Syllabus, Week 1

Mr. Ditzenberger-Economics
Lessons: Introduction to the Course; Basic Concepts and Terms in Economics Time: Week 1, January 14th-18th Unit: Introduction to Economics
Objectives:
1. Students will take a pre-test that will cover the entire course and will enable the instructor to determine their pre-knowledge of the concepts at the beginning of class.
2. Students will become familiar with their book, expectations, and procedures for the semester.
3. Students will choose biblical concepts that they believe are most important regarding money.
4. Students will discuss, define, and create sentences regarding key concepts of economics.
5. Students will analyze production possibility curves and evaluate efficiencies in economies.

Monday
1. Definition of Economics-he study of what constitutes rational human behavior in the endeavor to fulfill needs and wants. (5 min)
2. Pretest that covers the main topics of the entire class and focuses on specifics from unit 1. (40 min)
3. Homework: Find a current event article on “economic efficiency.” Not an article that just mentions the words, but that is about economic efficiency. I found 118 hits on Dec 26th on this search!

Tuesday
1. Overview of book-chapter, quizzes, and tests. (10 minutes)
2. Over of Unit 1-What is Economics, Economic Systems, and American Free Enterprise System. (5 min)
3. In five groups of three students, they examine the verses found on the following website. Each group will have about four categories. Each group writes a paragraph that summarizes the biblical message or teaching. Each group chooses the verse that they believe is most significant from any of their four categories. Students will need to memorize these verses (they can choose four out of the five. These verses will be on the unit and final test. http://christianpf.com/scriptures/money.html

Wednesday
1. No Apologies

Thursday
1. Key Terms of Section 1. Discuss what the terms (top of pg 3) mean to students before reading the book (10 min). Define the words in your vocabulary notebook. Write a sentence using each term in a separate sentence (20 minutes).
2. Discuss key terms on page 8. (5 min)


China
India
U.S.
Russia
Pakistan
Turkey
Israel
S. Arabia

3. Divide class into four groups. Each group gets one of the terms on page 8. The group creates three different scenarios using their term and also using three classmates (from another group). They read those scenarios to the class. (15 min)
4. Take section quiz, mna-1016, page 11 as a class. (10 min)

Friday
1. “Economic Efficiency” article due. In groups, each person summarizes for 30 seconds. Others only listen. One question can be asked after the summary.
2. Discuss Production Possibility Curves
3. In groups, students make a list of ways economies can increase their efficiency.