General Information

Subject Area: Social Studies/Economics

SOL 7.6 - Virginia Standards of Learning

The Students will explain the structure and operation of the United States economy as compared with other economies, with emphasis on:

• the basic concepts of free market, as described by Adam Smith, and of communism, as described by Karl Marx;
• the concepts of supply and demand, scarcity, choices, trade-offs, private ownership, incentives, consumer sovereignty, markets, and competition;
• private and public financial institutions
• the economic impact of consumption, saving and investment, and borrowing by individuals, firms and governments; and
• the differences between free market, centrally planned, and mixed economies.

Lesson Topic: Private Ownership and Incentives

Descriptive Overview: The concept of private ownership in this lesson deals mostly with businesses. Students will learn about corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships and how the concept applies to all three.

Advantages of Medium: Student will use Internet resources to research businesses.

Lesson Specifics

• identify and describe a corporation, a partnership, and a sole proprietorship;
• describe the pros and cons of each;
• use a community business directory and find examples of private ownership.
• list and describe incentives businesses offer to employees and customers.

• Students must be familiar with the unit vocabulary.
• Students must be able to use a business directory.

• Computer lab
• One computer for PowerPoint presentation.

Instructional Set

Gaining Attention: Not applicable

Orienting the Lesson: Not applicable

Stimulating Recall of Prerequisites: Not applicable

Key Questions:

1. What are examples of company ownership in the United States?
2. What are examples of incentives companies use to attract business?

Teaching Strategies

1. Review each type of business ownership. (Corporation, Partnership, Sole Proprietorship)
2. Describe the pro's and con's of each.
3. Using the yellow pages, the teacher will provide examples of each type of business ownership.
4. Brainstorm incentives that businesses offer to employees and customers to improve earnings and sales.
5. Using the Internet or material Web Whacked from the Internet, students will research the various types and numbers of private ownership companies in their community, state, or in the country. Getting assistance from and doing advance work with the computer resource teacher is paramount to the success of this lesson. The teacher may want to consider two days for completion. Yahoo Yellow Pages

Corporation
Partnership
Sole Proprietorship

Practice: Students will practice note taking and organizational skills throughout this activity.

Assessment:

• Have students make a list of ten businesses their family uses during the week and classify them by their type of ownership.
• Students will also list ten products from their local grocery store and classify them by their type of business.

Enhancements

• Invite a member of the Chamber of Commerce to discuss private ownership in the community.
• Research homepages of local businesses.
• Including "Adopt-A-School Partners" in these exercises could be a good way to utilize business/education relations.

Extensions