Intermediate Economic Concepts
Evidence of Student Learning for Intermediate Economic Concepts
The information below is suggested evidence of student learning and activities, based on A Framework for Teaching Basic Concepts, Council for Economic Education, 1995.
Scarcity/Choice
Students will list things their families want and also the services that they think should be provided by their local, state and federal government. They will then select those family wants that they would be willing to give up in order to obtain the government services listed and state the reasons for their choices.
Trade-offs
Students will apply the concepts of "opportunity costs" and "trade- offs" in answering the following: Your grandmother gave you $30 for your birthday and you are trying to decide how to spend it. You are considering buying cassette tapes ( price = $12 each), or going to the movies (ticket price = $3.50 each time you go), or taking some friends out for pizza ($7.50 for each person you take, including yourself). You do not have to spend all you money on one thing; you can chose some of one thing and some of another. How would you spend your money so as to get the greatest satisfaction from your grandmother's present? Why would your choices satisfy you more than the things you gave up.
Opportunity Cost
Students will apply the concept "opportunity cost" in responding to the following: You are a member of your state's legislature, and there is a $100,000 surplus in the state budget. How much of that $500,000 would you spend on each of the following programs: aid to the homeless, money to retrain unemployed workers, aid to schools in poor neighborhoods, improvement of state roads or money for the state society for prevention of cruelty to animals? Explain why you chose to support certain programs and to spend no money on others. What is the opportunity cost of the choices that you made.
Human Capital
Students will explain in terms of human capital why engineers make more money than taxi drivers and why teachers with master's degrees earn more money that teachers without master's degrees.
Traditional Economic System
Students will describe how the three economic questions (What to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce?) are answered in traditional societies of the past and present, such as Europe in the Middle Ages, the American Indian tribes before the arrival of European settlers, or the rural villages of the less developed countries today.
Command Economic System
Students will describe the three economic questions are answered in command economies of the past and present, such as the mercantilist nations of early modern Europe or the communist nations of the present time.
Market Economic System
Students will describe how the three economic questions are answered in the past and the present in a market economy such as the United States, Canada or other western societies.
Incentives
Students will list economic incentives that have recently affected their behavior, such as taking a part-time job (mowing, delivering newspapers, etc.) to get money to buy something they want.
Interdependence
Students will list ten ways in which the United States economy would be affected if the Arab countries cut off all trade with the United States.
Circular Flow
Students will draw the circular flow diagram and explain the interrelated roles of households and businesses in the economy.
Competition
Students will survey their community to find the number of fast- food restaurants and the number of bicycle shops present. Based on the results of the survey, they will draw conclusions about which market is more competitive.
Public Goods
Students will explain why government instead of private industry usually provides police and fire protection and street and roads.
Taxes
Students will answer the following questions: If the national, state, and local governments had no power to tax, what goods and services would we have to do without? What foods and services might we have more of?
Resources
Using encyclopedia and textbooks, students will identify and classify the major resources in several countries and draw conclusions about what kind of resources are scarcer than others in those countries.
Specialization
Students will cite the benefits of specialization in answering the following questions: The South American country of Ecuador could grow many agricultural products. However, the climate and territory is best suited for the production of coffee and bananas, which can be grown in few other countries. Is it in the best economic interest of the farmers of Ecuador to attempt to grow many crops or to specialize in coffee and bananas? Why?
Entrepreneurs
After a classroom visit by a local entrepreneur, students will write a short essay on the risk entrepreneur take and the motivation they have in undertaking these risks.