Friday, January 24, 2014

The Mock Interview: The Four Great Economists (Monday/Tuesday in Social Science)


Big Idea: 

What makes an economist great?   What does each one think we should do in our current economic situation?   For this activity, each group will be filming a mock interview with an assigned economist.

Instructions:

1.  Go into the groups on my back wall.  Grab your badges.
2.  Read the biography of your economic philosopher as a group and develop a list of 10 literal (who, what, when where, and why) facts.  (write in your notebook)
            Group 1:  Hayek
                  Group 2:  Smith
                  Group 3:  Keynes
                  Group 4:  Marx
                  Group 5:  Hayek
                  Group 6:  Smith
                  Group 7:  Keynes
                  Group 8:  Marx

2.  Determine what type of economic system (socialism, capitalism, communism) the economist would favor and why.  Support your decision on evidence from the reading and evidence from a prior notebook assignment. (write in your notebook)

3.  Determine how and why if your economist promotes each economic goal.  Support your opinion with evidence from the reading (write in your notebook)

A. Economic Efficiency refers to how well scare productive resources are allocated to produce the goods and services people want and how well inputs are used in the production process to keep production costs as low as possible.

B. Economic Equity means what is “fair.” Economic actions and policies have to be evaluated in terms of what people think is right or wrong. Equity issues often arise in questions dealing with the distribution of income and wealth. Some people judge equity based on providing equal opportunity. Others judge on equality of outcomes.

C. Economic Freedom refers to such things as the freedom for consumers to decide how to spend or save their incomes, the freedom of workers to change jobs and join unions, and the freedom of individuals to establish new businesses or close old ones.

D. Economic Growth refers to increasing the production of goods and services over time. Economic growth is measured by changes in the level of real gross domestic product (GDP). A target annual growth rate of 3-4% in real GDP is generally considered to be reasonable and sustainable.

E. Economic Security refers to protecting consumers, producers, and resource owners from risks that exist in society. Each society must divide from which uncertainties individuals can and should be protected, and whether individuals, employers, or the government should provide or pay for protection.

F. Economic Stability refers to maintaining stable prices and full employment and keeping economic growth reasonably smooth and steady. Price stability means avoiding inflation or deflation. Full employment occurs when an economy’s scarce resources, especially labor, are full utilized.

4. Make a script and plan for interviewing your economist (reporter writes it in their notebook).  In addition to this, plan what you will bring for the next day to do the interview with the iPad.

5. The purpose of the interview for the audience to learn what you know about your economist.    The interview should be:

·      Minimum:  3 minutes  
·      Maximum:  10 minutes
·      Be filmed on the iPad in a mock interview TV show format
·      Meet specific content expectations learned above
·      There should be an introduction, body and conclusion to this interview.  One person in the group plays the host while somebody else plays the economist. 

You are not filming today.   Next class, you will have the iPads.  When is next class? (Tuesday/Wednesday rotation).

Roles:
·      Facilitator: Lead discussion on your economist, checks for understanding, and is the producer in making the mock interview
·      Harmonizer:  Everybody should be involved and get consensus on decisions made in making the mock interview
·      Resource Manager:  Make sure the group is discussing the evidence (facts and examples) and review with the mock interview as the editor
·      Reporter:  Writes plan in his or her notebook and is the director is making the mock interview. 

Rule of Three for Preparation:
    Played the roles
    Documented expected work in the notebooks
    Prepared plan for the mock interview

Rule of Three for Mock Interview:
    Played roles
    Met the time requirement
    Met the content expectations

Questions:  Email me.


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