This lesson involves students in a trading simulation designed to illustrate a complex marketplace in which goods and services are traded. Students use this experience to investigate the conditions that encourage or discourage trade among countries.

Teaching Level: 7th to 10th graders

3. Describe the exchange of resources, goods, and services for a particular problem.
4. Explain how humans and the physical environment impact and influence each other what to produce and have to trade.

13 Patterns and networks of economic interdependence.

Materials:

1. Brown lunch-size bags - one for each country.
2. Large number of small, easy to exchange items to represent commodities to be traded (i.e., tea bags each worth 100 metric tons, coffee-flavored candies each worth 100 tons, toy cars and trucks each unit represents 1000 units produced, copper pennies for copper produced, nails for steel produced, etc.). Place the items in the appropriate bag with a variety of the country's goods to he traded.
3. A fact sheet for each country. Students could do this from a previous Lesson and teacher has copy. A set of countries is given in this lesson.
4. Name tags (blue for prime-minister/president, green for economic advisor, and red for secretary of trade).

Students will participate in a trading session. Describe the incentives that encourage them to trade.
Students will list the anticipated costs and benefits of their trade.
Students will explain the actual consequences of their trade.

1. Tell students that they have an opportunity to participate in a trading activity. The purpose of this activity is to explore reasons people (countries) have for trade.

2. Ask the class, "Why do people trade?" Put a few answers on the overhead. State that these responses are theories. Now the class must find some evidence to support or reject their theories.

3. Describe the following situation to the class. Imagine that your mom pulls up to a service station and put $15 worth of gasoline into her truck and pays the station owner $15. Who gained and who lost in this situation? (Both people gained and lost. The driver lost $15 of purchasing power and gained a number of gallons of gasoline. The owner lost a number of gallons and gained $15 of purchasing power.)

4. Have the students divide into groups of three. These will be either an African country or European Community member. They have been studying and developing data on the economic conditions of various countries. An example set has been provided. Each member will take a role as prime minister/president, economic advisor, or secretary of trade. Each will wear the badge of his/her rank.

5. Provide a 10-15 minute trading session. Depending on the number of countries available in which students may conduct any trades they choose to make:

1. Within the trading session, only the secretary of trade can make a trade with each country.
2. Economic advisor and prime minister/president make all trading decisions and strategies.
3. After each trade, the secretary must return to her/his country to learn new trading strategies.
4. The objective of their trade is to make the best trade possible and get rid of as much of their goods as they can. They also wish to get the items they need to import for their country. Each country must make at least one trade during the session and they can make as many as they want.

6. Give an example of a possible strategy they could use: "Kenya has tea - each bag is equal to 100 metric tons. UK has high tech equipment. The Prime Minister and the Economic Advisor have to determine the value of the high tech equipment and how much tea they'll take in trade. Kenya needs high tech equipment - how much tea are they willing to trade for the equipment?"

1. Begin the trading session. Give a 2-minute warning and a 1-minute warning. At the end of time, all trades must end.
2. At the end of the trading session, call students back to order. Have them display on their desks the items they now possess as a result of the trading session.

Ask: (instructor may come up with her/his own questions.)