Learning Links
Banking / Advertising /Taxes/ Food Shelter/Clothing/ Wants/Needs/ Conservation / Money Management / Ecology / Entertainment / Recycling / Credit
Related Concepts
Financial Institutions / Consumer Skills / Resource/Environmental Management / Budgeting / Consumer Services/Products / Personal Finance
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Evaluate consumer decisions for environmental impact.
• Analyze and use consumer information.
• Examine influences on consumer selections.
• Examine the key points from a message (e.g., advertisement).
• Recognize products and services that individual families consume.
• Describe products and services of personal concern and preference.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Evaluate personal consumer practices for environmental impact.
• Make consumer decisions. Defend selections.
• Analyze advertisements for consumer approaches and accuracy of information.
• Develop strategies for managing personal resources.
High School Demonstrators
• Utilize consumer skills in real-life situations.
• Evaluate consumer information, rights, and responsibilities.
• Access and use available consumer and personal services-
• Develop and use strategies for managing resources (e.g., personal, family, environmental).
• Determine strategies for making informed consumer decisions.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative Process: Cooperative Learning. Continuous Progress Assessment: Self-assessment, Portfolio Development. Problem Solving: Case Studies, Role-play, Simulations. Whole Language Approach. Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources
• Invite a resource person (e.g., Better Business Bureau, chamber of commerce) to discuss fraud and misleading information offered to consumers.
• Invite a resource person (e.g., representative of a power company, Cooperative Extension Service or Home Builders Association) to discuss energy conservation as it relates to consumer decisions.
• Visit a local bank and a money machine to observe the functions and services of each. Ask the banker to describe the responsibilities of the user.
Core Concept – Consumerism
Sample Elementary Activities
• Design and operate a simulated shopping center which includes a bank, grocery, pet shop, and sporting goods and music stores. Write a story about your experiences. PE, P
• Bury a potato, paper container, plastic bottle, and an aluminum can; record quarterly the biodegradable status. Use the results of the study to determine the environmental impact of purchasing habits. PE
• Choose a product that meets a personal need or want. Examine and present the reasons (e.g., purpose, cost, availability, dependability, advertising) you would buy this product. OE, P
• Identify your favorite commercial and why you like it. Describe characteristics of the product. Identify techniques advertisers use to convince you to buy the product. Decide whether or not you will buy the product. Create a commercial to sell a product. PE, OE, P
• Make a map or rebus-story tracing the consumer chain of a particular product. OE, P
• Make a collage of labels from items in your home. PE
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Determine, as a class, an item for class purchase. Design and implement a plan to earn money for the purchase. P
Science
• Calculate the money saved in one year if a pack-a-day smoker stopped smoking. Plan multiple experiences for the family that could be financed by the money saved. PE
Mathematics
• Estimate the amount of water you personally use in one day, one week, one year. Suggest ways in which you could save water. OE, p
Social Studies
• Identify classroom supply needs over a semester. In cooperative learning groups, examine school supply catalogs and suggest the most efficient and practical use of the available money. P
Arts and Humanities
• Rewrite an adver1isement to convey what you think is the "truth" about a product you have used that did not live up to its adver1isement. PE, OE, P
Vocational Education
• Select items for a first aid kit for the classroom. Comparison shop for items charting price, size, and amount; determine the best buy. P
• Evaluate a household product using a list of criteria agreed upon as a team. OE, p
• Research and compile a list of consumer services available to people in the community. P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Role-play a process for returning a defective product. P
• Create a database of daily personal water usage. Develop a plan to conserve water. P
• Compare the cost, time, and skills needed for preparing a dinner at home and ordering a restaurant meal. Use technology to record and illustrate results. OE
• Analyze print adver1ising for misleading and/or fraudulent information. Create displays that illustrate your findings. PE, OE
• Investigate buying trends of young people. Visit local stores and develop a comparison sheet of prices and quality of several selected items that adolescents purchase. PE
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language
• Develop a plan to save money for an expensive item you want to purchase. P
Science
• Plan a shopping list using coupons to get the lowest prices possible for the most nutritious foods. P
• Use a nutrition table to plan meals for a camping expedition which are well balanced and within a given budget. PE
Mathematics
• Compare the cost of purchasing specific items by cash versus credit. Develop visual representation of the result. PE
Social Studies
• Participate in a simulation of command and free market economies, indicating the availability of goods and services of each. PE
• Collect reports on the living standards for the average citizen in eastern and western European countries. Analyze their economic systems and relate to differences in consumer goods availability. OE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Invent an original product that can be marketed; design an advertisement for television incorporating graphics, music, and movement; communicate the functional uses and cost benefits of the product. OE, p
Vocational Education
• Evaluate food advertisements for validity of health claims. OE
• Practice common banking transactions (e.g., deposits, check writing, keeping a register, and reconciling a bank statement) using materials collected from the bank. PE
• Prepare and deliver a "best-buy" presentation supporting the purchase of a specific stereo. PE
Sample High School Activities
• Develop an itinerary and budget for a trip to a national park using information obtained from representatives of various agencies (e.g., travel agencies, insurance companies, house sitting services, kennels, car rental firms). P
• Develop and implement an entertainment spending plan based on monthly personal income. OE
• Critique television advertising strategies to determine the persuasive techniques used. OE, P
• Create and distribute brochures which illustrate environmentally sound consumer alternatives for using disposable items (e.g., paper, disposable diapers, styrofoam products). P
• Investigate consumer journals and use comparative shopping techniques to select the best buy of a CD player. Justify your selection PE, OE, P
• Investigate several types of health insurance. Prepare charts listing coverage, exemptions, and pros and cons for each policy. Analyze results for best purchase. OE, P
• Design the most energy-efficient and economical heating and cooling plan for a new home being built in your community. Consider local availability of materials as well as the local climate. OE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
• Develop an itinerary and budget for a trip to a national park using information obtained from representatives of various agencies (e.g., travel agencies, insurance companies, house sitting services, kennels, car rental firms). P
• Develop and implement an entertainment spending plan based on monthly personal income. OE
• Critique television advertising strategies to determine the persuasive techniques used. OE, P
• Create and distribute brochures which illustrate environmentally sound consumer alternatives for using disposable items (e.g., paper, disposable diapers, styrofoam products). P
• Investigate consumer journals and use comparative shopping techniques to select the best buy of a CD player. Justify your selection PE, OE, P
• Investigate several types of health insurance. Prepare charts listing coverage, exemptions, and pros and cons for each policy. Analyze results for best purchase. OE, P
• Design the most energy-efficient and economical heating and cooling plan for a new home being built in your community. Consider local availability of materials as well as the local climate. OE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Variations on a theme: Advertisements and Advertising
Language Arts
• Analyze a variety of advertisements for subliminal messages. OE, p
Science
• Research scientific accuracy of claims made in advertising. PE, OE, P
Mathematics
• Analyze the validity of the statement "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure." Apply to a variety of advertisements. OE, p
Social Studies
• Collect advertisements for a product which are aimed at different consumer groups. Compile in a portfolio. P
Arts and Humanities
• Re-create a variety of advertisements in different media. Analyze the similarities and differences with the original advertisements and the impact on the marketing of the product. PE, OE, P
Vocational Education
• Create an adver1isement for a specific career in which you are interested. PE
Reflections
In terms of availability of goods, we are often confronted with option-overload. Think about the choices that present themselves on a daily basis. The options overwhelm us as we try to select the appropriate, "just right' gym shoe from the hundreds of models and styles available; try to find the "best' long distance phone service; or try to choose a car. As consumers of a multitude of goods and services, schools must equip students with the skills for effective consumer decision making. They must provide the knowledge base and experiences for practical application of consumer rights and responsibilities. The concept of consumerism is a rich and fertile theme that sparks a wealth of ideas across curricular boundaries.