Exploros | The Basics of Economics

The Basics of Economics

Students learn about the growth of economies through prehistory and history. Next, they learn the major types of economies, particularly traditional and command. Then, they learn about goods and services and the related concepts of scarcity, supply, and demand. Next, they investigate the factors that produce economic growth, including the four factors of production: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Finally, they delve into the concept of opportunity cost.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

Engage

Overview

In this experience, students learn about the growth of economies through prehistory and history. Next, they learn the major types of economies, particularly traditional and command. Then, they learn about goods and services and the related concepts of scarcity, supply, and demand. Next, they investigate the factors that produce economic growth, including the four factors of production: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Finally, they delve into the concept of opportunity cost.

This experience contains a lot of content. You may choose to teach it over two sessions in order to spend adequate time on the various elements of basic economics.

Objectives

Identify the factors that increase economic growth.
Describe traditional and command economies.
Define economic terms and concepts that apply to early civilization.

Suppose your friend has a game that you wish you owned. To get the game, you might:

trade a game that you own for your friend’s game
buy the game from your friend
borrow money from your friend to buy your own copy of the game

Which of those three choices would be an economic activity? The answer is, “All three!” In this experience, you’ll learn what an economy is and how it works.

Objectives

Identify the factors that increase economic growth.
Describe traditional and command economies.
Define economic terms and concepts that apply to early civilization.

Prehistoric people didn’t have money. But they did have economies. Their economies were based on trade. Later, as populations and civilizations grew, it became more convenient to exchange money for things than to trade things for other things.

Watch Cave-O-Nomics to see how a group of very fictional cave people might have invented an economy. Begin at 0:40 and stop at 5:59.

The video clip is Episode 1 of a series, We the Economy, which presents entertaining, professionally made economics videos. If you enjoy it, try other episodes on your own and recommend them to interested students.

As you watch, use the table to take notes. Jot down things in the video that you already knew about economics, things you learned about economics, and questions about economics raised in your mind.

Discuss student responses. As a class, determine what you want to learn in this experience.

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.