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4 to 8 (middle school)
history, economics, local business
approximately 4 class periods
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In this activity, students will research and evaluate your town's economy and quality of life. Using a variety of data, such as interviewing the local chamber of commerce or speaking with the business editor of your town newspaper, students will come up with a "report card" for your area. This report will assess your area in terms of small and large businesses, local industries, employment, quality of schools, culture, crime, and other factors.
Begin by having your students read the articles "Alexander Hamilton," "A Ferry to Fortune," and "The Stock and Bond Exchange."
Lead the class in a brainstorming discussion about different criteria one might use to evaluate a town's businesses and economy. To help generate a list of ideas, you might suggest this scenario: Imagine you have been hired to evaluate your town. You have been asked to provide a "report card" that rates your area, from A to F, in terms of quality of life, the strengths and weaknesses of the local businesses, employment, pollution, culture, crime, and so on. To track down answers, who might you interview? What questions could you ask to get the answers?
You may wish to discuss questions such as:
- What are some of the most important businesses in your area?
- Which local business employs the most people from your area? Why?
- Have any industries in your area recently shut down? Why?
- What does "quality of life" mean? In what ways does your town have a high quality of life? In what ways could your town's quality of life be improved?
- Based on your brainstorming discussion, look over your list of possible measures and questions for evaluating your town's economy and quality of life. Invite students to help determine which criteria are most important for evaluating your town. Since researching the answers to the questions will take time, the shorter the list of questions, the better.
- Divide the class into small research groups. Give each group one printout of the "report card" worksheet. To save time on researching the answers, as well as to respect the limited time of local town and business officials, ask each group to pursue a different set of questions. For example, one group might interview the local Rotary Club about the current status of small businesses, while another group might interview a city council member about plans for facing local economic challenges.
- Small groups then come together and share their information. As a class, students discuss and debate your town's "grade" for some or all of the criteria on the "report card." It is important that the grade is based on some evidence from your research.
Quiz the Biz
During "Quiz the Biz," you analyzed your community's economy in a variety of ways. By interviewing local leaders and business experts, you have created a thoughtful evaluation of your town's strengths and weaknesses, as well as a study of your area's quality of life. You are now in a better position to think of some ways of improving your town.
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Early New York