Danielle+Booth



Visit this [|Lesson Plan] to view more details about how to explain scarcity. The lesson that this page focuses on is Activity 2, page 16.

**Lesson Summary:**
In this lesson, students will learn the ideas of[| scarcity] and the difference between a [|want versus a need]. The student will be told that they are going to imagine that they are living on an island for a week. This island is in the middle of an ocean and there are no buildings or homes there. There are also no people there. Then the students will be told that when they get off the ship, they are only allowed to bring five items for the whole group. Provide a list of items that the students will choose from. Ask what they would not take and narrow it down to five items. Then tell them that the list that they have narrowed down are needs.Sometimes, we cannot have everything that we want. (For this lesson you could have the kids draw what they would bring) In addition, you could ask What would be different about living there?

**Lesson Objectives :**
The student will learn...
 * The difference between a want and a need
 * The ideas of limited resources
 * The difference between different environments
 * How their lifestyle would be different if they lived in a different place

**Lesson Plan Materials:**

 * 1) Large cutouts or pictures of different items ([|DVD player], [|T.V]., [|Ipod], [|Ice cream], [|Laptop], [|Water], [|Food], [|Sleeping bag], [|Flashlight], [|Tent])
 * 2) Signs that say "What We Are Bringing" and "What we are not bringing"
 * 3) Tape
 * 4) A white board of chalk board to tape all of these items to

**Lesson Plan Overview:**
Ask a variety of questions for the students to respond to like... In order to make good choices, we have to tell the difference between a need and a want. A want is ice cream, a need is water for survival. We sometimes have to make decisions and luckily, we sometimes we are lucky enough to get what we want and what we need.
 * 1) Why did we bring the food and water?
 * 2) Why did we not bring the DVD player and T.V.?
 * 3) What would be different about living on the island versus living here?

**Lesson Evaluation:**
Ask questions of the students about if they have ever had to make a decision between something that they wanted versus something that they needed. And lead a discussion based off guiding questions like: 1) Why are water and food important to bring? 2) Why is having a DVD player and Television not a need?

Group Comments:
Claire Stave: This lesson plan is off to a very fun start. The topic will be interesting and easy to relate to for the students, and the outcome is effectively based on modern lives (choosing between an iPod and food and water). It may be fun for the kids to make their own items as an art project incorporated into the lesson plan. That way they possess a stronger connection to the item when they are forced to leave it behind on the ship. I think the evaluation is good, but it also might take the lesson a little further to pair them up in groups to discuss specific questions with each other to be sure everyone reflects on their experience with scarcity. Overall, I like the bones of the lesson plan, and I think it would be easy to adjust it for use with many different grade levels.

Robyn Eshelman: I think it is important to understand exactly what is being asked of the students. As a group this lesson does well with connecting what they will bring and what they just want to bring, but I think it would be a better learning experience if they first tried to pick 5 things out individually. By having the children write about what they would like to bring onto the island and a short explanation of why, when the entire group got together to talk about it, they could have a discussion and try to narrow it down accordingly. This gives the 3rd graders a chance to use their writing skills, and previous knowledge of the want vs. need concept. A discussion could be held in place that has the students argue for each perspective object and could not only sharpen the students social science skills, but also their writing and communication skills. Overall though I believe that this lesson plan has a good stance on the subject, and will allow the students to have a better understanding of the idea of scarcity.

Kayla Macadam: The overall idea of this lesson plan is really fun! The desert island idea and what to bring would get kids really excited about it all. They would then begin to focus on what they need vs. what they want (which would happen after a lot of initial WANTS) when the teacher began to lead them in the right direction. This assignment could also turn into a great creative writing project. There are a lot of things that teachers could do to connect this lesson plan with other curriculum.