Lesson Plans: Goods and Services and How We Get Them

The study of goods and services is one of the foundations of economics. Understanding the concepts of goods and services allows students to understand distribution, trade, and consumption. In addition to merging cross-curricular topics in science, history, math, and social studies, the lessons in basic economics meet national goals and standards. The following lesson plans span the grade levels from primary to high school, and most are adaptable for any grade level.

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…: What are goods? What are services? What’s the difference? (Grades 1-3)
• Kermit the Hermit: Using the book, Kermit the Hermit to teach about how we pay for goods and services. (Grades 1-3)
• Supply and Demand: Learning the vocabulary of economics. (Grade 4)
• Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Have You Any Goods?: The story of five sheep teaches students about goods and services. (Grade 2)
• Villages in Northern Pakistan: Learn how goods and services are transported and received by people in other parts of the world. (High School)
• Great Cities of the Middle East: Goods and services can be exchanged through trade. (High School)
• Labeling the World: Using the labels in their clothing, students will learn about geography and labor. (Grade 6)
• Production, Distribution, and Consumption in a Free Market: Students will learn how goods are produced and distributed. (Grade 4)
• West African Art: Analyzing the effects of supply and demand on production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. (Middle School)
• Free Enterprise: Learning about free enterprise and technology. (Middle School)
• Workers’ Wages vs the Cost of Goods: A comparison of free trade in the 19^th and 21^st centuries. (Middle School)
• Why Nations Trade: Trade issues on the international level. (Middle School/High School)
• Ivory Wars: The economics and issues involved in illegal ivory trade. (Middle School)
• What Happened to the Railroads?: Explore how government policies and changes in consumer demands affected the railroad industry. (High School)
• Goods and Services: Some are Private; Some are Not: Analyzing which goods and services are produced by the government and which are produced by the public sector. (Middle School)
• In the Community: Studying goods and services within the students’ community. (Grade 3)
• The Great Cookie Company: A unit on how a company produces and sells products. (Grade 4)
• Green Vehicles: Students will do a shoppers’ comparison on fuel efficient cars, while learning how entrepreneurs produce new goods and services according to market demands. (Grade 5)
• Cash, Charge, or Save?: A lesson plan based on a New York Times article. Students learn about the costs of various goods and services. (Middle School/High School)
• Goods and Services Collage: Students will learn the differences between goods and services with an art project. (Grade 2)
• Why Are My Pears From Paraguay?: A unit of lesson plans on supply and demand, and transportation of goods and services. (Grade 3-5)
• Fur Trader Lesson Plan: A lesson in the 19^th century fur trade. (Grade 7)
• Silk Road Treasures and Traders: How were goods carried along the Silk Road? What goods were traded? Why was the trade route so important? (Grades 4-6)
• Was the Silk Road the Internet Highway of the Ancient World? Studying the geography and environmental factors in the movement of people and goods. (High School)
• Medieval Times to Today: Students trace the grade routes of Europe and Asia, identifying commodities exchanged. (Grades 5-8)
• The Silk Road: Consider the things a trader might go through on the Silk Road. What might a trader from Rome buy from China? What might a merchant from China want from Rome? (Grade 5-8)
• Barter and Trade: A lesson on the trade that took place in the early settlements of the Great Lakes region. (Grade 3-5)
• Life in the Floating World: The social differences between artisans (providers of services) and merchants (providers of goods) in ancient Japan. (High School)
• Making a Goods and Services Database: Students will use the Internet to search for goods and services. (Grades 2-3)
• Goods and Services: Jobs: Jobs that produce different goods and services. (Grade 2)
• Characteristics of Goods and Services: A group activity lesson plan for learning about goods and services. (Grades 2-6)
• Goods and Services on the Web: A web lesson about the differences between goods and services, and consumers and producers.
• Learning with The Lorax: Using The Lorax, by Dr. Suess, to learn about sustainable development, and goods and services. (Grades 3-5)
• From the Tree to the Glass: A lesson on production and distribution, using orange juice as an example. (Grade 2)
• Livre’s Worth: A lesson on the barter economy of the Colonial Era. (Grade 3-6)
• Pennies Make Cents: Moving from the barter system to the use of money. (Grades 3-4)
• Barter for Fish and Poi: A Hawaiian lesson plan, teaching bartering. (Grade 4)
• Distribution of Goods: A lesson on how goods are distributed. (Elementary)
• Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Learning about credit during the Great Depression. (Grades 5-7)
• Moving with Trade: Students will learn about trade and exploration through a game. (Grade 3-6)
• Cultural Diffusion and the Columbian Exchange: Discovering patterns in trade from the Medieval Period to 1750CE. (Middle School)

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By Samuel Barradas.