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Scribe for Productivity
by Jeanine Kaczorowski Moore (USA)
LESSON DESCRIPTION
In this lesson, students participate in three rounds of a simulation in
which they are merchants who must keep written records on their trades. In
Round 1 they do not have some required skills or knowledge and are unable
to produce written records. They must rely on scribes. In Round 2 the merchants
use new information about Babylonian numerals and the Phoenician alphabet
and receive training in using these. New technology is introduced in Round
3. After each round, students explain the effect of new information and technology
on the productivity of workers.
AGE LEVEL
11- 13 years old
CONCEPTS
- Labor productivity
- Human capital
- Technological change
- Capital goods
CONTENT STANDARDS
Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and the health,
education, and training of people can raise future standards of living.
BENCHMARKS
Productivity is measured by dividing output (goods and services) by the
number of inputs used to produce the output. A change in productivity is
a change in output relative to input.
Technological change is an advance in knowledge leading to new and improved
goods and services and better ways of producing them.
Increases in productivity result from advances in technology and other
sources.
OBJECTIVES
- Students will define labor productivity, human capital, technological
change, and capital goods.
- Students will calculate labor productivity.
- Students will explain
the effects of improving human capital and advances in technology
on labor productivity
TIME REQUIRED
Two class periods
MATERIALS
- Chart paper and marker
- Modeling clay (enough for each student to make
one tablet)
- Toothpicks, at least one for each student
- Transparencies of Visuals
1 and 2
- One copy of Visual 1 for each student
- Paper lunch bags, two per
student
- Black paint, one dish for each group
- One paint brush for each pair
of students
- One water dish for each pair of students
- One wooden dowel for
each pair of students
- Visual 1 pdf - 9kb
- Visual 2 pdf - 9kb
PROCEDURE
Day 1
- Ask for examples of things students do during the course of the day
that require writing. Record their responses on the board. Discuss the following.
- What would your life be like if there were no form of writing? (Answers
will vary.)
- How would we communicate, keep records, or understand the laws
of our country without writing? (Answers will vary.)
- Why
is it important to have written as well as oral communications?
(Answers will vary but should include reference to the importance
of recording information and data.)
- Point out that it would be difficult to carry out the activities of
daily life if no one knew how to read and write. Explain that writing was
important to the Sumerians because they needed to keep accurate records
that included information on sales, trades, and tax payments. They also
had to write to determine the amount of food and supplies needed by the
military and calculate the number of workers needed for various projects.
- Tell students that they will participate in a simulation in which they
are merchants who need to record information about a transaction
they have made on a clay tablet.
- Distribute a small ball of clay
and a toothpick to each student. Give each pair of students a wooden
dowel.
- Demonstrate how to use the dowel to roll out the clay into a square
tablet about ¼” thick. Allow time for students to make their
tablets. On the board, write the following.
TRADE
2 BAGS OF RICE
1 BUSHEL OF DATES
IN EXCHANGE FOR
1 BRONZE BRACELET
4 POTTERY BOWLS
- Tell students they have three minutes to use the toothpick to record
the information in Visual 1 on their tablets using cuneiform. Explain that
the cuneiform system of writing began with pictograms and consisted of hundreds
of wedge-shaped markings made by pressing the end of a sharp reed on wet
clay tablets.
Note to teacher: Students are likely to point out that they don’t
have this information. Explain that Babylonian numerals aren’t the
Arabic numerals we use today, and Phoenician letters are not the Roman
letters that we use today, although there are some similarities. Tell
them that the Babylonians used wedge-shaped figures and the Phoenicians
used
a combination of straight lines and squiggles. Tell them to do their
best to complete the assignment.
- Observe students working. When they
become frustrated, which will
occur quickly, stop the simulation. Ask why they aren’t producing
any completed tablets. (don ’t know cuneiform, don’t know how)
- Explain that cuneiform was used in ancient Sumer. It was
complicated and difficult to learn. As a result, most citizens
of Sumer, including
merchants, did not know how to write. Only a few people
could write and they were known as scribes. Writing was one of
the most valuable skills
in the ancient world, and scribes held positions of
great respect in Mesopotamia. Ask what might be a problem using scribes
to
record your information. (won’t
know if the scribes are recording the correct information,
would be dependent on scribes for business)
- Display Visual 1 and give a copy to each student. Demonstrate how
to complete the table, using the following questions.
- What was the output of the workers? (a completed tablet)
- How many completed tablets did the workers complete in this round?
The total number of completed tablets is the total output. (In
this round the output is zero because students don’t know cuneiform.)
Record “0” in
Column 2 for Round 1.
- How many workers were
there? (This is the number of students participating in the
simulation.) Record this in Column 3 for
Round 1.
- Tell students that Column 4 indicates labor productivity.
Labor productivity is the amount of output (goods and services)
produced per unit of input (labor) or output divided by inputs.
Write this
definition
on the chart paper. Display the paper and add definitions as the
simulation
continues.
- Demonstrate that productivity (total number of tablets
divided by total number of workers) is zero because no accurate
tablets were produced. Record a “0” in Column 4 for Round
1.
- How did you feel when you weren’t able to produce any
tablets? (frustrated, upset, angry)
- Why weren’t you able to
produce any completed tablets? (They didn’t know cuneiform writing
and, therefore, couldn’t record
the transactions.)
- What could help you produce completed tablets
in the future? (knowledge about cuneiform writing, training)
- Tell students that they will continue as merchants in Rounds 2 and
3 of the simulation. IN each round, they will measure their labor productivity
as demonstrated in Round 1.
- Explain that before Round 2, students must
receive training to improve their human capital and have an opportunity
to practice. Explain that human
capital is the quality of labor resources that can be improved
through investments in the health, education, and training of workers.
Record the definition on the chart paper.
- Explain that knowledge and
skills that the students bring to school everyday is their human capital.
Ask how school helps them improve
their human capital. (They learn new information and skills.)
- Have students predict what will happen to productivity in Round 2 with
the improvement in their human capital. Tell students to record their
predictions on Visual 1.
- Inform students that in
Rounds 2 and 3, they no longer live in ancient Sumer and will not have
to rely on scribes.
- Explain that over time civilizations invented new ways
of recording information that was easier to learn. In Rounds
2 and 3, they will use inventions from two different time periods – Babylonian numerals
from the Babylonian empire (1800 B.C. to 1600 B.C.) and Phoenician letters
developed about 1000 B.C. Explain that Babylonian numerals aren’t
the same as the Arabic numerals we use today, and
Phoenician letters are not the Roman letters that
we use today, although there are some similarities.
The Phoenician alphabet was a set of 22 symbols
that represented the sounds of the language. It
forms the basis of the alphabet that people in many
countries use today
- Display Visual 2 and distribute a copy to each
student. Explain that a vertical wedge represents
numeral “1” and a horizontal wedge
represents numeral “10”. Two horizontal wedges would be numeral “20” and
one horizontal wedge and five vertical wedges would be the numeral “15.”
- Have
students practice with numeral 37 (three horizontal wedges and
seven vertical wedges) and numeral 54 (five horizontal
wedges and four vertical wedges).
- Tell students to reshape
their clay tablets during the allotted production time (three minutes).
Display Visual 1, reminding students that they have
three minutes to record the transaction
on their tablets. When students complete a tablet, they may obtain additional
clay to make another tablet.
- After three minutes, stop the writing
and display Visual 1. Tell students to complete Round 2 on their copy
of Visual 1. Discuss the following.
- What was the total output of each worker? (number of completed clay
tablets)
- What was the total output of all workers? (number of
tablets completed by the class) Record this in Column 2
for Round 2.
- How many workers were there? (This is the number
of students participating in the simulation.) Record this
in Column 3 for Round 2.
- Remind students that labor productivity
is the amount of output produced per worker. What was the
labor productivity in Round 2? (total
output divided by the number of workers) Record
this answer in Column 4 for Round 2.
- Why was there an increase
in output and labor productivity between Round 1 and Round
2? (Scribes had new information
about the Babylonian numerals and the Phoenician
letters,
and they had training and time to
practice.)
- Refer to your prediction for
Round 2. Was your prediction correct? If so, what made you
predict this increase?
(They probably thought that
knowledge of numerals and letters would
make recording
the transactions quicker and easier.)
- What technological advances could make labor productivity
even greater? (paper and pencil, a computer)
Day Two
- Explain that in Round 3 a technological change will be introduced.
Define technological change as the incorporation into production of
new knowledge
and processes that result in (1) a different organization of the
production process, (2) improvements or the introduction of innovative
capital goods,
or (3) modifications of the goods and services currently being
produced or the invention and introduction of new goods and services.
Record this definition
on the chart paper.
- Define capital goods as goods produced and used over and over to make
other goods and services. Record this definition on the chart
paper. Give examples such as new factories, machines, or means of communication.
Ask
for examples of capital goods students use at school. (books,
calculators, desks) Ask what capital goods were used in Round 2. (toothpicks,
wooden dowels)
- Explain that as the need developed for more convenient writing surfaces,
paper was made from a reed-like plant called papyrus. To write
on papyrus, scribes used long, thin, reed brushes. Their ink was a
mixture of water and
soot, black powder left from burned wood.
- Tell students that papyrus will be a paper bag, a reed brush will
be a paintbrush, and ink will be black paint in their next round
of production.
- Have students group into their previous pairs. Distribute two paper
bags and one paintbrush to each student and a dish of water to each
pair.
- 6. Have students predict what will happen to their productivity in Round
3 and record their prediction on Visual 1.
- Display Visual 1. Tell
students in Round 3, they will have three minutes to combine both
knowledge and technology to record the
transactions from Visual 1. Announce that students may produce
more than one papyrus
scroll.
- At the end of three minutes, tell students to stop working.
Determine the total output and instruct students to
complete Visual 1, Round 3,
independently.
- Display Visual 1. Review student answers using the following questions.
- What was the output of the workers? (completed recordings of the
transactions)
- What was the total output of all the workers?
(total number of completed scrolls) Record this in Column
2 for Round 3.
- What was the total number of workers?
(This is the number of students participating in the activity.) Record this in
Column 3 for Round 3.
- What was the labor productivity
in Round 3? (The number of scrolls produced divided by the
number of workers.) Record
this answer in Column 4 for Round 3.
- What was the change
in labor productivity between Rounds 2 and 3? (Answers will
vary but should show an increase.)
- Explain that an increase
in productivity means producing more goods and services with
the same amount of resources
or producing the same amount of outputs with fewer inputs.
Record this information
on the chart paper.
- Why was there an increase in productivity?
(New technology helped the scribes complete the transactions
faster and easier.
They could complete the transactions in less time.)
- How
did the introduction of new technology improve productivity?
(Scribes didn’t have to form the clay tablets, which
took time; and writing the information was easier with the paint
and brushes.)
- How have these advances, knowledge and technology,
improved
your human capital? (Workers had more skills and knowledge.
As a result, they produced more accurate scrolls in
the same amount of time. Using
paper was easier than using clay.)
- How did the new
technology and information affect the quality of the
final product? (Scrolls were easier to read
than the clay tablets.)
- Was your prediction
for Round 3 correct? Explain. (Answers will vary.)
- Have students identify technological changes that have occurred
to improve recording transactions. (better paper and writing instruments,
use of money, typewriters, computers, optical scanning devices, and so
on)
Closure
Review the main points of the lesson with the following.
- What is labor productivity? (the amount of output produced
per worker)
- How is labor productivity measured? [by dividing output (number of
goods produced) by input (number of workers)]
- How can productivity be increased? (through improvements in human
capital with training and education and with the use of technology)
- What is human capital? (the quality of labor resources; the skills
and knowledge that labor resources possess)
- How can human capital be improved? (through training and new knowledge)
- What is technological change? (the incorporation into production of
new knowledge and processes that result in (1) a different organization
of the production process such as an assembly line, (2) improvements
or the introduction of innovative capital goods, or (3) modifications of
the
goods and services currently being produced or the invention and
introduction of new goods and services)
- Give examples of improvement in technology from the simulation (papyrus,
ink)
- What are capital goods? (Capital goods are things produced and
used to make other goods and services. Capital goods are not used up
in the production process.) Give some examples of capital goods.
(factories, machines,
means of communication, tools)
- Give examples of capital goods from the simulation. (brushes, toothpicks,
wooden dowels)
- How does the use of technology and the training and education of
workers affect the final product? (The quality may improve,
and more can
be produced.)
Assesment
Write the following on the board for students to answer.
Like the Sumerians, the ancient Egyptians used picture-like symbols called
hieroglyphics to record their ideas. How might the introduction of hieroglyphics
affect productivity in ancient Egypt? Explain your answer. Why might this
advancement have been important to the Egyptians?
Extension
Sumer had many types of scribes. There were those who worked for the merchants
as well as government and military scribes. Write about the day in the life
of one of these scribes and explain how it would have changed if the citizens
of Sumer had been able to take advantage of the later advancements in technology
such as Babylonian numerals and Phoenician letters.
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