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1. To generalize within a category
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2. To discriminate between and among concepts
Activity #1:
Ask student to give examples of factors within the category of an economic system. The teacher gives the first three factors:
—labor
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—consumer needs (markets)
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—resources
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Now ask students to give three examples of contributing factors:
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—__________(role of government)
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—__________(energy)
—__________(transportation)
Together give some examples of factors that would not be important contributors to an economic system. These might include: military, church, recreation.
Another introductory technique in concept learning might be to put these nine factors together under the heading
Economic System
and ask students which factors support this concept and which do not. Write a one sentence explanation for your answers.
Activity #2:
Draw a timeline tracing events contributing to the development of the U.S. as a manufacturing nation from the end of the Revolutionary War to 1850.
Activity #3:
Give students the first half of a personal scenario of a Connecticut citizen in the years 1690, 1750, and 1816. The student will complete his scenario based upon his knowledge of Connecticut history and any research he is able to do on his/her own. For each date, factual information will be given to students on a Connecticut resident. Family size, influence of religion, and relations with government will be provided. Several maps showing population patterns, centers of agricultural and industrial activity, and transportation routes will also be made available. Students will be asked to conjecture as to the economic activity of their citizen: how he earned his living; how and where he would market his goods; from where he would get resources or products he needed. Half-completed scenarios of people from the same area could be given to two students. A comparison of each’s final assignment and the thinking that went into the completed scenario would be a Valuable exchange of reasoning processes. It would also confirm that ...
1. Connecticut consisted of different kinds of people.
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2. Proximity to rivers, the Long Island Sound, and turnpikes affected people’s lives.
3. People’s lives were influenced by geographic conditions of their immediate environment.
Activity #4:
Read the brief description of water wheels (See Appendix H).
Construct a water wheel
. Be sure to explain not only how the wheel is built and how it is propelled, but describe also how the wheel was used to aide in work inside the mill. If constructing a water wheel seems too difficult, make a detailed illustration of one. Explore the rivers and streams in your area. What type of wheel would be most efficient on the waterways of your town?
Activity #5: From data on Wilton, answer the following questions as you might if you were a Wilton representative to the State’s General Assembly in Hartford in 1818.
1. How is Wilton similar to other towns in the U.S? How is it different? How do events happening at the national level affect Wilton? (War, tariff, western land sales as examples)
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2. How is Wilton similar to other towns in Connecticut?
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3. What are the needs of Wilton’s people?
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4. What are their strengths?
5. What mills and businesses do you think might develop in Wilton in the next twenty years? Why?
Activity #6: To understand the challenges and processes of beginning a mill in Wilton in the year 1818, your group of five students will...
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1. Review data on the development of events in the first half of the 19th century in America.
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2. review data on Connecticut History in the first half of the 19th century.
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3. Review materials on Wilton during this period.
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4. YOUR TASK is to develop a mill in Wilton. What decisions must be made before your mill will be a success? (What important questions should be asked?)
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a. location?
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b. product?
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c. markets/demand?
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d. source of power?
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e. resources needed?
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f. transportation?
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g. labor?
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h. financing?
INCLUDE the following ...
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a. physical map of your mill.
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b. give it a name.
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c. As a mill owner in Wilton, you are also a Representative to Connecticut’s law-making body (legislature), the General Assembly. Write a bill to introduce to your legislative colleagues to help further develop manufacturing in Connecticut.
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d. Write a newspaper article for the (
local paper servicing Wilton at that time
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—interviews with mill workers
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—interview with mill owner
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—interview with townspeople regarding their feelings on having a mill in town
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—advertisements selling your product; want ads for workers
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e. What problems do you see as a bright young entrepreneur might be over the horizon that will have to be dealt with?
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f. What new markets might you be able to develop in in the next ten to twenty years? What new products might your mill be able to turn out?
EXTRA:
As students are developing their scenarios, teachers at their discretion might challenge their student’s thinking, reacting, and application skills by including the following complications...
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1. disease hits town; your labor force is out in half.
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2. Storm destroys good portion of your mill.
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3. War; markets you’ve depended upon are now closed.
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4. Economic panic hits country; you must deal totally in cash.
5. Competitors create glut on the market; demand down while supply is great; what do you do now?
These little “disasters” could be introduced in a number of innovative and stimulating ways. If you are doing the unit as I plan to at the end of the War of 1812, you might want to have a student from another class announce these happenings as a town crier would at this time. If your unit is later, perhaps you could have the message introduced over a telegraph, on radio, or as front-page headlines in your local newspaper.