If you look at what psychologists consider to be high-level stressors, you’ll find a list of about 40 life events. We have no control over many of these events, but for more than half, we do. So much of our stress and success in life depends on the decisions we make. In this short module, your students will learn the economic underpinnings of the need to make decisions, why every decision bears a cost, and how to make informed decisions.
Near the end of the module, learners can address one of their current burning decisions by printing and filling out their own PACED decisionmaking template. In addition, the Discussion Board can be assigned to allow students to share their experience with you and the rest of class.
View Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics
Content Standard 1: Scarcity
Grade 8 Benchmarks
1. Scarcity is the condition of not being able to have all of the goods and services that one wants. It exists because human wants for goods and services exceed the quantity of goods and services than can be produced using all available resources. Scarcity is experienced by individuals, governments, and societies.
2. Making good choices should involve trading off the expected value or one opportunity against the expected value of its best alternative.
3. The choices people make have both present and future consequences.
4. The evaluation of choices and opportunity costs is subjective; such evaluations differ across individuals and societies.
Content Standard 2: Decision Making
Grade 8 Benchmark
2. Marginal Benefit is the change total benefit resulting from an action. Marginal cost is the change in total cost resulting from an action.
View Common Core Standards
Kindergarten-Grade 12 College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
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