TeachingEconomics.org - Born on Third Base
How did wealthy Americans acquire their fortunes? Were the members of the Fortune
400 all starting from the same position or did some get started on third base?
Based on your level of wealth, what kind of lifestyle can you have? What kinds
of assets can you acquire? How much power does one wield based on his or her
fortune? These and other questions will be explored in this lesson known as
"Born on Third Base."
The following information will help you prepare to have a lively, engaging,
and effective hour of learning with your group.
This lesson, which takes approximately one classroom hour (55 minutes) has
the following learning objectives:
- Explore how wealthy Americans acquired their fortunes.
- Compare levels of wealth and the lifestyles, assets, and power each level
Concepts and Key Terms
The following concepts and key terms are covered in this lesson:
- concentration of wealth
- trickle-down theory
- supply-side economics
- demand-side economics
- Forbes 400
Download Lesson Plan
- Click here to download the
entire lesson plan (requires Adobe Acrobat)
Articles and Other Web Resources
While the lesson plan provides everything you need to carry out the lesson
in your classroom, you may want to familiarize yourself with recent articles
and web resources concerning the issues raised in this lesson. We have selected
several for you and have linked to them below. We encourage you to explore other
resources and ask that you let us know of other links we should add to this
National Standards Mapping
This specific contents and discussion topics provided for in this lesson map
into the following National Council on Economics Education (NCEE)
- Standard 14 (profit and the entrepreneur)
- Standard 15 (growth)
- Standard 16 (role government)
- Standard 20 (monetary and fiscal policy)
United for A Fair Economy (UFE) and Tamara Giecek created a High School
curriculum based on many of the popular seminars and programs UFE delivers
to adults across the United States. The entire curriculum is available
in book form through the UFE
web site as well as at the Reach
And Teach Store.
Reach And Teach, UFE, and Tamara Giecek are working together to update
the curriculum and create an on-line version of all the lessons similar
to the lesson we have provided on this page. We are currently working
with various foundations and private donors to raise the money needed
to bring this wonderful educational opportunity to the web. Teachers across
America will be able to use the overview presentations to prepare to teach
and then download the lesson plans, share ideas with other teachers about
new ways to teach the lessons, and recommend additional lesson plans to
the Teaching Economics team.
Would you like to help make this a reality? If so, click
here to make a donation to United for A Fair Economy and click the
Ten Chairs box to designate your donation to helping us get the rest of
the Teaching Economics lessons on the web!
And..... while we're on the subject of people really mattering......... Reach And Teach would also like to suggest you consider this incredible math book by Edward Zaccaro. Students typically are not given the opportunity to see the wondrous side of mathematics because it is often taught as all scales and no music. Help your students:
- Discover the power of mathematics as the danger of short-term loans is exposed in a dramatic fashion
- Investigate math mistakes in news media and their potential consequences
- Watch as mathematics shows the futility of depending on corn-based ethanol to lower our dependence on oil imports
- Learn the surprising answer to how much money a hybrid car will save its owner because of reduced gasoline usage
- Discover what mathematics tells us about teenage drivers.
These and other fascinating math investigations will allow students to see the power of mathematics as it cuts through deception and flawed thinking to reveal the truth. Click here to check out this book!
Survey - After Using the Lesson Plan
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we can learn from your experience.
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As If People Mattered . To protect your privacy, we will only use
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