Economics Learning Steps 1/9/15

Complete USA Test Prep. Warm-up & Scarcity: Everyone’s Problem Is The Entrepreneur’s Opportunity

Standards & Elements SSEF1: The student will explain why limited productive resources and unlimited wants result in scarcity, opportunity costs and trade offs for individuals, businesses and governments. Elements: a. Define scarcity as a basic condition which exists when limited productive resources exceed unlimited wants. b. Define and give examples of productive resources as land (natural), labor (human), capital (capital goods), entrepreneurship. c. List a variety of strategies for allocating scarce resources. d. Define opportunity cost as the next best alternative given up when individuals, businesses and governments confront scarcity by making choices.

Enduring Understandings Students will understand that productive resources are limited. Therefore people cannot have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.

Essential Questions 1. Coal, water and forest are examples of what? 2. How is Labor defined ? 3. What are the two types of Capital? 4. What are the three benefits of Physical Capital? 5. What is the knowledge and skills gained through education? 6. Who pulls all the factors of production together to create a business? 7. What are the four things entrepreneurs are doing when they create new goods and services? 8. Why are all goods and services scarce?

Creating Productive Resources Digital 4 Boxes Daily “Write About It” Ticket-Out-The Door Class Activities

Scarcity Sculptures: Students create two paper sculptures (cut outs) of tangible goods essential to their current lives. One item should intentionally contain resources that are more relatively scarce than the other. After creating the sculptures, students will conduct a gallery walk through the classroom listing the two items each student created. Students will need to identify one land, one labor, and one capital resource needed to make each good, and analyze which good is made with more relatively scarce resources. Class Activity Directions