Global Economy: A Simple Activity

Teaching Theme of the Week

from Education World®

Encourage students to discover how we rely on our global neighbors by collecting data about where in the world the goods we use every day are produced.

Subjects: Language Arts, Visual Arts, Math, Educational Technology, Social Studies

Grade Levels: preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

• bring a favorite item of clothing to school,
• make a chart to show where their favorite clothing articles are produced,
• take a home survey to identify the country of origin of other common goods, and
• use collected data to make a chart, graph, or map to illustrate the global economy in which we live.

Keywords
global, economy, consumer, country, graph, map, clothes, clothing, data, survey, conclude, conclusion

Materials Needed

• world map
• World Outline Map 1 (PDF) or World Outline Map 2
• graphing software, Internet access to the online Create a Graph tool, or art supplies to make graphs

Procedure
On the day before doing this lesson, send students home with a note asking them to bring into school one of their favorite items of clothing. They need not wear that item of clothing; they just need to bring it. Tell them no more about the activity. Let them wonder what you are up to…

The next day, display a world map. Ask students to identify, without looking, the countries where they think the clothing they are wearing was made. Make a list of the students' responses. Then invite students to look at the labels on the favorite item of clothing they brought to school to determine where it was made. Make a chart identifying each country where an item was made. Put a checkmark next to the country name for each item that was made there. Then invite students to look at easily accessible labels in clothing they are wearing. Add that information to your chart. You might Create a Graph showing the results of the clothing survey. Ask students to study the chart or graph and draw conclusions about the information in it. Do they draw the conclusion that a lot of the things we wear are made outside the United States?

What about items other than clothing? For homework, have students take an at-home survey of some common items in their homes. They might document information about where ten of the following things were made.

• appliances such as the refrigerator, air conditioner, or washing machine
• computer
• furniture
• curtains, towels, or bed clothing
• dishes or other kitchen utensils

The following day, collect the data and have students create a chart showing that data.

Extension Activities

• Students can create a graph illustrating some element of the data they collected.
• Students might color a world map to show the five areas of the world that produced the most goods worn or used by students in the class. Students might use World Outline Map 1 (PDF) or World Outline Map 2 to complete this activity.

Assessment
Invite students to draw two conclusions based on the data they have collected. Students should write their conclusions; the conclusions should be accompanied by supporting data.

Copyright © 2004, EducationWorld.com, used by permission