Young Citizens of the World: Teaching Elementary Social Studies through Civic Engagement, Second Edition

Draw a picture or make a poster that asks people to take action. Take action for or against a problem that you think is important. Why do people put up posters or draw pictures about problems for others to see? Is public art part of citizenship? Is art action, and/or is action art? Make a list of news items or issues or problems that you think deserve to be known by others. Make a list of news and issues that deserve citizen action.

Take a moment and relax. Think about constitutions. Think about rules. Think about laws.

Ask students who have worked on the Constitution activity to meet in groups of three to five and answer the following question: If you had to become leaders, which three rules or laws would be the first and most important to include in your Constitution, if you could choose? Explain your choices, please.

Any other ideas? Can you add a fourth or fifth law?

Using ideas from the Columbian exchange, make a menu—better yet, make two menus!

One menu should be of foods from before Columbus arrived in the Americas.

The second menu should be of foods from after Columbus contacted people in the Americas.

What foods would be on the first menu?

Menu 1

What foods would be on the second menu?

Menu 2

Design a menu that is as truthful as you can be!

By the way, teachers who want to extend this activity into food history could raise questions about “American” foods. For example, would Europeans or Native Americans have been able to make hamburgers? French fries? Hot dogs? Ice cream? Chocolate bars? Corn chips? Chop suey? Spaghetti? Orange juice?

What foods would people have eaten on each side of the world in the year 1492 when Columbus sailed the “Ocean Blue”? For that matter, what would Columbus have had for lunch on the Santa Maria?

After debating whether the Columbian Exchange was bad, good, or in between, think about contact between peoples now.

When people travel for just a vacation or business, not conquest or exploration, might they bring back good things or bad things? Both?

What might people bring back from a vacation trip? What might a businessperson bring back from a meeting in another place?

Make a list of what people might bring back, including items that are bad, good, or in between.

For example, what if you brought back a nasty virus you caught? Or what if you were bitten by an awful mosquito and got sick?

What if you brought back handmade dishes, toys, or candy?

What if you brought back a lot of money, or a lot of bills?

What if you brought back words from other peoples’ languages, words like, “bonjour” or “namaste” or “Salaam Alaikum” Would people you know think you were cool or a show off, or neither?

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of culture contact, travel, business, and conquest for foods, diseases, income, new ideas, languages, etc.?

Make Your List

Extend the ‘hard times jar’ by developing your own business plan. That means you have to invent something to sell that you think would make a profit. You don’t really have to sell it; just try the idea out on your classmates, okay?

We will give you some ideas to start, but you should come up with at least two of your own. Talk over our ideas with you classmates, and then come up with your own ideas. Remember to do at least two.

Business Ideas: Taking Advantage of Opportunity Cost

1. Water bottles

Go to a drug store or department store, or perhaps a school supply store, with very cheap prices. Find the lowest-priced water bottles you can buy, about 20–30 cents each. Then make your own labels, nicely colored (invest in crayons or paints) with open space for someone’s name. Tell buyers that you will ‘personalize’ the bottle by coloring in their names and sell them the bottle for a dollar each. Then figure out how much work you did (time) and how much you spent on paint (money costs); finally, figure out your profit based on buying water bottles for say 25 cents and selling them for a dollar. What have you given up by working on the bottles? What have you gained by selling them for a dollar?

1. Pencils

Go to a supply or art store, or office shop, and buy very cheap packages containing lots of pencils, 100 or more, for say 5–10 cents each. Sharpen each pencil nicely so they all have good writing points. Add spangles, feathers, or erasers to the pencils, or attach what you think will make them look attractive to your customers. Keep a record of how much time you spend making the pencils fancy. Then discuss what was the opportunity cost in making the pencils pretty. Sell each pencil for a quarter, 25 cents, and figure out how far ahead you are compared with what you spent making the pencils and selling them. Did you make a nice profit? Did you waste a lot of time, or was the ‘cost’ (time) worth it?

Finally, discuss the idea of opportunity cost, doing one thing in favor of another. Is being in business worth the expense in time and money, materials, and sales? Why or why not? Are there better things to do than make money?

Visiting Newlandia is like a trip through the history of the world, first learning about hunters, then herders, then farmers, then factories, and so on. After or before you’ve played the game, choose one kind of lifestyle, like hunting, and imagine yourself in a community of hunters, farmers, factory workers, or bosses.

Then write a short essay explaining what a day in your life was like—just one day.

Then tell how you feel about belonging to people who make their living farming, hunting, or producing things.

Which life would make you happiest, and why? Which life do you think would be most healthy, satisfying, and exciting? Why? Which might be the most boring and difficult, and why?

How did the game make you feel about different kinds of lives, different kinds of work, and different kinds of communities?

Which community is likely to be democratic, and share ideas and decisions?

Which community is likely to be led by one or a few people who tell others what to do and how to do it?

Can you decide?

Finally, read a book (or two or three or four) about hunters, nomads (herders), farmers or ranchers, factory workers, or bosses—or about the future—and see if you change your mind about liking or disliking that style of life. Do new reasons and insights appear? Why or why not?

Report on your book to classmates, and explain your feelings about how other people lived, or still live, in ways that are different from the life you know. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system: hunting and gathering, nomads herding animals, farming in a settled community, moving to cities to work in factories, or building big and bigger cities using the latest science for producing power, food, work, and housing.

Draw a picture of the future as you see it: go beyond Newlandia, and make up a future of your own. Make up your own prediction, or science fiction, or maybe you would just like to go back in time to being a hunter in the wild or joining a group of cave people, nomads, or Indian hunters?

You choose. Good luck to all.

Get a newspaper with reports of bad weather, floods, earthquakes, and other disasters. Cut these out, and put them on a bulletin board. Or watch TV news to find out what is happening in our country, and around the world. Which places and people are in trouble? Why? Which places are having good times? Should those enjoying good lives help those going through bad times? When would they help? When wouldn’t they?

When should citizens take action to help only them? When should they take action to help others? What is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy?