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What Is Economics? A Lesson On Choice and Scarcity: Senior High School - Notre Dame University

This lesson introduces students to basic economic concepts through a role-playing activity where they run cupcake stores. Students will be split into groups and given a limited budget to make choices about business decisions like location, inventory, and equipment. They will discuss how scarce resources like money affect what they can and cannot do. After completing a worksheet, groups will present their choices and explain the tradeoffs they considered. The activity aims to help students understand economics as the study of making choices within scarcity constraints.

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Marwa Mendo Omar
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400 views2 pages

What Is Economics? A Lesson On Choice and Scarcity: Senior High School - Notre Dame University

This lesson introduces students to basic economic concepts through a role-playing activity where they run cupcake stores. Students will be split into groups and given a limited budget to make choices about business decisions like location, inventory, and equipment. They will discuss how scarce resources like money affect what they can and cannot do. After completing a worksheet, groups will present their choices and explain the tradeoffs they considered. The activity aims to help students understand economics as the study of making choices within scarcity constraints.

Uploaded by

Marwa Mendo Omar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Senior High School - Notre Dame University

Subject: Applied Economics Week period: November 5 - 9 ,2018


Instructor: Jose Mari Uy Martinez III Lesson Date: 1st meeting of the week
Concept check/ Quiz: on 3rd meeting of the wk.
Grade Level: Grade 12 Duration: 1 meeting (60 minutes)

Lesson 1: What is Economics? A lesson on Choice and Scarcity

Overview:

This lesson provides a brief introduction to formal economic theory. Using the article “Red Velvet Revolution: The Rise of
the Cupcake Entrepreneur,” students will role play as small business owners in charge of a cupcake store. Students will
make choices about location, inventory, equipment and sales. Throughout the lesson, students will think about
economics as the study of choice under scarcity.
Content Standards:

Performance Standards:

The learners shall be able to

Learning objectives/competencies:

The learners shall be able to:

 understand how limited resources affect decision-making


 compare multiple decisions, providing rationale for each.
 define scarcity, and describe the relationship between economics and scarcity.

Resource/Material:

 Access to Chalkboard/Whiteboard
Motivation (5 minutes)

At the beginning of the lesson, ask students if they’ve ever heard the term economics. By a show of hands, how many
students have taken an economics class? By a show of hands, how many students know what supply and demand are?
Ask a volunteer to define economics for you. What do economists study? Use probing questions to encourage students
to think about economics in terms of choice.

Once students start thinking about choices—whether the choice to buy something, or the choice to sell something,
etc.—provide student with a formal definition of economics. Economics is the study of choice under scarcity. Again, ask
students what they think this definition means. What is scarcity? What does it mean to make choices under scarcity?

Guided Reading (5-10 mins)

After this short class discussion, tell students that we will be looking at choice and scarcity from a business perspective.
Have students read through the article “Red Velvet Revolution: The Rise of the Cupcake Entrepreneur.” As the students
read, provide them with a few guiding questions:

1. What are the scarce resources involved in running a cupcake store?


2. How does scarcity affect customers?
3. How does it affect the store owner?

Activity: Role Play (15-20 mins)

Once students have finished reading, ask a volunteer to summarize the article. After a short summary, repeat the
guiding questions. What are the scarce resources? How does scarcity affect consumer choices? How does it affect
business decisions?

Next, tell students that they will be splitting into small groups. Each group will be in charge of its own cupcake store.
Limit each group to three or four members. Explain to each group that they each have a limited budget, and they must
decide what to spend it on. At the end of class each group will give a short presentation, showing their decisions, and
offering an explanation for each one.

Give each group a copy of Worksheet 1: Cupcake Costs.

Have each group put their completed budget up on the chalkboard or an overhead display (e.g. I had students fill out an
Excel spreadsheet). Having each group’s work on the board makes it easier to compare and contrast. Encourage each
group to offer a rationale for their decisions. What were the tradeoffs involved in each decision?
Class Discussion (5-10 mins)

Once groups finish their worksheets, invite each group to present to the class. Encourage each group to explain how
they came to their final decisions. Make sure groups not only explain why they made a certain choice, but also why they
chose not to take other courses of action.

Closing (1-5 mins)

After all the groups have presented, ask student for feedback on the role-play scenario. How realistic do they think it is?
Was it easy to make these decisions? How did they know what the “right” decision would be?

Assessment & Extension

During the role-play time, teachers can listen in on group conversations. This is a good time to listen for
misunderstandings. Make sure each team recognizes that their budget is limited, and that they must make trade-offs.
The group presentations should provide an excellent means of assessing how, and to what degree, students came to
terms with scarcity, and mutually exclusive decision-making

Practice Outside of the Classroom:

Encourage students to look for examples of scarcity outside of the classroom. What products and services are abundant?
What are hard to find? What distinguishes the two?

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