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ED 345 Calvin College Lesson Planning Form for

Differentiating Instruction
Teacher:

Heidi Mingle

Subject/ Topic/ Theme: Opportunity Cost and Scarcity

I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson?
For students to identify scarcity and the opportunity cost within different situations.
How does this lesson tie in to a unit plan? (If applicable.)
Students are continuing to look deeper into the working economy around us.
What are your objectives for this lesson? (As many as needed.) Indicate connections to
applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to only certain students write the
name(s) of the student(s) to whom it applies.
SWBAT
1) Define scarcity and opportunity cost
2) Compare situations to determine the level of scarcity and identify the opportunity cost.
Standards
4 E1.0.2 Describe some characteristics of a market economy (e.g., private property rights, voluntary
exchange, competition, consumer sovereignty, incentives, specialization).
4 E1.0.3 Describe how positive and negative incentives influence behavior in a market economy.
4 E1.0.4 Explain how price affects decisions about purchasing goods and services (substitute goods).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
II. Before you start
Prerequisite knowledge
and skills.
Assessment
(formative and
summative)
Identify those students
(individuals or groups) in
your class who will need
special attention and
describe the level of
support you plan on
giving them. Refer back
to the survey you did of
your class.

Students should know that resources are not infinite and they do run out.
Students will work through the Decisions, Decisions! handout and they will
check their answers with the rest of the class. Not every question has a
correct answer.
Students will work in small groups as well as in large group

Materials-what materials
(books, handouts, etc) do
you need for this lesson
and do you have them?

TCI Textbooks
Decisions, Decisions! handout
Economics Packet

Do you need to set up


your classroom in any
special way for this
lesson? If so, describe it.

Students will work in groups at their desks to answer the questions on the
Decisions, Decisions! paper

III. The Plan


Tim
Parts
e
Motivatio
n
(Opening/
Introducti
on/
Engageme
nt)

The description of (script for) the lesson, wherein you describe teacher
activities and student activities
Today we are going to talk about something called scarcity and opportunity cost!
Take out TCI Textbook and read page 250
Go into the Economics Packet and fill in the definition blanks for Scarcity and
Opportunity Cost.
Scarcity: When you dont have enough of what you need
Opportunity Cost: What you give up when you make a choice.
Give students some examples:
When we want to by two things but can only afford to buy one. Our money is scarce.
The item we do not buy is our opportunity cost.

Developm
ent

Hand out Decisions, Decisions! paper.


Have the students get into groups to read the scenarios out loud and determine
what is scarce, their choice, the opportunity cost, and their reasoning for their
decision.
Give students time to work together and hold short discussions.
When students have made it through the worksheet, we will go through the
answers. There is not a perfectly correct answer for each question. Discussion may
occur for the reasoning behind their decisions.

Closure

Read the book The Doorbell Rang


Discuss how there was always the same amount of cookies, but the amount of
people got bigger each time the doorbell rang. That meant that the amount of
cookies per person became smaller and smaller.
What was scarce?
What was the solution?
Will there always be a solution?

Your reflection on the lesson including ideas for improvement for next time:

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