I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Economics

Essential Question:

What roles do each kind of resource (human, natural and capital) play in the goods and services con

Bridge:

The Need for Resources

Content:

Resources: Human, Natural, Capital

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To connect students to the idea of tools (machines) as resources.

Activity: Have students sing and pantomime the hammer song: "Jenny works with one hammer, One hammer, one hammer. Jenny works with one hammer, Then she works with two ....... Jenny works with five hammers, Five hammers, five hammers. Jenny works with five hammers, Then she goes to sleep!

Assessment: Students' enjoyment of the hammer song.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: Children will see Jenny as a human resource and her hammer as the product of human resource.

Activity: Teacher-led discussion of the trading in the song. Elicit from children their own experiences with trading: were their own trades always fair (equal merchandise exchanged?)
Chant the “Bartering Chant”
Bartering means trading
trading means exchange
If I have something
and you have something
we’re both willing to trade.
That’s bartering, that’s bartering,
let’s barter and exchange.

Assessment: Student involvement in discussion and enjoyment of chant.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To use imagery and pantomime to help children experience resources in another ways.

Activity: Have children imagine and act out the following scenarios: 1. "You are a tiny seed far under the earth. The sun and water are helping you grow. You sprout out from the ground. You slowly grow into a tiny tree with only a few limbs. You continue growing into a big beautiful tree. Your branches are very big now and they reach way out and grow way out. Now a big storm comes and the wind blows your leaves and branches around. The rain pours down hard. Now the storm leaves and the sun comes out and you can relax and dry off. You are a big beautiful tree.
2. You are running a relay race at school. You are running hard and fast. Next, you go through an obstacle course. You have to crawl, jump, pull yourself across the monkey bars, and swim to complete the course. [Embellish this further]
3. You are a train going up a big hill. [Develop this, as done above]

Assessment: Student participation in pantomime.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: Students will learn about three kinds of resources.

Activity: Define Natural Resources (the tree growing from nature); Human Resources (the energy we use when we work our bodies); and Capital Resources (machines which are used to make goods or provide services).

Assessment: Check for understanding by having students pantomime each kind of resource.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: to provide quick guided practice on the three types of resources.

Activity: Teacher-led practice: Using the chalk board, make a column for each kind of resource. Elicit volunteers to give examples of each. Follow with a teacher-made worksheet.

Assessment: Contribution to brainstorming and performance on worksheet.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To give students an opportunity to extend what they have learned.

Activity: Distribute paper and crayons. Have each student design a logo for the resource of their choice. Have them answer teh question, “How could your resource be used to make our classroom a better place for living and learning?”

Assessment: Student attention to task.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To evaluate the quality of learning.

Activity: Teacher-led feedback and discussion on student work with each kind of resource. How can we actually put to use what we have learned?

Assessment: Student projects and ideas.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To celebrate the learning.

Activity: Students will play the “Human Machine” game: Machines are useless unless each part is functioning properly. In this activity groups of players bcome machines, each playing the role of one machine part. Each group of 8 or 10 selects a machine to portray. One by one, each player pretends to be a machine part and joins the machine. For example if everyone decides to be a car, one chugs and shakes to become the engine, another bends over to be teh trunk, another strches to be a windshield, and becomes windshield wipers, and so forth. After the machine is complete, have each part add a sound and then operate at different speeds. After each group has a turn at sharing their machine, have them become a totally nonfunctional invention.

Assessment: Enjoyment and participation.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: