Capitalism Lesson Plan
Goals and Objectives
Goal: Students will understand how the concept of Capitalism influences their financial transactions on a daily basis.
Objective: Students will be able to differentiate examples of Capitalism from non-examples with 100% accuracy.
Objective: Students will be able to differentiate examples of Capitalism from non-examples with 100% accuracy.
Content Standards
10.3.5 Understand the connections among natural resources, entrepreneurship, labor, and capital in an industrial economy.
10.3.6 Analyze the emergence of capitalism as a dominant economic pattern and the responses to it, including Utopianism, Social Democracy, Socialism, and Communism.
10.3.6 Analyze the emergence of capitalism as a dominant economic pattern and the responses to it, including Utopianism, Social Democracy, Socialism, and Communism.
Lesson Introduction
[5-7 minutes] The teacher will explain that the concept of capitalism influences all of their daily purchases and that the prices that are paid for products are determined by our capitalist market economy. The teacher then directs the students to brainstorm any ideas they have heard about capitalism. The teacher then calls on students to write their ideas on the whiteboard at the front of the class. After the students have been surveyed for their ideas about capitalism, the teacher will explain that the student’s will be exploring examples of capitalism and we will come back to their initial ideas to see if they match what we learn.
Vocabulary
Key Terms: market economy, competition, price, capital, means of production, profit, entrepreneurs, investment, capitalism, economy.
The key terms will be introduced to the students as they brainstorm as a class the characteristics of capitalism. For example, if a student was to say that private ownership is a characteristic of capitalism, the teacher would emphasize that capitalism necessitates the private ownership of factories or the ‘means of production’ for making new products. The teacher would go on to explain that when private citizens invest in the means of production, they are called ‘entrepreneurs’ and they compete in a competitive ‘market economy’ with other ‘entrepreneurs’ to produce the best product at the lowest ‘price’. In this way the teacher can introduce and define content specific vocabulary to the students as they brainstorm the characteristics of capitalism. These terms will also be put on a word wall as the teacher explains their meaning.
The key terms will be introduced to the students as they brainstorm as a class the characteristics of capitalism. For example, if a student was to say that private ownership is a characteristic of capitalism, the teacher would emphasize that capitalism necessitates the private ownership of factories or the ‘means of production’ for making new products. The teacher would go on to explain that when private citizens invest in the means of production, they are called ‘entrepreneurs’ and they compete in a competitive ‘market economy’ with other ‘entrepreneurs’ to produce the best product at the lowest ‘price’. In this way the teacher can introduce and define content specific vocabulary to the students as they brainstorm the characteristics of capitalism. These terms will also be put on a word wall as the teacher explains their meaning.
Content Delivery
[20 minutes] Students will study the “Capitalism Comparisons” worksheet and use their books to fill in the required answers. Students will be able to work with their neighbors in groups of two or work individually based on their preference. Any groups who are too noisy will be made to work individually or paired with different partners. Students will be given a quick refreshing on how to use their index, glossary, and other textbook tools to find the information they need to fill in the worksheet.
After the students have finished, the teacher will explain that the present United States economy and the Industrial Revolution Era British economy are generally considered to be capitalist economies while the Soviet Union was a socialist economy and the economy of France under the monarchy of Louis XVI was a feudal system. The teacher will then ask the class as a whole to describe what they see as the similarities and differences between the capitalist examples and how did they differ from the socialist and feudal examples. The teacher will then write in two columns on the whiteboard the similarities and differences that the students saw. One column will be the similarities between the capitalist examples and the other column will hold the differences between the capitalist examples and the other examples. The teacher will ask if any of the similarities of capitalism matched their initial ideas of capitalism that they mentioned in the anticipatory set. Any of the ideas that do match will be added to the column holding the similarities between capitalist examples.
Next, together as a class and led by the teacher, the students will be asked to compose a sentence defining capitalism based on the similarities and differences they identified on the whiteboard. The teacher will provide feedback and correction of the student’s definition and using that feedback the students will draft a second attempt at the definition that should end up with the following characteristics: (a) an economic system (b) based on the private ownership of the means of production (c) for the means of earning a profit (d) using a price system to compete for business (e) with limited government interference.
After the students have finished, the teacher will explain that the present United States economy and the Industrial Revolution Era British economy are generally considered to be capitalist economies while the Soviet Union was a socialist economy and the economy of France under the monarchy of Louis XVI was a feudal system. The teacher will then ask the class as a whole to describe what they see as the similarities and differences between the capitalist examples and how did they differ from the socialist and feudal examples. The teacher will then write in two columns on the whiteboard the similarities and differences that the students saw. One column will be the similarities between the capitalist examples and the other column will hold the differences between the capitalist examples and the other examples. The teacher will ask if any of the similarities of capitalism matched their initial ideas of capitalism that they mentioned in the anticipatory set. Any of the ideas that do match will be added to the column holding the similarities between capitalist examples.
Next, together as a class and led by the teacher, the students will be asked to compose a sentence defining capitalism based on the similarities and differences they identified on the whiteboard. The teacher will provide feedback and correction of the student’s definition and using that feedback the students will draft a second attempt at the definition that should end up with the following characteristics: (a) an economic system (b) based on the private ownership of the means of production (c) for the means of earning a profit (d) using a price system to compete for business (e) with limited government interference.
Student Engagement and Critical Thinking
[20 minutes] The students will be given short descriptions of the current economies in several different countries including Vietnam, Italy, and America. The students will then discuss in groups of four whether they feel each country’s economy is an example of capitalism or not by relating them to the characteristics of capitalism we have identified. The teacher will then lead a class discussion in which students explain why they feel each country is or is not an example of capitalism. The teacher will correct any misconceptions about capitalism and point out that capitalism can be approached in different ways by pointing to the examples of Italy and America.
Demonstrated Learning
This lesson will utilize a formative assessment in the form of the “Capitalism Comparison” worksheet used during content delivery. This worksheet will allow the teacher to see if the students are grasping the different aspects of capitalist, socialist, and feudal economies.
Lesson Closure
[5 minutes] The students will complete a short written exit slip in which they answer the following prompt: “Why do you feel the majority of the world’s economies have come to adopt capitalism to some extent. What type of economy would you like to live and work in?”
Accommodations
Students with special needs will be accommodated according to their I.E.P.
English Learners will be accommodated through the use of a word wall. A custom word wall will be made for the Unit on the Cold War and will include many words that will be relevant to this lesson. Any student who has a question about a new word in the reading of descriptions of various economies used in the student engagement section, they may write that word on a supplied piece of construction paper by the word wall and use a thumb tack to pin it to the wall. At that point the teacher will address the word by defining it for the class. This will help EL's develop their English vocabulary as well as serve as a review for non-English learners who may be somewhat unfamiliar with the unique vocabulary being taught in this lesson.
Struggling readers will be accommodated by homogeneous grouping. Struggling readers will be grouped together so that while most of the groups work amongst themselves to read and discuss the descriptions of the Italian, American, and Vietnamese economies, the struggling readers will work in a group with the teacher to read through the descriptions to make sure that struggling readers are accessing the content.
English Learners will be accommodated through the use of a word wall. A custom word wall will be made for the Unit on the Cold War and will include many words that will be relevant to this lesson. Any student who has a question about a new word in the reading of descriptions of various economies used in the student engagement section, they may write that word on a supplied piece of construction paper by the word wall and use a thumb tack to pin it to the wall. At that point the teacher will address the word by defining it for the class. This will help EL's develop their English vocabulary as well as serve as a review for non-English learners who may be somewhat unfamiliar with the unique vocabulary being taught in this lesson.
Struggling readers will be accommodated by homogeneous grouping. Struggling readers will be grouped together so that while most of the groups work amongst themselves to read and discuss the descriptions of the Italian, American, and Vietnamese economies, the struggling readers will work in a group with the teacher to read through the descriptions to make sure that struggling readers are accessing the content.
References
Adapted from the Concept Formation lesson from teachinghistory.org
http://www.teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/25184
http://www.teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/25184