In installment 2, I thought I would share an activity I adapted from Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics. My lesson plan is available here. It begins with a concept attainment activity and then moves to analysing these important economic measures. to help students develop key definitions that might otherwise be dry and tedious.
There is also a great video from PBS Newshour Extra (meant for classrooms). It is American and very outdated at this point, but it does the best job, I have found, outlining the nuances of undercounting unemployment. There may be more up to date, accessible versions around and I would certainly want to incorporate some issues around the pandemic and its impact on the labour force, but this is meant as an introductory lesson to cover the definitions and allow students to begin to analyse this key economic measurement. Ultimately we want them to be able to see the shortcomings and issues in the way we measure the economy as those measures influence government responses!
If you have topics, or approaches you would like to see addressed here, let me know! You can comment here.
