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Centuries of Economic Growth: From Feathers to Robotics
by Angela Bullock and Sara Paul (USA), Anzhela Yevgushchenko (Ukraine), Vesselka
Yotkova (Bulgaria)
LESSON DESCRIPTION
Students read scenarios about the production of Bibles over five historical
time periods. Working in small groups, students create skits and develop a retrieval
chart that is used to analyze factors that impact economic growth.
AGE LEVEL
14-19 years old
CONCEPTS
- economic growth
- labor productivity
CONTENT STANDARDS
Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and the health, education,
and training of people can raise future standards of living.
BENCHMARKS
Economic growth is a sustained rise in a nation's production of
goods and services. It results from investments in human and physical
capital, research
and development, technological change, and improved institutional
arrangements and incentives.
When individuals, regions, and nations
specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost and then trade
with others, both
production and consumption
increase.
Labor productivity is output per worker.
OBJECTIVES
- Students will define labor productivity.
- Students will identify factors that contribute to increases in productivity
- Students will explain the relationship between increases in productivity
and economic growth.
- Students will explain why increasing productivity is important to an economy
and individuals.
TIME REQUIRED
two class periods
MATERIALS
- copy of Activities 1 and 2 for each student
- transparencies of Visuals 1 and 2
- transparency of Activity 1
PROCEDURE
Day 1
- Tell students that for the next two days they will study factors that
have influenced economic growth over time.
- Use Visual 1 and display the definition for economic growth. Explain
that economic growth means producing increased amounts of goods and services
over
the long term. If the people in a nation want to experience an
increase in their material standard of living, they must produce more goods
and services. If output
does not grow, one person or group can only obtain more goods
and services if some other individual or group receives less.
- Refer to Visual 1 and read the definition for labor productivity. Explain
that to calculate labor productivity, output is divided by the
time worked multiplied by the number of workers.
- Model computing labor productivity using the data in problem 1.
30 cars = 1 car per hour
10 workers x 3 hours
- Tell students to calculate the answer for problem two. (15 cars)
- Distribute copies of Activities 1 and 2 to each student. Divide students
into five groups. Assign each group one of the five scenarios
from Activity 2.
- Have each group read its assigned scenario and complete the appropriate
section of Activity 1 for its time period.
- Tell groups to create a skit that depicts the information in Activity
1 for their scenario. Inform groups that the skits will be presented
at the beginning
of the next class. Encourage students to bring in props.
Day 2
- Display Visual 2. Explain that as each
group presents a skit, the remaining students are to complete Activity 2 for
the appropriate time period using information
from the skit.
- Following each skit, have group members review the correct answers for
Activity 1 with the class. Ask one group member to write the correct
answers in the appropriate column on Visual 2.
- Once all skits have been presented, discuss the following.
- What happened to labor productivity from 800AD to 2003?
(increased)
- What factors contributed to this change in labor productivity?
(education and training, improvements in equipment and
technology)
- What impact does an increase in labor productivity
have on economic growth?
(More output can be produced
with the same amount of
labor. When an economy
produces more goods and services with available
resources, economic growth occurs.)
- What is necessary
for an economy to experience economic growth?
(investment
in factories, machinery, new technology, and the health,
education
and training
of people)
- How does an increase in a nation's
economic growth affect the material standard of living
of its people?
(The material standard
of living
for a society
improves when an increase in real output
of goods and services occurs relative to the
growth in population. In the United
States,
as a result
of the growth
in real output relative to the growth
of the population, the material standard of
living has improved.)
- Tell students that capitalist
countries have experienced impressive economic
growth during this century. In the United
States, real
output has
increased
15-fold since 1900 while population
has only tripled. Ask students: What does this mean for
the average United States resident?
(Five times
more goods and
services are available to the average
United States resident today than were available
in 1900.)
CLOSURE
Review the main points of the lesson.
- What is economic growth?
(a sustained rise in a nation's production of
goods and services)
- What is labor productivity?
(output per worker per hour)
- What factors contribute to an increase in labor productivity?
(investment
in education and training, new technology and equipment)
- What is the relationship between productivity and economic growth?
(Economic
growth results from increases in productivity.)
- Why are people in a society concerned about increasing productivity?
(When a society experiences increasing productivity, it can lead to
improvement in
the material standard of living for the people.)
ASSESSMENT
- Display Visual 2. Have students write a short paragraph explaining why
their president is concerned about this problem and what
recommendations they would make to correct it.
(Low productivity growth
over time means
the country's
standard of living is not rising. Recommendations should
include investment in health, education and training of people, new
technology and equipment,
and new factories.)
EXTENSION
- Select a country and compare the standard of living of individuals in
this country over three time periods and explain the
relationship between productivity growth and standard of living.
- Gather current and historical data on real GDP per capita for four different
countries such as the United States, Ukraine, Latvia, and Japan.
Analyze the data and explain the relationship between economic growth
and standard of living.
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Centuries of Economic Growth: From Feathers to Robotics
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