Course Duration: 8 Weeks (Twice Weekly Sessions) Grade Level: High School Total Lessons: 15 Assessments: Quiz (Week 4, Lesson 8), Final Exam (Week 8, Lesson 16)
This course introduces students to the foundational principles of economics, emphasizing decision-making, scarcity, opportunity costs, utility, and risk. Students will explore economic choices and apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios. The course culminates in practical applications such as managing a car dealership and evaluating the cost of college.
Lesson 1: What Is Economics? A Lesson on Choice and Scarcity – Understanding the basic principles of economics, including scarcity and choice.
Lesson 2: Limited Resources - Thinking about Choice and Scarcity – Examining how scarcity forces individuals and societies to make choices.
Lesson 3: Consumerism and Scarcity – Exploring how scarcity impacts consumer behavior and decision-making.
Lesson 4: Understanding Scarcity - An Introduction to Supply and Demand – Learning the relationship between supply, demand, and price.
Lesson 5: Alternative Choices - Understanding Opportunity Costs – Introducing the idea of trade-offs in economic decisions.
Lesson 6: Opportunity Costs - What Is My Best Alternative? – Applying opportunity cost analysis to real-world decisions.
Lesson 7: Multiple Choice - What Is My Best Alternative? – Reinforcing opportunity cost concepts with deeper applications.
Lesson 8: Understanding Utility - How Do We Allocate Resources? (Quiz at the End of Class) – Introducing utility as a measure of satisfaction in economic decisions.
Lesson 9: Unlimited Preferences - Defining and Measuring Utility – Exploring how consumers derive satisfaction from choices and how utility is measured.
Lesson 10: At The Margins: What Is Something Worth to You? – Introducing marginal analysis and how it affects decision-making.
Lesson 11: Risks and Rewards - Dealing with Uncertainty – Understanding risk in economic decisions.
Lesson 12: Risky Business - Dealing with Uncertainty – Exploring strategies to mitigate risk and uncertainty.
Lesson 13: What to Expect - Decision-Making and Expected Value – Learning how to make decisions using probability and expected value.
Lesson 14: Bringing It All Together: Managing a Car Dealership – Applying economic concepts to business decision-making.
Lesson 15: Selling School - Putting It All Together – Analyzing the cost and value of higher education as an economic decision.
Lesson 16: Final Exam – A comprehensive assessment covering all topics.
Class Participation & Engagement: 25%
Midpoint Quiz (Lesson 8): 25%
Final Exam (Lesson 16): 50%
By the end of the course, students will:* Understand the fundamental principles of economics, including scarcity, opportunity cost, and supply & demand.* Apply economic reasoning to real-world choices.* Analyze trade-offs and decision-making using opportunity cost and utility concepts.* Evaluate risk and uncertainty in personal and business decisions.* Make informed economic decisions using marginal analysis and expected value.
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