Show Me The Money
Introduction
Ever wonder what motivated sailors to risk their lives sailing on uncharted seas to find trade routes to the East? How about good old fashion greed?
It is somewhat of an over-generalization to pigeon-hole all explorers into this category, but the numbers speak for themselves in terms of the profit to be made in finding an all-water route to India and China.
Students like sodas. They often buy them daily. This makes sodas a perfect product to use an as analogy to the spices brought back from the East. We can use "sodas" as an example of a product in which students can understand the concept of "demand" and how "demand" can influence price.
Procedure
After a brief discussion of student likes and dislikes, we will begin an exercise to illustrate the profit-making potential of a highly demanded product. Students are asked "at what price would you buy a soda if you had the opportunity to enjoy it in class?" After soliciting sample prices, I offer students a chance to purchase a soda at $2 for the next class....to be delivered ice cold and consumed in the classroom. Sure there is some groaning, but this is an optional purchase. Students are also asked NOT to tell parents this is a mandatory purchase.
Resources
Objectives
After the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
Evaluation
There will be a brief follow-up discussion following the completion of this lesson as well as a quiz on the information in the textbook. Students may be asked to write a short paper on the soda activity.
NOTE: It is important in this lesson that students feel the profit from this soda is being made purely as an exercise of greed. The reality is that the profits made from these sales help fund a trip later in the year for a deserving student. This is not announced until AFTER the lesson as the "charity" issue would effect a student's decision to buy and the price at which they would buy.
Delaware State Standards
Civics Standard One 6-8a: Students will understand that governments have the power to make and enforce laws and regulations, levy taxes, conduct foreign policy ,and make war.
Civics Standard One 6-8b: Students will analyze the different functions of federal, state, and local governments in the United States and examine the reasons for the different organizational structures each level of government employs.
Civics Standard Two 6-8a: Students will understand that the concept of majority rule does not mean that the rights of minorities may be disregarded and will examine and apply the protections accorded those minorities in the American political system.
Civics Standard Two 6-8b: Students will understand the principles and content of major American state papers such as the Declaration of Independence; United States Constitution (including the Bill of Rights); and the Federalist Papers.
Civics Standard Three 6-8a: Students will understand that civil rights secure political freedom while property rights secure economic freedom and that both are essential protections for United States citizens.
Civics Standard Three 6-8b: Students will understand that American citizenship includes responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, obeying the law, service in the armed forces when required, and public service.
Civics Standard Four 6-8a: Students will follow the actions of elected officials, and understand and employ the mechanisms for communicating with them while in office
Economics Standard One 6-8a: Students will analyze how changes in technology, costs, and demand interact in competitive markets to determine or change the price of goods and services.
Economics Standard Two 6-8a: Students will analyze the role of money and banking in the economy, and the ways in which government taxes and spending affect the functioning of market economies.
Economics Standard Three 6-8a: Students will demonstrate the ways in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange in different economic systems have a relationship to cultural values, resources, and technologies.
Economics Standard Four 6-8a: Students will examine how nations with different economic systems specialize and become interdependent through trade and how government policies allow either free or restricted trade.
Geography Standard One 6-8a: Students will demonstrate mental maps of the world and its sub-regions which include the relative location and characteristics of major physical features, political divisions, and human settlements.
Geography Standard Two 6-8a: Students will apply a knowledge of the major processes shaping natural environments to understand how different peoples have changed, and been affected by, physical environments in the world’s sub-regions.
Geography Standard Three 6-8a: Students will identify and explain the major cultural patterns of human activity in the world’s sub-regions.
Geography Standard Four 6-8a: Students will understand the processes affecting the location of economic activities in different world regions.
Geography Standard Four 6-8b: Students will explain how conflict and cooperation among people contribute to the division of the Earth’s surface into distinctive cultural and political territories.
History Standard One 6-8a: Students will examine historical materials relating to a particular region, society, or theme; analyze change over time, and make logical inferences concerning cause and effect.
History Standard Two 6-8a: Students will master the basic research skills necessary to conduct an independent investigation of historical phenomena.
History Standard Two 6-8b: Students will examine historical documents, artifacts, and other materials, and analyze them in terms of credibility, as well as the purpose, perspective, or point of view for which they were constructed.
History Standard Three 6-8a: Students will compare different historians’ descriptions of the same societies in order to examine how the choice of questions and use of sources may affect their conclusions.
History Standard Four: Students will develop historical knowledge of major events and phenomena in world, United States, and Delaware history [Content].
Students will develop an understanding of pre-industrial United States history and its connections to Delaware history, including:
Three worlds meet (Beginnings to 1620)
-- Colonization and settlement (1585-1763)
-- Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
-- Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
-- Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Students will develop an understanding of ancient and medieval world history, and the continuing influence of major civilizations, including:
-- The beginnings of human society
-- Early civilizations and pastoral peoples (4,000-1,000 BC)
-- Classical traditions, major religions, and great empires (1,000 BC-300AD)
-- Expanding zones of exchange and encounter (300-1,000AD)
-- Intensified hemispheric interactions (1,000-1,500 AD)
Introduction
Ever wonder what motivated sailors to risk their lives sailing on uncharted seas to find trade routes to the East? How about good old fashion greed?
It is somewhat of an over-generalization to pigeon-hole all explorers into this category, but the numbers speak for themselves in terms of the profit to be made in finding an all-water route to India and China.
Students like sodas. They often buy them daily. This makes sodas a perfect product to use an as analogy to the spices brought back from the East. We can use "sodas" as an example of a product in which students can understand the concept of "demand" and how "demand" can influence price.
Procedure
After a brief discussion of student likes and dislikes, we will begin an exercise to illustrate the profit-making potential of a highly demanded product. Students are asked "at what price would you buy a soda if you had the opportunity to enjoy it in class?" After soliciting sample prices, I offer students a chance to purchase a soda at $2 for the next class....to be delivered ice cold and consumed in the classroom. Sure there is some groaning, but this is an optional purchase. Students are also asked NOT to tell parents this is a mandatory purchase.
Resources
- lecture and discussion
- Text Material:
- "The Dream of Prince Henry"
- "Bartolomeu Dias" (biography)
- "Vasco DaGama"(biography)
- Call to Freedom (text) pages 31-37
- Powerpoint presentation:
- "Show Me The Money"
- Resources:
- lots of soda!
Objectives
After the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
- interpret how the quantity of a product purchased by consumers can change as the price rises and falls,
- describe how the "merchant" class developed in Europe and identify the major centers (cities) of trade there,
- define the terms "caravan," "caravel," and "monopoly,"
- factor into the price of a product, the costs of producing and distributing a product,
- appreciate the tremendous profit a boat of spices brought from the East would bring on the European Market in the 1500s,
- anaylze the major motivations behind exploration, and
- list the important accomplishments of Prince Henry of Portugal, Bartholomeu Dias, and Vasco Da Gama as they relate to the Spice trade.
Evaluation
There will be a brief follow-up discussion following the completion of this lesson as well as a quiz on the information in the textbook. Students may be asked to write a short paper on the soda activity.
NOTE: It is important in this lesson that students feel the profit from this soda is being made purely as an exercise of greed. The reality is that the profits made from these sales help fund a trip later in the year for a deserving student. This is not announced until AFTER the lesson as the "charity" issue would effect a student's decision to buy and the price at which they would buy.
Delaware State Standards
Civics Standard One 6-8a: Students will understand that governments have the power to make and enforce laws and regulations, levy taxes, conduct foreign policy ,and make war.
Civics Standard One 6-8b: Students will analyze the different functions of federal, state, and local governments in the United States and examine the reasons for the different organizational structures each level of government employs.
Civics Standard Two 6-8a: Students will understand that the concept of majority rule does not mean that the rights of minorities may be disregarded and will examine and apply the protections accorded those minorities in the American political system.
Civics Standard Two 6-8b: Students will understand the principles and content of major American state papers such as the Declaration of Independence; United States Constitution (including the Bill of Rights); and the Federalist Papers.
Civics Standard Three 6-8a: Students will understand that civil rights secure political freedom while property rights secure economic freedom and that both are essential protections for United States citizens.
Civics Standard Three 6-8b: Students will understand that American citizenship includes responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, obeying the law, service in the armed forces when required, and public service.
Civics Standard Four 6-8a: Students will follow the actions of elected officials, and understand and employ the mechanisms for communicating with them while in office
Economics Standard One 6-8a: Students will analyze how changes in technology, costs, and demand interact in competitive markets to determine or change the price of goods and services.
Economics Standard Two 6-8a: Students will analyze the role of money and banking in the economy, and the ways in which government taxes and spending affect the functioning of market economies.
Economics Standard Three 6-8a: Students will demonstrate the ways in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange in different economic systems have a relationship to cultural values, resources, and technologies.
Economics Standard Four 6-8a: Students will examine how nations with different economic systems specialize and become interdependent through trade and how government policies allow either free or restricted trade.
Geography Standard One 6-8a: Students will demonstrate mental maps of the world and its sub-regions which include the relative location and characteristics of major physical features, political divisions, and human settlements.
Geography Standard Two 6-8a: Students will apply a knowledge of the major processes shaping natural environments to understand how different peoples have changed, and been affected by, physical environments in the world’s sub-regions.
Geography Standard Three 6-8a: Students will identify and explain the major cultural patterns of human activity in the world’s sub-regions.
Geography Standard Four 6-8a: Students will understand the processes affecting the location of economic activities in different world regions.
Geography Standard Four 6-8b: Students will explain how conflict and cooperation among people contribute to the division of the Earth’s surface into distinctive cultural and political territories.
History Standard One 6-8a: Students will examine historical materials relating to a particular region, society, or theme; analyze change over time, and make logical inferences concerning cause and effect.
History Standard Two 6-8a: Students will master the basic research skills necessary to conduct an independent investigation of historical phenomena.
History Standard Two 6-8b: Students will examine historical documents, artifacts, and other materials, and analyze them in terms of credibility, as well as the purpose, perspective, or point of view for which they were constructed.
History Standard Three 6-8a: Students will compare different historians’ descriptions of the same societies in order to examine how the choice of questions and use of sources may affect their conclusions.
History Standard Four: Students will develop historical knowledge of major events and phenomena in world, United States, and Delaware history [Content].
Students will develop an understanding of pre-industrial United States history and its connections to Delaware history, including:
Three worlds meet (Beginnings to 1620)
-- Colonization and settlement (1585-1763)
-- Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
-- Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
-- Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Students will develop an understanding of ancient and medieval world history, and the continuing influence of major civilizations, including:
-- The beginnings of human society
-- Early civilizations and pastoral peoples (4,000-1,000 BC)
-- Classical traditions, major religions, and great empires (1,000 BC-300AD)
-- Expanding zones of exchange and encounter (300-1,000AD)
-- Intensified hemispheric interactions (1,000-1,500 AD)