Content Partner
Grade 3-5, 6-8
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Lesson
Costs and Benefits of Beans’ Decisions
Objective
Students will be able to:
- Identify the economic concepts: Cost, Benefit, and Decision Making.
- Distinguish if a statement is a cost or benefit when making a decision using a cost/benefit analysis.
- Use a cost/benefit analysis to make a decision.
- Explain their decision that was made when using a cost/benefit analysis.
Standard
National Standards in Economics
Decision Making
Standard: 2
- Students will understand that: Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices "are all or nothing" decisions.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Make effective decisions as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.
National Standards in Financial Literacy
Earning Income
Standard: 1
- Students will understand that: Most people earn wage and salary income in return for working, and they can also earn income from interest, dividends, rents, entrepreneurship, business profits, or increases in the value of investments. Employee compensation may also include access to employee benefits such as retirement plans and health insurance. Employers generally pay higher wages and salaries to more educated, skilled, and productive workers. The decision to invest in additional education or training can be made by weighing the benefit of increased income-earning and career potential against the opportunity costs in the form of time, effort, and money. Spendable income is lower than gross income due to taxes assessed on income by federal, state, and local governments.
In this economics lesson, students will make decisions using a cost-benefit analysis.
Description
Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm tells a story about Beans Curry and his many decisions during the Great Depression. In Key West, Florida, there are very few jobs. Everyone is out for himself or herself including Beans. It is hard for Beans to earn a dime, and he does not want to be “winked” out of earning his fair share by a ‘lying adult’. His first scheme does not work well, so he keeps trying. Now, he must decide to remain penniless or break a few rules to earn an income. In this lesson, we will help Beans make decisions using a cost-benefit analysis.
Subjects:
Economics