Zooconomy

Review by Carolyn Bond
Econ. 3052
4-6-05

Zooconomy is a great resource for teachers to use in the classroom as a small group assignment or as an independent activity for students to apply their understanding of demand, cost, and profit. Throughout the interactive web-based activity students explore the various aspects of zoo business at the San Luis Zoo—sounds a bit familiar—and are given the challenge to plan a fund raising program that will yield a least a $16,000 profit for the zoo. The students are given the task of designing a rain forest excursion to Costa Rica for which they must plan the following:

The website prompts students to consider some of the following questions from an economic standpoint when making each decision:

          Concerning Consumer Tastes and Preferences: What type of experience will attract the most travelers to the Costa Rica           program-- a rugged, cultural experience type of excursion, or a luxurious vacation-style one?

          Comparing Costs/ Maximizing Profits: What price range will be reasonable enough to attract travelers but lucrative enough to           ensure that the zoo earns a profit? How much should the zoo charge beyond the cost per person for the excursion so that the           total price for the trip to Costa Rica pays for all additional costs, such as hiring a travel agent and tour guide and paying for the           cost of advertising.

Some interesting features of this web activity are the colorful images and the brief and clear reading directions listed for each page. While going through this activity, students should write down on a separate sheet of paper their choices for each planning item, the formulas for profit and demand, as well as the values for each determined cost. These mathematical operations must be used in order to set a price for the Costa Rica trip and some of these values do not reappear for reference to students on the page where they must determine a price. Students will be able to perform the math required for this activity if they have mastered adding values with three or more digits.

The results page (where the students receive feedback on how well their program did) responds correctly to each student input. When I prepared the expedition, I attempted the “bare basics” route as well as the “luxury” option. I made the cut with a $16000 profit, attracting 20 travelers to the “cultural experience” -type trip in which the travelers incurred the bare basics of cross-country bus travel and a meal of native insects. While, for the luxury trip, 11 travelers got “the works” and the program earned the Zoo $2, 600 in excess of the goal of a $16,000 profit.

To complete the web activity can take at least half an hour, but the time is well worth it to bring technology in the classroom. Zooconomy is an economics lesson that provides a learning experience that extends to other disciplines of the elementary classroom curriculum as well. At each part of the planning phase, students are required to read a brief paragraph of background information that will help them make a decision. Through these exercises, students get an introduction to the science part of the zoo excursion by learning about the layers of the rain forest and some of its visual features and weather conditions. In addition, the website explores the social studies aspect of the region culture which comes through in the background information about travel accommodations and native Costa Rican cuisine. Of course, reading comprehension and mathematics are also applied in this activity.

I would highly recommend Zooconomy for use as a supplement to the elementary curriculum.