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Creating Lessons
Excerpted from Western, Richard D. Ed.
Connecting the Pieces: Building a Better Economics Lesson.
National Council on Economic Education, 1997. pp. 65-74.
Economic educators have used many reliable formats in writing effective lesson plans. The National Council on Economic Education and members of its national network have published many excellent instructional materials using similar formats. The format outlined in the following table is recommended for the development of a comprehensive lesson plan.
Lesson Plan Format
- Lesson description
- Content standards and benchmarks
- Economic concepts
- Related subject areas
- Instructional objectives
- Time required
- Materials required
- Procedure
- Closure
- Assessment
- Extension/connection
- Lesson Plan Checklist
The lesson description introduces the teacher to the purpose or goals of the lesson and provides a brief description of the procedure used. Teachers will review this section to determine whether the lesson meets their instructional goals. For this reason, it is important to state the goals clearly. The author may also include a rationale for the lesson -- a reason why it is important for students to learn the economics taught in the lesson. A concise and appealing lesson description will encourage the teacher to read the entire lesson rather than reject it based on a cursory review.
Content standards and benchmarks
Teachers often seek a lesson that will address certain economic content. Information provided in this section answers that need by stating the economics content standards and benchmarks that are specifically taught in the lesson. The Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics and related benchmarks are available from the National Council on Economic Education, state councils on economic education, and local centers for economic education located throughout the United States.
It is important to list only the content standards and benchmarks that are actually taught in the lesson. Sometimes, authors will list content standards and benchmarks that are referenced or mentioned in a lesson, but not taught. If an author uses the phrase "supply and demand" in a lesson and does not include procedure steps to teach those concepts, it is inappropriate to list a content standard related to supply or demand. Such inclusions are essentially false advertising for a lesson. The teacher expects students to learn the content, but it is not delivered in the lesson. Lesson writers should not list content standards or benchmarks that are not explicitly taught and fully explained in the lesson.
Some teachers may not be aware of the national economics standards and benchmarks and may be looking for a lesson that teachers a certain economic concept, such as productivity or scarcity. It is helpful to list the economic concepts taught in the lesson. The same caveat about standards and benchmarks applies here. Lesson writers should not list economic concepts that are not explicitly taught and fully explained in the lesson.
Many writers are tempted to list concepts included in the lesson that are not economics concepts, such as coin denominations, business plans, or price comparison shopping. To ensure that concepts listed are economics-related, lesson writers should refer to A Framework for Teaching Basic Economic Concepts with Scope and Sequence Guidelines, K-12, published by the National Council on Economic Education, or a college-level economics textbook.
Many economics lessons are integrated with other subject areas, such as language arts, mathematics, or history. Given the teacher's scarce labor time, integration is frequently deemed desirable. Integration not only provides the teacher with an opportunity to teach different disciplines at the same time but also provides a meaningful context to enhance student learning. An economics lesson about innovation and economic growth that uses the industrial revolution as an exemplar may be very attractive to a US or world history teacher who wants to "kill two birds with one stone." Whenever related subject areas have been integrated in a lesson in a meaningful way, they should be listed in this section.
The instructional objectives of an economics lesson describe the author's educational intent for the students -- that is, the desired learning outcomes. Objectives are not brief descriptions of lesson content or descriptions of activities in which students will participate. Well-written objectives describe what the student will be able to do after learning the lesson.
Before writing an economics lesson, the author must identify the learning outcomes so that the lesson's activities are directed toward the desired result. If the objectives are not clear, the author may very well end up with other outcomes that are unexpected or undesirable. There are some basics to keep in mind when crafting instructional objectives. The actual format of instructional objectives varies in educational publications; however, good objectives are student-oriented, observable, clear and unambiguous, and descriptive of a learning outcome.
Student-oriented
An instructional objective describes what change will take place in the learner -- the student. Many instructional objectives begin with the phrase, "the student will be able to." The focus is on the student, not the teacher. Some writers have included instructional objectives that say such things as "teach how to draw a demand curve" or "show a video on supply and demand." These objectives focus on teacher activities, not student learning. Remember that instructional objectives describe what the student will be able to do after completing the lesson.
Observable
Lesson writers differ in the level of specificity they seek in describing student learning outcomes. Sweeping generalizations and highly itemized instruction for each student should probably be avoided. It is important, however, to write objectives in a way that specifies how students might show that they have learned the idea or skill in question.
Consider the following objectives:
- Students understand demand.
- Students describe the relationship between the price of a product and the quantity demanded.
The first objective is very general and it does not say how students might show, in any observable way, their understanding. What does it mean to "understand" demand? This type of objective does not provide adequate information to the teacher about what the student will be able to do after completing the lesson, nor does it guide the teacher's evaluation or whether students have achieved the objective. The second objective, however, clearly identifies the expected student behavior.
Clear and unambiguous
The key to a clear and unambiguous instructional objective is a clearly stated verb describing an explicit action that the student should be able to take. A clear objective will include an appropriate verb denoting observable action, as well as an accompanying object of that verb. For example, students will define productivity as output divided by input. This objective explicitly identifies what the student will be able to do. The student will be able to define productivity in a specific way. The objective is unambiguous in that there is only one possible meaning for the statement. Furthermore, most observers could judge whether students had achieved that objective.
Descriptive of a learning outcome
Lesson objectives differ from lesson activities or procedures. Lesson objectives focus on what the students will achieve by completing the lesson. An objective stating that students will practice graphing demand curves does not specify a learning outcome. It specifies a learning activity that is designed to help students reach some outcome, such as the ability to describe the relationship between the price of a product and the quantity demanded.
What is the appropriate time period envisioned in an economics lesson plan? The curt response is, "as long as it takes." Some lessons might take 30 minutes; some might take two class periods. But lesson writers should remember that the curriculum is crowded. Teachers are more likely to teach a lesson that takes one class period that four class periods. Don't try to include too much in one lesson. A rule of thumb that may be used is "to teach less is to teach more." If a lesson focuses on a plethora of economic concepts, students may end up learning very little. Keep the lesson focused and to the point. Then field test the lesson in a variety of classroom situations to determine the most likely amount of time required.
A list of materials required for the lesson should be included at the beginning of the lesson. Teachers do not appreciate surprises in the procedure section of the lesson (for example, "obtain original drafts of advertising copy from a local ad agency"). They need to know exactly what student worksheets, visuals, and supplies they must prepare prior to meeting the class. Include copies of all student worksheets and visuals that will be used in the lesson. If a teacher must create a student worksheet or visual, the teacher is unlikely to teach the lesson. Whenever possible, it is a good idea to limit a student worksheet to one page. In general, teachers do not like to reproduce multiple-page worksheets.
The procedure section of a lesson plan is the core of the lesson. It describes how the teacher will help students achieve the instructional objectives. The learning activities provided in the procedure should meet several criteria.
- Use active learning approaches whenever possible. Research has demonstrated that students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning situation as opposed to listening passively to a lecture for 40 minutes. See the section on Learning Cycles for a step-by-step guide for using this approach.
- Carefully evaluate what the targeted students can and cannot do. Do they have the prerequisite skills to complete the lesson? Will the lesson outlast their attention spans? Are the activities varied enough to maintain their interest?
- State the procedure clearly and precisely. This point can not be overemphasized. Leave nothing to the imagination of the teacher. Take nothing for granted. All too often, lesson plans are written at a high-inference level that is confusing to the reader. If a teacher cannot understand what must be done to teach the lesson, the teacher will not use the lesson. It is best to provide careful, concise, step-by-step explanations of the activities. The user should not have to guess about anything. Assume that someone who has never taught before will pick up this lesson and teach it for the first time.
- Make sure that all economic content is accurately stated. Because these lessons will be written to teach economics, the author must not be sloppy in the use of economic vocabulary or in the description of economic principles. Economic terms and principles must be used as an economist would use them, not as a lay person. It is much easier to teach a concept than to correct a misconception.
- Include definitions of economic terms and principles pertinent to the lesson. If lesson objectives indicate that students will learn certain economic terms or principles, they must be accurately defined within the lesson.
- Vary procedures in the lesson. Remember that all students learn in different ways. Try to provide opportunities for all students to learn the economics taught in the lesson.
- Include questions and answers for discussion in the lesson and include them often. The teacher is unable to read the writer's mind. If debriefing and discussion are important to affect student learning, be sure to include the critical questions and their answers, specific or suggested. The questions asked in the lesson are instrumental to the quality of thinking completed by students. Ask questions at as many levels of Bloom's taxonomy as possible. Frequent question and answer sessions within the lesson help the student to ascertain what is important to remember. These discussions also enhance student learning by making students actively involved.
- Remember the instructional objectives. When constructing the procedure, keep the lesson objectives in mind. The writer should always check to see if all of the objectives are addressed by the procedure.
- Caveats. The use of dated examples should be avoided because they limit the lifetime of a lesson. Lessons which make use of website material should be reviewed prior to presentation to ensure listed websites are being maintained.
When the activities in the procedure section have been completed, it is very important to make sure that students have learned the important points. The closure section provides a means of helping students recognize those points. The lesson may seem to imply the major points of the objectives, but relying on that may not be adequate. Closure occurs in the minds of the student, not in what the teacher does or thinks. A review of major points, carefully crafted questions, and other closure activities can help students grasp important points and objectives explicitly. Closure provides the teacher with an opportunity to make sure that students have achieved the objectives of the lesson.
Some type of assessment will help the teacher determine whether students have achieved the objectives of the lesson. Assessment will help the teacher determine whether further instruction is necessary. A variety of assessment techniques may be used, such as multiple-choice questions, essay questions, performance-based assessment, and authentic assessment.
After the lesson is completed, the teacher may discover that students are eager to learn more about the economics taught. Perhaps the teacher will want to enhance student learning through additional activities that vary from the procedure used in the lesson. Brief recommendations of activities, such as student research reports, should be provided at the end of the lesson. Additionally, the teacher may want to make connections to other subjects that the student has learned. For example, the lesson might recommend that a guest speaker from a community business be invited to discuss the business's specific resources and associated costs of production after students have completed a lesson on that subject. In an elementary school classroom, students may create books by drawing pictures and writing brief descriptions of something they have learned in a lesson, such as the concept of public goods. There are many opportunities to enrich student learning through connections to language arts, history, mathematics, science and other disciplines.
The following checklist will help the lesson writer determine whether he or she has developed an effective lesson.
- Does the lesson description state the goals and purposes of the lesson clearly? Will the teacher gain a clear overview of the lesson activities and be encouraged to use the lesson?
- Are the listed content standards, benchmarks, and economic concepts explicitly taught and fully explained in the lesson?
- Have the related subject areas that are listed been given meaningful inclusion in the lesson?
- Are the instructional objectives student-oriented? Observable? Clear and unambiguous? Descriptive of a learning outcome?
- Is the time required realistic?
- Are all the required materials listed? Are student worksheets and visuals included in the lesson?
- Is the procedure clearly explained, step by step?
- Will the procedure hold the interest of the students?
- Are the activities in the procedure varied?
- Is all economic content presented in the lesson accurate and fully explained?
- Are discussion questions written at various levels of Bloom's taxonomy? Are answers included?
- Does the procedure provide the necessary tools for students to accomplish the objectives?
- Will students be able to achieve closure?
- Will teachers be able to assess whether their students have learned the objectives?
- Are methods for enrichment or reinforcement provided?
