience’s interest
and clearly states
topic
Captures the
audience’s interest
and states the topic
A catchy beginning
was attempted but
was confusing rather
than catchy.
No attempt was made
to catch the reader's
attention in the first
paragraph.
Neatness
The final draft of the
paper is readable,
clean, neat and
attractive. It is free of
erasures and crossedout words. It looks
like the author took
great pride in it.
The final draft of the
paper is readable,
neat and attractive. It
may have one or two
erasures, but they are
not distracting. It
looks like the author
took some pride in it.
The final draft of the
paper is readable and
some of the pages are
attractive. It looks
like parts of it might
have been done in a
hurry.
The final draft is not
neat or attractive. It
looks like the student
just wanted to get it
done and didn't care
what it looked like.
Connections
to
Overarching/
Essential and
Topical
Questions and
The Five Big
Ideas
Very clear and
detailed connection to
the
Overarching/Essential
and Topical
Questions and the
Five Big Ideas
Connection to some
Overarching/Essential
and Topical
Questions and the
Five Big Ideas
Little Connection to
Overarching/Essential
and Topical
Questions and the
Five Big Ideas
No detailed
connections to
Overarching/Essential
and Topical
Questions and the
Five Big Ideas
Connections
Evidence of
Economic
Principles and
Terminology
Very clear evidence
of four economic
principles and
extensive inclusion of
appropriate
terminology
Evidence of three
economic principles
and inclusion of some
appropriate
terminology
Some connection to
three economic
principles and some
inclusion of
appropriate
terminology
No detailed
connections to
economic principles
and little if any
inclusion of
appropriate
terminology
Length
3 + pages
2.5 Pages
2 pages
Less than 2 pages