What does Kool-Aid have to do with economics and scarcity? Everything if you are in my classroom at the start of our economics unit.
In order to help my students remember that economics is the science of choice and that we have to make choices becauese we don't have enought (scarcity), I have them make Kool-Aid.
The problem is: I don't give them enough resources to make it properly, so they have to make choices about how much to make.
Each class is given the supplies for two gallons of Kool-Aid, but one hour doesn't have enough water, one doesn't have enough sugar, one doesn't have enough Kool-Aid and one class doesn't have enough cups. Students then have to decide if they should make one gallon of proper Kool-Aid or two gallons of "not so good" Kool-Aid. In the case of not enough cups, the class has to decide how and if to share the Kool-Aid.
When we are done, the class discusses what the scarcity problem was, how they decided to solve the problem and how this might relate to other scarcity problems that they face (especially not enough time or not enough money). Throughout the unit, when students start to feel overwhelmed by some of the economic concepts, I just keep reminding them, "this is just a Kool-Aid problem" and often times that
In order to help my students remember that economics is the science of choice and that we have to make choices becauese we don't have enought (scarcity), I have them make Kool-Aid.
The problem is: I don't give them enough resources to make it properly, so they have to make choices about how much to make.
Each class is given the supplies for two gallons of Kool-Aid, but one hour doesn't have enough water, one doesn't have enough sugar, one doesn't have enough Kool-Aid and one class doesn't have enough cups. Students then have to decide if they should make one gallon of proper Kool-Aid or two gallons of "not so good" Kool-Aid. In the case of not enough cups, the class has to decide how and if to share the Kool-Aid.
When we are done, the class discusses what the scarcity problem was, how they decided to solve the problem and how this might relate to other scarcity problems that they face (especially not enough time or not enough money). Throughout the unit, when students start to feel overwhelmed by some of the economic concepts, I just keep reminding them, "this is just a Kool-Aid problem" and often times that