Economics · Week 5 · Scarcity, Choice, and Markets
Markets and Freedom
Reading Adam Smith alongside economists who stress the limits of markets and practicing how to summarize a view fairly before responding to it.
- Students will
- Students explain Adam Smith's argument that a market economy can protect liberty and compare it with views that stress the limits of markets.
- SEL skill
- Summarize another view fairly before responding
- What it looks like
- Students practice summarizing another person's view fairly before they respond to it.
- Content focus
- Markets and freedom
- Format
- Structured discussion
Responsible decision-making
Social awareness means understanding how other people see things and caring about them, including people whose views differ from yours. More responsible decision-making activities
What you get
A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.
Standards
- 12.1.5: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 12: Principles of Economics (standard 12.1, item 5)
- CA HSS Analysis Skill: HREP3 Evaluate major debates among historians about alternative interpretations of the past. (Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View)
- C3 Framework (national): D2.Civ.6.9-12 Critique the relationships among governments, civil societies, and economic markets.
- Literacy in history: RH.11-12.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors on the same or related topics.
Fits these textbook chapters
- Econ Alive! The Power to Choose, Chapter 3: Economic Systems
- Economics, Chapter 2: Economic Systems and Decision Making
- Economics, Chapter 3: The American Free Enterprise System
- Economics: Principles in Action, Chapter 2: Economic Systems
Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.
More responsible decision-making activities for Economics
- The Cost of Every Choice Responsible decision-makingCalculating opportunity cost and marginal benefit, then using the same reasoning to weigh one real decision about how to spend an afternoon.
- When Prices Are Capped Responsible decision-makingExamining the intended and unintended effects of price controls such as rent control through the views of several economists, and pausing to separate feelings from evidence.
- What Government Does in Markets Responsible decision-makingWeighing arguments for and against government roles in markets from several economic perspectives and practicing a fair summary of a view one does not hold.
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RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.