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everyone's business: activity ideas

Activity Ideas | Related Resources

  1. Entrepreneurship

    Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8
    Subject: Social Studies; Reading & Language Arts; The Arts

    Ask your students if they are familiar with the term "entrepreneur." Entrepreneurs are people who recognize opportunities to develop new products and start new businesses. Have students become familiar with the characteristics of entrepreneurship and innovation and how risk plays such a significant role in success and failure of a new business. The following resources will be useful:

    Livelyhood:
    http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/honeywebought/bosstrends.html

    They Made America:
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica

    American Experience: "Mr. Miami Beach":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/miami

    Ken Burns American Stories: "Brooklyn Bridge":
    http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/

    Discuss with your students the qualities of a successful business. What are some key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs? (planning, hard work, vision, good management, etc.) What makes a business successful? What causes businesses to fail?

    Have the students choose one money-making idea and create a flyer that advertises what they are selling. Emphasize the elements that they will want to include in their flyer.

    • Pictures, words and other things that catch people's attention
    • What they are offering
    • Their qualifications for doing the job
    • Why customers might like or use what they are selling
    • The price of the good or service

    You may also want your class to survey entrepreneurs in the community or have students talk to the adults in their family or neighborhood, and make a list of products or services that were not available when these adults were young, but have become available in their lifetimes. Have students make a list of products and ask them to develop a project about the men and women who brought this product to the public.

    The may also interview an entrepreneur in their local neighborhood and prepare a presentation addressing the following questions:

    • When was the business started by the owner?
    • Why did the owner decide to go into the line of business chosen?
    • What is the hardest thing about running the business?
    • What does the owner like about being an entrepreneur?
    • What does the owner dislike about being an entrepreneur?

    Online Resources

    The New Heroes (Social Entrepreneurship):
    http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes

    Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education: It's Elementary:
    http://www.entre-ed.org/_teach/elem-ed.htm

    Young Biz:
    http://www.youngbiz.com/

    PBS Lesson Plans

    Big Apple History: Get Rich Quick:
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/laic/lessons/e3_t4-lp.html

    Big Apple History: Quiz the Biz:
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/laic/lessons/e1_t6-lp.html

    Print Resources

    Neale S. Godfrey's Ultimate Kids Money Book by Neale Godfrey and Randy Verougstraete

    More Recommended Resources

  2. The Competition

    Grade Levels: 6-8; 9-12
    Subjects: Social Studies; Math; Reading & Language Arts

    Competition is the driving force behind a market economy. Businesses thrive on competition. When two or more businesses sell the same goods or service, they are competing for the same market. When businesses compete, they try to find ways to get the consumer to choose them. Buyers get to choose where to spend their money. This is competition in the marketplace. Ask students how consumers benefit from competition in the economy.

    Then ask students how businesses compete. (Answers should include lower prices, good customer service, quality product, effective advertising, etc.) Which of these factors are most important to students when they make a purchase? Discuss.

    Then have your students -- either individually or in groups -- survey the community to find competing businesses. They should identify four to six types of business and who the competitors are. Students can select large chains but also smaller, more independently-run businesses as well. Visit the business' web site or location and evaluate how that operation is competing for consumers. Compare and contrast approaches by similar businesses. Did students find that the competition they examined was helpful to the consumer? Why or why not?

    Online Resources

    Think Tank: The Competition Solution:
    http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/show_1181.html

    Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy:
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/

    Economics Education Web:
    http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/K-12/home.cfm

    The Times 100:
    http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/index.php

    PBS Lesson Plans

    Commanding Heights:
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/educators/index.html

    Store Wars:
    http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/teachers1.html

    American Experience: "The Rockefellers":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/tguide/index.html

    More Recommended Resources

  3. Merger Mania

    Grade Level: 6-8; 9-12
    Subjects: Social Studies; Math; Reading & Language Arts; The Arts

    A merger occurs when one corporation buys the stock of another. The second firm goes out of existence as a separate corporate entity and all of its properties belong to the remaining firm.

    Mergers within industries such as banking, telecommunications, airlines and media have created a stir among consumers who charge that economic freedom and efficiency are being sacrificed in favor of corporate profits.

    Explain to students that they will be investigating different ways by which companies combine to form a larger company. Divide students into five groups, and assign each group one of the following: merger, acquisition, consolidation, joint venture, hostile takeover. Each group should uses economics textbooks and any other appropriate resources to learn how their assigned method works. Have each group create a poster about their assigned method, including an example of how their method works. Students may also find information from the online resources listed below.

    Direct students to "Mega-Media," an article about media consolidation in America. After students have read the story, discuss the following questions:

    • Do media corporations provide you with greater choice for media consumption?
    • Do media corporations limit your ability to choose products in the marketplace?
    • What sort of opportunities do companies provide you for media consumption?
    • Should there be more or less media companies in the world?

    Online Resources

    NewsHour Online: Merging Media:
    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june02/merging_6-25.html

    NOW: "Mergers and Monopolies":
    http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_cable.html

    I Want Media: Media Consolidation:
    http://www.iwantmedia.com/consolidation.html

    Columbia Journalism Review: Who Owns What:
    http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

    PBS Lesson Plans

    Electric Money: Mergers:
    http://www.pbs.org/opb/electricmoney/teaching_guide/guide3.htm

    More Recommended Resources

  4. How Big is Too Big in Business?

    Grade Level: 9-12
    Subject: Social Studies; Math; Reading & Language Arts

    The late nineteenth century saw increased federal regulation as the government sought to undermine the power of big businesses, specifically the emergence of monopolies. Ask students to define monopoly (a situation in which only a single seller or producer supplies a commodity or a service, thus enabling the seller to control the price.)

    Visit American Experience: "The Rockefellers" and play the video clips of the interview with economist Paul Krugman. Discuss how the Rockefellers' legacy is relevant in today's business world. Ask your students to think about how concentration of business can harm the consumer.

    Have students work in small groups to conduct basic research on historic examples of companies that were charged with monopolization of their industries and services. Suggested companies include: Standard Oil Company, American Tobacco Company, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), General Mills, General Foods, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), and Bell Telephone.

    Have them address the following questions:

    • In what year(s) was this company tried for monopolizing a sector of the economy, and what commodity or service was this company accused of monopolizing?
    • How did this company defend itself in this court case?
    • What was the verdict of this court case, and why?
    • How did this verdict affect the corporation? What is this company like now? Do you agree with the verdict?

    Online Resources

    American Experience: "The Rockefellers":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/

    NOW: "Mergers and Monopolies":
    http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_cable.html

    Frontline: "Blackout":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/blackout/ ...

    Federal Trade Commission:
    http://www.ftc.gov

    PBS Lesson Plans

    American Experience: "The Great Transatlantic Cable":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cable/tguide/index.html

    American Experience: "The Telephone":
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/tguide/index.html

    NOW: "Corporate Governance":
    http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/business.html

    More Recommended Resources

Published: June 2005