Since first studying economics at university, it has always fascinated me.
I
initially struggled with the concept of self-interest, as I believed it
contrary to the how people actually behaved. However, the more I
considered the concept, the more I came to believe the concept to apply
to the real world.
As an idea that intrigued me, I had always
thought to introduce the subject with a discussion on self-interest.
However, what fascinates me and what fascinates students is often quite
different and when I have tried this approach, it has been less
successful than I had hoped.
When developing a new middle school subject at my school, I hit upon the idea of using real estate instead.
Real
estate is relatively easy to understand, for almost everyone in the
western world lives in a house or apartment. As a ‘good’ it is easy to
understand why it is valuable, and factors that can impact upon its
value.
With this in mind, I developed a resource that enables
students to participate in a simulated auction process, and then
introduced a range of variables such as debt, competition and changes in
wealth.
My colleague (who had no prior experience teaching economics) and I have
subsequently
used the resource to great effect. Students loved the competition of
bidding against each-other, as well as the false drama that an auction
creates.
As a teacher, it was fantastic to see a resource that I
produced engaging my students and making them think about how the market
prices goods and services.
The resource can be purchased below on teachers pay teachers.com on the link below:
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