Introduction
Welcome to the exciting world of Economics! Latonya Russell at your service. Please call me Tonya for short. Am here to guide you through your study of Economics and how important Economics can be. There’s relevant topics that include goods and services, wants and needs, resources, opportunity cost, supply and demand, and many other things about economics. If you are willing to follow me on this enjoyable journey through Economics, you are allowed to continue on to the task.
Task
Completing many different tasks will help your ability to absorb more about economics. This task will include shopping, having a cake sale, and ordering food at a restaurant. Your last assignment will allow you to be an entrepreneur of a new business. You and your group will work together to create a product that will sell very well with your classmates. Therefore profit should be made from the product. A model will be made of your product and will be accompany by a design and structured commercial to be promoted on the television.
Time to get started, upcoming entrepreneurs!
Process
Day 1 : Wants and Needs
In this first section you will be preparing yourself to shop at the mall, however the first thing that has to be clarify is the difference between wants and needs. A need is something you have to have, something you can't do without. A good example is food, cloths, shelter. A want is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. Example: swimming pool, jewelry.
Before you start to go along with your shopping,
There are worksheets on Wants and Needs at the bottom of the page to be printed out. As a result you will fill the worksheets out while you shop.
- You will be given $500 to spend at the mall today. $300 of that must be spent on your Needs and $200 may be spent on your Wants.
- Have fun shopping!
- Go the Mall of Econ Northwest Avenue
Day 2 : Goods and Services
Hello Partner! You've just in time at the Goods and Services Corral. Just Before you leave the corral, its necessary that you know a little something about goods and services. Goods would be defined as anything that anyone wants or needs example: food, clothing, toys, furniture, and toothpaste. Services would be the performance of any duties or work for another example: educational, health, communication, transportation, social services.
Apparently in this session you will need to work with your group.
- Firstly, Can you remember all the services that fifth graders can really perform (example: pulling weeds, walking your dog, etc.).
- Then from this list, choose a service that you are willing to perform.
- Lastly, you can kindly print the Worksheet on Goods and Services at the bottom of this page and then list all the goods that you will need to complete that job productively.
Day 3 : Production and Consumption
In this section you are now a producer! Meanwhile you have just started your very own cake sale! In order to do this you have to know a little about production and consumption means. A producer is one that produces, especially a person or organization that produces goods or services for sale. A consumer is a person who acquires goods and services for his or her own personal needs.
There are some other important terms to understand that are profit and loss. Profit is the money that you gain by selling a good or service. Loss is the money you lose.
Now you will be able to run your own cake stand. Before you begin, print the Bake sale Worksheet at the bottom of this page this will allow you to make an account for your profits earn. Then, click on this link: Bake Sale link
Day 4 : Resources Restaurant
In this section it consists of 3 types of resources that include natural, human, and capital
A natural resource is anything that people can use which comes from nature. (water, plants, soil, air). Human resources is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy (teacher, dog walker, chef, factory worker). Capital resources are things made by humans (pencils, computers, birthday cake, spoons).
Now let’s imagine you are having lunch at Wendy’s, so therefore you will be working with your group to make a list of all the human, capital, and natural resources that go into running Wendy’s. For example, the cashier would be a human resource, the burger bread are capital resource, and the tomatoes would be a natural resource. Please print the Wendy’s Resources page at the bottom of the screen to record your answers.
Day 5 : Entrepreneurship
Now that you have gotten a better understanding about economics, you will become an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.
At the bottom of the page please print the Classroom Business sheet in order to get started. You will work cooperatively with your group to make a poster, a model, and a commercial to promote your new product.
A role will be given to each group member. There will also be a selection of a leader who will also take the role of the Project Manager and will make sure everyone participates. The Producer will be in charge of making sure the commercial is done well. There will also be a designer chosen who will be in charge of the poster design. A writer will also be assign of doing most of the writing and note-taking. If there are 5 members in your group, therefore 5th member will be the assistant.
Evaluation
The following rubric is for the final Classroom Business project.
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1 point |
2 points |
3 points |
4 points |
Score |
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Picture or model of product (information) |
No information was given about the product on the picture at all. |
Very little information was given about the product; still had many questions |
The picture gave some information about the product, but it needed more explanations |
The picture contained important information about the product |
Total |
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Picture or model of product (overall product) |
Picture or model was fairly done; no color |
Picture was fairly organized and contained little color |
Picture was structured and contained color |
Picture was neatly prepared, colorful, and stunning |
Total |
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Commercial |
Presentation was poorly organized; only 1-2 group members spoke during the commercial |
Presentation was somewhat organized, not much acting took place; Most group members spoke; either too short or too long of commercial |
Presentation was well-prepared, but some members acted unruly; some of them mainly reed from the script |
Presentation was well-prepared; there was no playing around; lines were memorized; group 'used' the stage; commercial lasted the mandatory amount of time |
Total |
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Group Participation |
Group members did not work well together; there were a lot of arguing |
Only 1-2 group members did work; some arguing occurred |
Some members did much more work than others; group worked well together |
Each member in the group showed equal contribution and worked fine together |
Total |
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Total Score: |
Conclusion
Wow! Great job guys learning about economics! You should now be able to tell the differences between wants and needs, natural resources, goods and services, and how to advertise for a product that you created! Way to go!
Teacher Page
Students in my 10rd grade class loved this webquest because it made learning about economics enjoyable and thrilling for them. They mainly loved the Bake sale stand and the entrepreneur assignment! I found it helpful to copy the worksheets before the students began their webquest and then distributed them accordingly.