20602_AC_Economics_and_buisness_Year_6_Making_choices_about_resources

Additional activities
Why are there trade-offs associated with
making decisions?
• Collect and analyse articles from local
newspapers that involve situations concerning
trade-offs and opportunity cost.
• Write a narrative about a child who makes a
trade-off—with disastrous results!
• Devise a television interview between a
reporter and business owners, based on the
baby clothes business scenario on pages 8
and 9. Use props to enhance the interview.
• Plan and make a ‘decision wheel’ that would
help someone struggling to decide between
two alternatives.
• Interview parents and grandparents to find
out some common decisions and trade-offs
they made when they were children.
• Create your own trade-off/opportunity cost
scenarios, similar to those on page 13.
• Research to find out more about Thomas
King and any other young Australians who
have made a difference to the environment.
• Write a persuasive argument that explains
why companies should have to clearly label
the use of palm oil in their products.
• Research to learn more about how
communist countries like Cuba allocate
resources.
What are the possible effects of my consumer and
financial choices?
• Create a family budget based on your answers to the activity
on page 27.
• Think of an expensive product you have bought recently. Write
an exposition that defends your decision to buy it.
• Transform the role-play you devised on page 29 into a script.
• Take a trip to a local supermarket and list all the physical
features you think are in place to persuade consumers to
linger and/or buy particular products.
• Make a plan and model of a shop that you feel would
encourage consumers to stay and spend their money.
• Analyse different print advertisements. Identify their likely target
consumers and explain why you think they are or are not
effective.
• Visit an online bookstore, select a popular book and pretend
to buy it (without actually paying!). Now visit a local bookstore
and locate the same book. Compare the two experiences.
• Research to find out if other countries use a logo similar to the
AMAG logo.
• Conduct a survey to find out how often people in the school
community use reusable shopping bags. Think of some ways
to persuade people who don’t use them now to start using
them.
• Visit local cafes to find out if they offer a discount to people
who have reusable coffee cups. Make an advertisement that
informs people of this offer.
Why do businesses exist and what are the different ways they provide goods and services?
• Survey adults in the school community to find out if they run businesses. Graph the numbers of sole traders,
partnerships and companies and write about the results.
• Organise a whole-school market day (with teachers’ permission!), based on the activity on page 53. Help younger
students to select, make and price appropriate products.
• Visit a shopping centre and take notes about the look of the shopfronts, where particular shops are located and any
upcoming promotional events. Is there anything not available at this shopping centre that you feel should be?
• Make graphic organisers that show how specific primary, secondary and tertiary industries are connected.
• Investigate industrial estates online or in person. What businesses do they have? How might they help each other?
• View several charity websites to find out how they try to persuade people to make donations.
• Invite representatives from different charities to talk to your class. Devise your own interview questions.
• Research to find out the history of The Benevolent Society, Australia’s oldest charity. How has it changed over the past
200 years?
R.I.C. Publications ® www.ricpublications.com.au Australian Curriculum Economics and business (Year 6) vii