Free Opportunity Costs Lesson Plan for 3rd Grade Students

Topic: opportunity costs

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will understand the concept of opportunity costs and how they impact everyday choices.

Materials

• Pencils
• Paper
• Calculators (optional)

Warm-up

• Ask students if they have ever had to make a choice between two things they really wanted to do or have. For example, choosing between watching a movie at home or at the theater.
• Ask the students to share their experiences and the choices they made.
• Ask the students to think of a recent choice they had to make and whether or not they had to give up on something else as a result.

Direct Instruction

• Explain that when we make choices, we are also giving up on other possibilities. These are called opportunity costs.
• Give the examples of watching a movie at home or at the theater and explain that the opportunity cost of going to the theater is missing out on time at home to watch the movie.
• Explain that the same concept applies to all choices we make and that we should be careful to consider the opportunity costs when making decisions.

Guided Practice

• Give students a worksheet that includes a list of common daily choices and have them work in small groups to determine the opportunity costs of each choice.
• Have each group share their answers with the class and discuss how they made their decisions.

Independent Practice

• Have students choose one daily choice and calculate the opportunity cost using the formula presented in the lesson.
• Have students create a poster or presentation to share with the class how their choice affected their opportunity costs.

Closure

• Have students reflect on the importance of considering opportunity costs when making daily decisions.
• Ask students to think about how they can take advantage of opportunities to increase their income and decrease their opportunity costs.
• Remind students to continue to think about opportunity costs when making daily decisions and ask them to share any interesting examples with the class.

Assessment

• Observe students during the independent practice and group discussion to assess their understanding of the concept of opportunity costs and their ability to apply it to their daily lives.
• Review the lists of opportunity costs created during the independent practice to assess students' understanding of their daily expenses and their ability to identify opportunities to increase their income.
• Administer a quiz at a later date to assess students' understanding of the concept of opportunity costs and their ability to apply it to real-life situations.