The concept of comparative advantage is used to make a decision about specialization and trade. The microeconomic impact is also included.
The concept of price elasticity of demand was introduced in class. Elastic and inelastic goods were discussed. The impact that a change in price will have on total revenue was also presented.
During the lecture, labor demand and labor supply were discussed and were used to determine the equilibrium wage rate. Then, the concept of a minimum wage rate was introduced and the impact of the wage rate on the labor market was demonstrated graphically.
During the lecture, the competitive market was introduced. A graph was used to demonstrate a competitive market in which there was an economic profit. The profit motive causes an increase in supply. As additional producers enter the market, the price of the product or service decreases. In the end, price will decrease until the long-run equilibrium situation is reached which means that the economic profit decreases to zero.
This lab introduces basic chemistry concepts in molecular interactions, measurements, prediction, and critical thinking.
This is an inquiry-based activity in which students will need to work together as a class to solve the following problem: they must construct a "boat" entirely out of modeling clay that is capable of supporting 150 grams of cargo without sinking.
Drawing two dimensional images of an atom.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build a spreadsheet to explore the trade-offs between "bargain-priced" gas vs. the extra mileage needed to get it. A modeling problem.
This activity is a bioassay lab where students tested the effect of an environmental toxin (fertilizer) on the growth rate of Duckweed.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students estimate the volume of sand in Hoosier Slide, a large dome-shaped dune quarried away in the 1920s from what is now Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. They also estimate the number of boxcars to carry the sand, and the number of Ball jars produced from it.
In this jigsaw, students will graph various Bald Eagle population numbers and determine the impact humans have had on the eagle. Specifically, they will investigate why the Bald Eagle was listed as endangered, the affects of DDT on eagles, and the affects of lead. Based on an original activity titled "Bald Eagle Population Graphing" from The Raptor Center, University of Minnesota http://www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/prod/groups/cvm/@pub/@cvm/documents/asset/cvm_66866.pdf
This is a classroom activity in which students develop understanding of the rock cycle using wax crayons to model the processes that form the 3 types of rock; sedimentary, igneous & metamorphic.
This is an indoor and outdoor activity where students understand the distance the earth is from the sun. The students understand that the earth rotates on it's axis once in a 24 hour period thus providing us with day and night.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build spreadsheets to tabulate and graph seismic wave amplitude and energy release to explore the logarithmic scale of earthquake magnitude.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build spreadsheets to forward calculate the Earth's aggregate density from combinations of densities and thicknesses of the Earth's four shells.
This field investigation allows students to collect and observe earthworms using liquid extraction to help develop background knowledge at the start of a new earthworm unit.
This short lesson was designed in collaboration with a 7th grade Life Science teacher (Paul Jeffery). The idea behind the lesson is to help students better understand ecological and geographical classifications by teaching them at the same time in their Life Science class and their Geography class. Teaching the two classifications together will help reinforce the idea of classification. While this lesson would best be taught outdoors it can also be adapted to the indoors.
Through a close study of a rich set of demographic and economic statistics, students will see the development over 150 years of two similar yet divergent colonies (Virginia and Barbados). They will work through population, land use, and trade statistics with closely-guiding questions in order to find links between one set of numbers and another.
The activity is designed to be an interative lecture segment during a larger interactive lecture class period. The technique demonstrated through this example is a double entry journal.
Working in groups of three, students analyze economies of scale. Each student constructs an individual short-run ATC curve, then the three students collaborate to determine if there are economies or diseconomies of scale and to create the long run ATC.