Eastern Michigan University

College of Arts and Sciences

 

NCSS/Social Studies Education

 

XI. Matrix

 

Matrix Item 1.7 Theme 7: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

 

Social Studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and disposition to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Production, Distribution, and Consumption.

 

Indicators of Capabilities for Teaching Social Studies

 

Teachers of Social Studies at all school levels should provide developmentally appropriate experiences as they guide learners in the study of how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.  They should:

 

*        enable learners to explain how the scarcity of productive resources (human, capital, technological, and natural) requires the development of economic systems to make decisions about how goods and services are to be produced and distributed;

*        help learners analyze the role that supply and demand, prices, incentives, and profits play in determining what is produced and distributed in a competitive market system;

*        help learners compare the costs and benefits to society of allocating goods and services through private and public sectors;

*        explain to learners the relationships among the various economic institutions that comprise economic systems such as households, businesses, banks, government agencies, labor unions, and corporations;

*        guide learner analysis of the role of specialization and exchange in economic processes;

*        provide opportunities for learners to assess how values and beliefs influence economic decisions in different societies;

*        have learners compare basic economic systems according to how rules and procedures deal with demand, supply, prices, the role of government, banks, labor and labor unions, savings and investments, and capital;

*        challenge learners to apply economic concepts and reasoning when evaluating historical and contemporary social developments and issues;

*        ask learners to distinguish between the domestic and global economic systems, and explain how the two interact;

*        guide learners in the application of knowledge of production, distribution, and consumption in the analysis of public issues such as the allocation of health care or the consumption of energy, and in devising economic plans for accomplishing socially desirable outcomes related to such issues;

*        help learners to distinguish between economics as a field of inquiry and the economy.

 

1.7 Theme Seven: Production, Distribution and Consumption

 

The program prepares Social Studies teachers who possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of how people organize for the Production, Distribution and Consumption of Goods and Services.

 

1.7.1 Programmatic Evidence

 

This theme is addressed at four points in the Social Studies major program:

 

 

1. All EMU students must also take one course in one of the following social science disciplines as part of their basic studies requirements: anthropology, economics, geography, or sociology, which approach issues of Production, Distribution and Consumption from different disciplinary perspectives.

 

2. All Social Studies majors must take ECON 201, which provides in-depth instruction in macro-economics. It’s objectives are as follows:

 

ECON 201, Principles of Economics I, is the first half of basic principles of economics. The course emphasizes macroeconomic concepts of national income, fiscal and monetary policy, and problems of unemployment, inflation and economic growth.

 

 

ECON 201 has the following Course Goals and Objectives for all instructors: 

 

1). The course introduces students to basic macroeconomic concepts and tools of analysis. Important among the tools are various economic models. Additionally, it should help students better understand and critically evaluate national macroeconomic policy.

 

2). Define basic economic concepts and illustrate their use.

 

3). Identify, illustrate, and provide practice in the use of basic macroeconomic models. Elementary algebra is used.

 

 

Among models explored are:

 

a. The production possibilities frontier

 

b. The market

 

c. The Keynesian model of national income determination

 

 

i. Aggregate expenditure

 

ii. Multiplier

 

iii. Aggregate Supply-Aggregate Demand

 

 

d. The creation of money

 

e. The money market

 

f. Monetarism

 

g. International economic relations

 

 

4). Indicate differences of opinion within economics about using models.

 

5). Identify:

 

 

a. Macroeconomic policy goals of the government

 

b. Methods of achieving those goals, and

 

c. Differences of opinion about appropriate goals and policy

 

 

6). Apply economic concepts and models to better understand selected current events.

 

3. All Social Studies majors must take ECON 202, which provide in-depth instruction in micro-economics.

 

 

ECON 202 objectives are as follows:

 

1). The course introduces students to basic microeconomic concepts and tools of analysis.

 

2). Students will learn a set of concepts, which comprise a valuable kit of analytical tools to understand, predict and forecast individual decision behavior.

 

3). The individual decision-making units studied are consumers, producers, and resource owners.

 

4). The course also introduces students to the interaction of these agents in a market setting, and the social outcomes of these interactions.

 

 

4. The Social Studies Methods class, HIST 481, includes instruction, models, and resources for the teaching of economics in the Social Studies classroom, including how to integrate economics concepts into history and other social sciences classes.

 

Students in the Geography program address this standard in the following ways:

 

1). All EMU students must also take one course in one of the following social science disciplines as part of their basic studies requirements: anthropology, economics, geography, or sociology, which approach issues of Production, Distribution and Consumption from different disciplinary perspectives.

 

2). All geography majors must take GEOG 110, which describes the geography of resources and economics throughout the world.

 

3). All Geography majors are required to take GEOG 235, Economic geography, which applies the concepts of economics to the study of cultural geography.

 

4). All Geography majors are required, as part of their major, to take an elective class in Economics.

 

5). The Social Studies Methods class, HIST 481, includes instruction, models, and resources for the teaching of economics in the Social Studies classroom, including how to integrate economics concepts into history and other social sciences classes.

 

This theme is addressed for political science majors in the following ways:

 

1). All EMU students must also take one course in one of the following social science disciplines as part of their basic studies requirements: anthropology, economics, geography, or sociology, which approach issues of Production, Distribution and Consumption from different disciplinary perspectives.

 

I.                   2). All political science majors must take GEOG 110 or GEOG 107, which describes the geography of resources and economics. Objectives for Geog 107 include: Human Geography - Economic Geography

A.     Introduce learners to world economic systems;

Have learners explore the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on the earth’s surface.

Objectives for Geog 110 include: have learners explore the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface;

 

3). All political science majors are required, as part of their major, to take an elective class in Economics.

 

4). The Social Studies Methods class, HIST 481, includes instruction, models, and resources for the teaching of economics in the Social Studies classroom, including how to integrate economics concepts into history and other social sciences classes.

 

This theme is addressed for psychology majors in the following ways:

 

1). All EMU students must also take one course in one of the following social science disciplines as part of their basic studies requirements: anthropology, economics, geography, or sociology, which approach issues of Production, Distribution and Consumption from different disciplinary perspectives.

 

2). All psychology majors must take at least one elective course in economics as part of their major program.

 

3).The Social Studies Methods class, HIST 481, includes instruction, models, and resources for the teaching of economics in the Social Studies classroom, including how to integrate economics concepts into history and other social sciences classes.

 

This themes is addressed by Economics majors in the following ways:

 

1). All Economics students are required to take ECON 201 and ECON 202, as well as ECON 301 and ECON 302. These classes provide a comprehensive background in both Macro and Micro economics, both on a national and world level.

 

2).The Social Studies Methods class, HIST 481, includes instruction, models, and resources for the teaching of economics in the Social Studies classroom, including how to integrate economics concepts into history and other social sciences classes.

 

This themes is addressed for history majors in the following ways:

 

1). All EMU students must also take one course in one of the following social science disciplines as part of their basic studies requirements: anthropology, economics, geography, or sociology, which approach issues of Production, Distribution and Consumption from different disciplinary perspectives.

 

II.                 2). All history majors must take GEOG 110 or GEOG 107, which describe the geography of resources and economics throughout the world. Objectives for Geog 107 include: Human Geography - Economic Geography

A.     Introduce learners to world economic systems;

Have learners explore the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on the earth’s surface.

Objectives for Geog 110 include: have learners explore the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface;

 

3). Students in the history major must take His 103, which describes and analyzes the development of the global economy in the twentieth century, and the role of economic change in societies throughout the world during this time period.

 

1.7.2 Test Evidence

 

Class evidence for social studies students:

Grade

Econ 201

Econ 202

A

5

5

B

7

5

C

1

4

D

0

1

E

0

0

Transfer Credit (A-C)

12

9

 

Class evidence for geography students:

Class

 

Student grade

 

 

GEO 235

 

A-

A

 

 

Class evidence for political science students:

Class

 

Student score

Econ 201

 

 C+

 

Class evidence for history students:

Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geo 110

C

cr

a

cr

cr

b-

b-

b

cr

cr

cr

His 103

Cr

cr

a

cr

cr

b

a-

b+

cr

c

c+

 

 

 

State test data for Social Studies

 

Of the twenty two 2002-3 graduates with a major in History for Secondary Education, seventeen student took the Social Studies MTTC, and received a scores of 217, 220, 228, 228, 236, 241, 247, 255, 257, 263, 267, 268, 271, 271, 276, 276, 276. The passing score for the MTTC is 220. This equals a pass rate of 94% for the exam, as compared to a state rate of 78%.

1.7.3 Performance Evidence

 

Students scored as follows on the supplemental evaluation form on this strand:

 

Score

Social Studies

History

Political Science

Geography

5- Excellent

1

2

1

0

4 – Very Good

6

5

0

2

3 Average

4

1

0

1

2 Minimally acceptable

2

1

0

0

1 Inadequate

0

0

0

0

N Not applicable to this student

5

2

1

0

 

Note: Neither psychology nor economics had any students complete student teaching in Winter 2003 when the supplemental form was instituted.