20602_AC_Economics_and_buisness_Year_6_Making_choices_about_resources

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Resource decisions How the concept of opportunity cost involves choices about the alternative use of resources and the need to consider trade-offs (ACHASSK149) Key idea Who we are, who came before us, and traditions and values that have shaped societies Inquiry and skills Questioning, Researching, Analysing, Evaluating and reflecting, Communicating Economics and business Key inquiry question Why are there trade-offs associated with making decisions? Economics and business concepts for developing understanding Resource allocation and making choices; The business environment; Consumer and financial literacy General capabilities Literacy, ICT capability, Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability, Ethical understanding Using these pages in the classroom Page 12 • Read the text on page 11 as a class and talk about the final question. Recent newspaper articles about the allocation of limited resources could be shared to help enhance understanding of this concept. • Students complete the first two questions on page 12 independently. Questions 3 and 4 could be completed in pairs to allow for discussion of the possibilities inherent in each situation. Page 13 • Introduce this activity by reading each scenario aloud to the class and making sure the students fully comprehend each one. Explain there are no right or wrong answers and all opinions should be valued. • Groups spend 10 minutes discussing each scenario. One member of each group should be appointed as a scribe and can share the answers with the class. Depending on the ability of the class, groups could work on and then share one scenario at a time. This would also give groups that require support the chance to better understand the scope and purpose of the activity. Pages 14 and 15 • Students will require access to the internet to complete this inquiry-based activity, which could be completed over several days. Instruct them to read through each step in the inquiry carefully and complete each one before moving to the next step. The activity will be more successful if a time limit is set for each step. • Before completing step 3, students could listen to some radio commercials that promote environmental or notfor-profit organisations to provide them with ideas for their own commercials. Sound effects and music are optional, depending on time constraints. If they are to be included, students could consider creating their own sounds and music that enhances the message and feel of their commercial. • Step 5 should be completed by the students individually, before discussing answers as a class. 10 Australian Curriculum Economics and business (Year 6) www.ricpublications.com.au R.I.C. Publications ®
Resource decisions – 1 Every day, consumers make decisions and trade-offs concerned with fulfilling their needs and wants. Economists would say while consumers’ needs can be satisfied, their wants are unlimited. In other words, we are never completely satisfied with what we have (not for long, anyway!). The problem is that while our wants are unlimited, the resources we use to fulfil them are not. When you think of the word resource, you might think of things you can see and touch. These might include natural resources such as land, water and minerals, capital resources such as machinery, tools and buildings, and human resources (the work, skills and abilities of people). But resources can also refer to other things we use to achieve or acquire something. For example, when you need to make a decision about whether to spend 30 minutes playing with your dog or doing music practice, the resource in question is your time. Other examples of resources that we use every day are money and information. How can we make good decisions about how to use or spend resources? You might consider: • deciding on priorities for example, ‘I have decided to spend an hour helping out at my school’s cake stall rather than going to the movies because extra help is needed’. • considering the opportunity cost for example, ‘If I buy this book, I won’t have enough money to buy that toy’. • identifying what can be satisfied with resources already available for example, ‘Instead of buying a new bike, I could fix up my old bike for half the money’. These basic methods of making personal choices about using limited resources are also used by businesses and organisations, including governments. In this case, the consequences of using limited resources can be far-reaching and grave. For example: • A local council needs to decide whether it should allow a bigchain supermarket to be built. The new supermarket could create new jobs for townspeople but the trade-off is that building the supermarket means destroying native bushland. This could be a habitat for wildlife or be of special significance to different groups of people. • A state government department needs to decide whether to use a sum of money to improve either an aged-care facility or a hospital. The decision could have serious consequences for the people who miss out on the funding, such as residents, patients and staff. Allocating and using limited resources at a business or government level involves many difficult trade-offs—and these can evoke passionate responses from the community. Perhaps you can think of some examples you have seen in the news. R.I.C. Publications ® www.ricpublications.com.au Australian Curriculum Economics and business (Year 6) 11
Page 2 and 3: Australian Curriculum Economics and
Page 4 and 5: Teachers notes The core of Australi
Page 6 and 7: Differentiation strategies Many of
Page 8 and 9: Glossary Budget an estimate of inco
Page 10 and 11: HASS Inquiry and skills Questioning
Page 12 and 13: HASS Concepts of interdisciplinary
Page 14 and 15: HASS Achievement standards Knowledg
Page 16 and 17: Trade-offs and the cost of lost opp
Page 26 and 27: Resource decisions - 2 Read the tex
Page 28 and 29: Resource decisions - 4 Palm oil is
Page 30 and 31: Resource allocation on a national l
Page 36 and 37: Assessment - 2 1. Define scarcity.
Page 38: Answers Page 4 1. A trade-off is ma

20602_AC_Economics_and_buisness_Year_6_Making_choices_about_resources

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