The Importance of Economics in Social Studies

The Importance of Economics in Social Studies 

Economics is a huge part of social studies and although this may be obvious to us, for elementary school students, it isn't. Most students can guess that economics has something to do with money, but many don't know all the different aspects of it. The subject of economics has many new vocabulary words that students may not have seen before, such as supply and demand, scarcity, producers, consumers, needs, wants, etc. All of these words have an explanation relating to money and how products are made or wanted. When explaining these to elementary students, it can be tricky because they are complex and difficult concepts. Keeping definitions and examples simple and relatable is the best way to go. For example, asking the students about something that they want really bad and then having them connect it to the world of economics. 

This subject can also be boring for elementary students because they don't necessarily have their own finances, needs, demands, and/or resources yet. All they know is if they need or want something, their parents will go out and get it. By incorporating a "money reward system" into the classroom, you can be teaching economics without the students even realizing. By having the class earn coins or bills for tasks they complete or positive behaviors, they are learning that doing work is what earns you goods. Allowing the students to use their earned "money" to buy things at the end of the week or whenever, shows them that if the want something, they have to work for it. In turn, showing them supply and demand. Incorporating economics into the classroom year round is a life long lesson and benefits students learning in many ways. It is a way to teach students about real world lessons and something that they will definitely need to know later in life. Economics in social studies is important because it can be an explanation and/or resource for many different history topics. Economics is important and can definitely be fun if implemented the right way!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Current Events

Image
Current Events Social Studies is not only history but it is also todays current news. What was and is going on in your neighborhood and around the world is all relevant and important news to share. When someone thinks of a current event, they imagine the assignment you get in school where you have to find your local newspaper and pick a article to explain and present to the class. But, it is more than that; current events are around us all day everyday, especially in todays technology filled society. For this college course on teaching social studies, of course we had to do the typical assignment. Me and two other students worked together to find a relevant article and present it to the class with a few activities. Our article was on New York state banning the sale of large sugary drinks and how it will affect the economy in New York. Before this assignment, I had never even heard of this new law attempting to be pa...
Read more

Connecting to Economics

Image
Connecting to Economics In chapter ten of our class textbook,  National Social Science Press,  I was able to read up on the different ways we can make connections to economics. In the current moment, elementary students don't think that economics can effect them in anyway, but that is far from the truth. Economics effects just about everyone and everything, whether you have money yourself or not. A growing society can certainly effect the economy just as much as it effects class sizes. The bigger the class, the more needs for services such as teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers, etc. On the other hand, the opposite happens when class sizes go down- there is less of a need for these services. With class sizes growing in rural and poverty stricken areas, there are less services being provided to students who need it most. Important one-on-one attention is being overlooked and neglected because there is simply not en...
Read more