Seas,
Trees and Economies - Grades 3-6
$22.00
With lesson
titles such as The Jabawa Trees of Island Breeze, Eggs-ternal
Costs, and The Lorax and What the Lore Lacks, how could Seas,
Trees, and Economies be anything but fun! Yes, the
lessons are fun and interesting, but the content brings about
discussion and a better understanding of resource use.
Children, and far too many adults, fail to see the contradiction in asking loggers to "spare those trees," while asking contractors to "build more and better homes for everyone." These are both worthy desires. Unfortunately, new homes require a cleared space and lumber made from wood or wood products. As a result, more homes means fewer standing trees. Conversely, more spared trees translates into fewer homes. The size of our natural environment is limited. If we choose one thing, we invariably give up something else.
Students working through the Seas, Trees, and Economies unit learn valuable lessons through experiential learning. In the first lesson, for instance, each student draws a tree that provides wood, or fruit, or shade, or a windbreak. However, when it is time to "plant" the trees in a grove, it becomes apparent that all of the trees won't fit in the available land, and some amount of wood, fruit, shade, or windbreak will have to be forsaken. This curriculum helps students recognize that the balance we seek presents many difficult problems that demand well thought-out solutions.
Seas, Trees and Economics lesson descriptions
Seas, Trees, and Economies, a curriculum unit for grades 3 through 6, includes ten active-learning lessons that teach about economics and the environment. These lessons address the Show-Me Standards and the Illinois Standards. A brief description of the lessons follows:
Lesson 1: The Jabawa Trees of Island Breeze -- Students read a short story about a fictional natural resource, the great Jabawa tree of Island Breeze. Students discuss the various goods and services provided by the trees, and then conduct a role play to demonstrate the effect of scarcity on a society.
Lesson 2: Here Today, Back Here Tomorrow -- Students are engaged in a trading activity that allows them to chart the flow of natural resources out of the environment, through the economy, and then back into the environment.
Lesson 3: Letter Perfect and Clean Enough -- Students learn about the types of natural resources (plant, animal, mineral, fossil fuel, and other) that the environment provides. Then they are given a puzzle, practice their penmanship and develop a scarcity slide that they use to illustrate trade-offs -- letter perfect v. clean enough.
Lesson 4: Waste Not, Want a Lot -- Students play the role of producers, deciding what and how to produce in response to various incentives.
Lesson 5: Eggs-ternal Costs -- Students participate in an egg hunt and then color eggs. Through these activities, students recognize that decisions they make and actions they take can affect the well-being of others.
Lesson 6: A Valuable Lesson -- Students discover that valuable goods and services are provided by both the economy and the environment. They must decide which goods and services they would most want in various situations. They learn that the value of a good or service is the maximum price they are willing and able to pay for it and that the value of goods and services depends on how well the goods and services satisfy wants.
Lesson 7: Cycling and Recycling around the Classroom -- Students pretend to be natural resources moving through the cycle of production, consumption and recycling.
Lesson 8: Eco-Cents -- Students discover ways that businesses are reducing the impact of their production and products on the environment. They consider the role of consumer sovereignty in bringing about these changes. Working in teams, students are challenged to come up with their own ideas for new products or services and make a marketing presentation to the class.
Lesson 9: A Bad Deal for the Rain Forests -- Students are given the opportunity to buy small snacks in three different situations. The first involves a choice between two different goods that have the same price. The second involves a choice between the same good offered at two different prices. The third involves a choice when a good has public or "shared" versus private or "me only" characteristics.
Lesson 10: The Lorax and What the Lore Lacks -- Students read Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, a section at a time, stopping to discuss the economic assumptions and lessons of the story. These lessons are used to illustrate how the outcome of the story could have been avoided.