Intro,
Money & Basic Economic Systems – 1112a
Goals: what money is;
land, labor, capital & entrepreneurship; basic questions of economics; intro
to the stock market; basic math skills
Vocabulary: barter, capital,
commodity/good, currency, economy, entrepreneur, fiat currency, labor, land,
needs, scarcity, wants
9/8& 9/9 - Class Intro and Survival
Game - 2 days
* Intro
self very quickly.
*
Hand out the Love Boat instruction sheet, the
resource log, and the basic log. Put
people into groups after explaining what each role will be. Let them run.
Explain that they have to be done with about 20 minutes remaining on the
second day. Wander around and help them.
*
Make sure to discuss how people solved their problems at the end. What were the: land, labor, capital,
luxuries? What economic system did you
settle on? How did you decide what to do
on the island? How was work allocated? Equally? Gender
differences in labor? Should girls have
done the light work? Is the island the
"real world"? Which were the
high value jobs?
Were there any personal reasons
for not working on a particular thing (example: monkey hunting)?
Did this make the work unequal?
Sleeping...Time off...odd
gathering techniques...technology
If
a ship had offered you any item, what would you have wanted? Why?
* Materials - survival
game photocopies
9/12 - Intro to the Stock Market
*
Hand out the syllabi and discuss very quickly. Explain that we will be in the library the
next day. – 10 minutes
*
Brainstorm on the board what they think the stock
market is, what it means, etc. – 10
minutes
*
Lecture: “The Stock Market”– remaining time
* Materials – Class
syllabus
9/13 - Stock Picking – MEET IN LIBRARY
*
As the students come into the library, hand out the
stock pick sheet and get them to log on.
– 7 minutes
*
Show the students how to get a stock price. Show them a bit about research and what sorts
of basic information they can use to value stocks. Then, let them have at it. Wander around and kibbitz. – remaining time
*
Warn them at the end that they need to have their
stocks picked and priced by the beginning of the next class.
* Materials – Stock
Picking worksheet
9/14 -Intro to Money, Boggs
*
Explain who Boggs is. Watch the Boggs film. Discuss what happened. Fast forward to the mint
scene: show. Fast
forward to Post Office. Discuss
how money is produced. Digression on value of coinage. Show the Post Office Scene. Discuss counterfeiting. He asks what a dollar is worth. Discuss what a dollar is worth.
*
Materials - Boggs film, reading, and Qs
*
Homework due MONDAY - Boggs Qs. Draw four denominations of your own
money. They should be in some sort of
container. On a separate piece of paper,
explain why you drew the bills you drew. (next day)
9/15
- Money
*
Collect the Boggs Qs.
*
Lecture/Discussion: “What is Money” – 25
minutes
*
Discuss 4 Qs about money (not notes): A) what is
money? (B) What does money do? (C) What can’t money do? (D) What measurement
values does money obscure/replace? – 15
minutes
*
Discuss leading to quick-write: If money doesn't
work, what are other ways to measure value?: Use value
v. Exchange value? Time, ecological sustainability, emotional value,
honesty/integrity – remaining time
*
Hand out “Can the Middle Class Be Saved” and the
reading questions. Explain that it is
due on Wednesday 9/21.
*
Materials - LLC and Black Widows sheet; “Can the
Middle Class Be Saved” and reading questions
9/16
- Land, Labor,
Capital, and Entrepreneurship
*
Lecture - “LLC & E” – 30 minutes
*
Do the LLC and Black Widows sheet and then
quick-grade – 15 minutes
*
Remind them about the money assignment due on
Monday. Discuss various solutions. Will there even be physical currency in the future.? – remaining time
*
Hand out the “Land, Labor, Capital, and
Entrepreneurship Interviews” homework. It is due on 9/22
*
Materials - LLC and Black Widows sheet; Land, Labor,
Capital, and Entrepreneurship Interviews
9/19
– Capital and Entrepreneurship
*
Collect and discuss the drawn money. – 15 minutes
*– 15 minutes
*– 15 minutes
*– remaining time
9/20
- Scarcity and the Economic Qs
* Explain
The problem of scarcity and filling needs. Review the Love Boat game. Give a definition of economics. Discuss why economics is NOT MONEY! List things that are scarce
on the board. List
things that are needed. Can
everything be produced? – 20 minutes
*
Lecture - “Fundamental Economic Qs” – remaining time
9/21
– Scarcity Gets Personal
*
Collect and discuss “Can the Middle Class Be Saved” – 25 minutes
*
Review what the fundamental economic questions are. – 15 minutes
*
Make a list of fifteen things that are scarce in
your life. After each entry, explain how
or it you will solve your problem. Take
some suggestions at the end of the period and discuss. – 15 minutes
9/22
– Intro Unit Test
*
Discuss the “Land, Labor, Capital, and
Entrepreneurship Interviews” a bit. Take some basic test questions. – 20 minutes
*
Give the test.
– Remaining time
* Materials - Test
OLD ATTEMPTS
III.
Basic math skills - Inflation & The real Qs
NOTES! Go over how to figure out what % one
number is of another. practice.
NOTES! Figure out how to get a percentage
rise or drop. Practice using the student
wages & other.
Make a line graph of how wages rise
with a percent increase over five years.
Present the four questions:
1) In what ways does the US economy
work well?
2) In what ways does the US economy
work poorly?
3) How could the US economy be
improved?
4) How will the US economy directly
affect your life?
• Assign - At least half a page on each
question. Proper
sentence and paragraph structure.
Homework
or in class:
Give
back the writings on the four questions.
Identify
and explain two comments that I made that they think teach them something about
their writing.
Identify and explain as many comments
as they think show that I did not understand the writing.
VIII. Economic Systems in depth
*
Collect and discuss the scarcity list.
* Lecture
- “4Qs, 5 Systems” - hand out the lecture photocopy
* Discuss
which systems they like.
*
(REGULAR ONLY) Review basic math and hand out Qs.
* Warn
of vocab quiz tomorrow, Test soon after
* Materials -
“4Qs, 5 Systems” lecture sheet; Basic Math 2a Qs.
* Homework (ENRICHED ONLY) - If
you ran the US economy, how would these questions be answered? (1/2 page each
due next day)
* Homework (REGULAR ONLY) - The
Basic Math 2a Qs (Due next, no late.)
IX. Four economic systems and how
they answer Qs
* Collect
the various homeworks. Warn of impending test.
* Write
the voacab words on the board and hand out the answer
sheet. Quick grade.
*
Review LLC & E and money
* Discuss
the four systems again. Do the first
problem on the sheet. Explain that
worksheet is a high-point assignment.
They start problems, which are due the next day.
* Materials - Economic
systems and problems; Intro Vocab Test
* Homework - Economic
systems problems (due next day)
IXb. (Enriched
Only)
Swedish Socialism Problems
* Collect
the economic systems problems
* Write
the Qs on the board. They read the
article and answer the Qs. Discuss the
reading when they are done.
* Materials - Sweden
Article
III.
Survival game talk-down
Give them the first 20 minutes to
finish the game.
Notes!
Scarcity
and renewable resources? The monkey & Baobab
problems.
Luxury?
Wine, chocolate, & hemp - are luxuries scarce?
Fairness? Fairness is democracy and equality of
inputs and outputs. - gender, spoils, labor
Efficiency
- how did you decide what was efficient?
• Assign - 8 sentence paragraph and at
least three reasons. Was
you system fair? Why or why not?
V. Boggs & Money
NOTES! Explain why money is not
important.
Money represents something,
it is not valuable in itself
Commodity, representative (gold
standard), fiat money (legal tender)
Go over what money must be from p.378
in book
Money is a promise
People want dollars, so it has value
(stability, investment)
Read the Boggs article and answer the
following questions. No quotes!
Write the title, source, date, &
author of the article.
Define: counterfeiting, franc, barter, genuine
1) What does J.S.G. Boggs do for a
living?
2) Is Boggs and artist or a forger,
explain.
3) How does a complete Boggs
transactions work?
4) Describe at least 5 ways has Boggs
used his money.
5) In which country is Boggs' work most
appreciated?
6) How did Boggs get his start?
7) Why does Boggs keep a dime in a
vault?
8) How does Boggs protect himself from
counterfeiters?
9) Has Boggs ever been convicted of
forgery? Why or why not do you think?
10) Would you take a Boggs bill in
exchange for something? Explain
Extra Credit: Draw your own "Boggs
bill". Will grade
on art.
* Discuss Fairness v. Efficiency as the
poles of how to answer those questions.