Entrepreneurship | Industrial Revolution | Labor | Standard of Living | Technology | Using Data

Entrepreneurship

What Do You Want to Sell? Exploring the Elements of a Company’s Business Model, New York Times Learning Network
Grades 6-12

Students explore how companies describe their products and services. Then they write business plans for companies based on their interests or needs. This lesson plan provides extended learning about what it is to be entrepreneurial.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20011011thursday.html

The Scoop on Local Business. Exploring the Importance of Local Businesses in Supporting Regional Economies, New York Times Learning Network
Grades 6-12

Students explore how local businesses support their state or regional economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/19991223thursday.html

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Light and Magic. Exploring the Technological Roots of the Industrial Revolution, New York Times Learning Network
Grades 6-12

Students investigate early mass production in various industries and then create presentation posters outlining how a typical 19th century factory, mill, or refinery worked.
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2002/11/21/industrial-light-and-magic/

Labor

Lowell Workers and Producers Respond to Incentives, ECONnections, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 8-11

Students learn how an embargo affects supply, demand, price, and quantity.

Teacher version: http://www.e-connections.org/lesson11/Tlesson11.html
Student version: http://www.e-connections.org/lesson11/

Understanding the Colonial Economy: Mexico/NAFTA, ECONnections, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 9-12 (may be adapted for grades 6-8)

Students examine the role and effect of NAFTA in the Mexican and U.S. economies. Learning about this more recent event builds understanding of the role and importance of trade to colonial America, where the colonists produced what they could produce best relative to their available resources and could export at a competitive price.

Teacher version: http://www.e-connections.org/lesson1/Tlesson1.htm

Standard of Living

The Economics of Income: The Rich Nation Mystery, EconEdLink, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 6-12

This three-part lesson plan addresses the factors that contribute to a nation’s standard of living. Students make choices from pre-defined selections and then identify and explain critical factors that contribute to the standard of living within a nation.
http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=NN113

Technology

The Introduction and Diffusion of Household Technology, Lesson Plan 5, The First Measured Century, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Grades 6-12

Students research and develop a matrix describing the introduction and spread in the United States from 1900 to 2000 of common household items such as electricity, refrigeration, and cell phones. Students use the matrix to construct a timeline of household technologies.
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/lessons/lesson5.htm

Using Data

The History and Use of Sampling Methods, Lesson Plan 4, The First Measured Century, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Grades 6-12

Students learn about sampling by tracing improvements in sampling procedures over the twentieth century. Students apply concepts through sampling exercises.
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/lessons/lesson4.htm

Using Data Collection to Create a Portrait of Your Town, Lesson Plan 7, The First Measured Century, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Grades 6-12

Students are provided an outline of the topics and methods used by Robert and Helen Lynd, cultural anthropologists, in their path-breaking 1929 and 1937 studies of Muncie, Indiana (a town they called Middletown). Students then use research methods similar to the Lynds’ to develop a portrait of their own city or town over the last century. Students conduct interviews and images and collect information under each of the Lynds’ six major themes: getting a living, making a home, raising the young, using leisure time, practicing religion, and community life.
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/lessons/lesson7.htm

Economic Indicators, EconEdLink, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 9-12

What are the economic indicators that help forecast economic activity and business cycles? How do economists make their forecasts about the U.S. economy?
http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM131

Centuries of Economic Growth — From Feathers to Robotics, Economics International, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 9-12

Students read scenarios about the production of Bibles over five historical time periods. Students create skits and develop a retrieval chart that is used to analyze factors affecting economic growth.
http://www.ncee.net/ei/lessons/lesson6/

Gross Domestic Pizza, Economics International, National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
Grades 6-9

This lesson explores how gross domestic product (GDP) is determined. Students create and compare GDP pie charts for the countries of Pepperonia and Anchovia.
http://www.ncee.net/ei/lessons/lesson3/