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Folding Our Way to Productivity
by Daira Baranova (Latvia), Alice Bottomley (USA),
John Brock (USA), Natalia
Shappo (Belarus )
LESSON DESCRIPTION
Students role-play workers producing origami cups. They participate in two
production rounds, one without training and one with training.
Students observe how productivity increases through training and, as a result,
how income
increases.
AGE LEVEL
7-10 years old
CONCEPTS
CONTENT STANDARDS
Income for most people is determined by the market value of the productive
resources they sell. What workers earn depends, primarily, on
the market value of what they produce and how productive they are.
Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and the health, education,
and training of people can raise future standards of living.
BENCHMARKS
People can earn income by exchanging their human resources
(physical or mental work) for wages or salaries.
Workers can improve their productivity by improving their human capital.
OBJECTIVES
- Students will define income as the market value of the productive
resources people sell.
- Students will define productivity as the amount
of output produced per
unit of input used.
- Students will explain how increased training can lead to
greater productivity.
- Students will explain how higher productivity leads to greater income.
TIME REQUIRED
Two to three class periods
MATERIALS
- approximately 250 sheets of paper each 5.5 inches square (construction
paper is too heavy)
- copies of Activities 2 and 3, one per student
- transparencies of Activities
2 and 3
- 16-18 copies of Activity 1, cut apart the bills
- 100 pieces of candy
or other small items
PROCEDURE
Part 1
- Tell students that you own a shop called "Folding Mania." You
must hire workers to produce cups. Note: Another product can be substituted
in this
production activity. Explain that you will hire them to work in your shop.
- Quickly demonstrate how to construct an origami cup. Don’t give
any verbal instructions. Instructions for the origami cup are at the
end of this
lesson.
- Explain that Folding Mania workers will
receive income in the form of wages.
- Define income as the payment that people and households receive for providing
their productive resources in the marketplace.
- Display the play-money bills and inform students that you will pay workers
$1 for each completed cup. Explain that you will check all final
cups, making sure they pass quality control. If they are not of the
same quality as those
you made, they will be rejected. The worker who made any rejected
good will not receive payment for that product.
- Inform students that they may use their wages to purchase candy (or some
other small item). Candy sells for a price of $10 per piece.
- Distribute the square paper sheets, about ten sheets per student. Tell
students that they will have five minutes to produce as many cups
as possible. Remind them that to receive wages, their product must
look the same as the model
that you made. Set a timer for five minutes, and tell students
to begin production.
- Stop production at the end of five minutes. Quickly inspect all cups,
indicating which pass quality control. Pay the workers accordingly.
- Allow students to purchase pieces of candy at a price of $10 per item.
Most likely, no one will have enough income to purchase any candy.
- Display a transparency of Activity 2. Select one student and use his/her
data to complete the chart for Period 1. Give a copy of Activity
2 to each student. Tell students to complete the chart for Period 1,
recording the total quantity
they produced, the number of accepted cups, the wage paid for
each approved cup, and the total income they received.
- Discuss the following.
- Why weren’t very many cups produced? (Without training, it is
unlikely workers can produce a quality cup.)
- Are you satisfied
with the income you earned? (probably not)
- What could you do to increase your income? (make more high-quality
cups)
- How can you produce more high-quality cups? (receive
more instruction on how to make the cup with step-by-step
procedures)
- How
would practice help you earn more income? (They could produce
more of higher quality.)
Part 2
- Demonstrate how to make cups in detail with verbal instructions. Optional:
Give copies of the instructions to students. During the training,
make one fold at a time, then give students time to make the same fold
with their sheet of
paper. This helps the student better understand the construction
procedure. Allow time for students in both groups to practice making
one cup.
- After practice, announce that students will have five minutes to produce
as many cups as possible. Remind students that to receive wages,
the cup must be the same quality as the model you made.
- Set a timer for five minutes, and tell the workers to begin production.
- After five minutes, stop production and quickly inspect all cups, indicating
which pass quality control. Pay workers accordingly. Allow students
to use their income to purchase pieces of candy.
- Tell students to complete Period 2 on Activity 2, recording the number
of accepted cups, the wage paid for each approved cup, and the
total income received.
- Explain that productivity refers to the number of units of output produced
per worker for each five-minute period. Discuss the following.
- What was your productivity in Period 1? (Accept several answers.)
- What was your productivity in Period 2? (Accept several
answers.)
- Why was there a change in productivity between Period
1 and Period 2? (Students received training and practice
time. They improved their skills or
human capital.)
- What happened to the amount of candy that
you were able to buy in Periods 1 and 2? (It increased.) Why? (The income increased because
students increased
their productivity.)
- Tell students to complete the sentence at the bottom of Activity 2. They
should also construct a bar chart depicting their productivity
before and after training.
CLOSURE
Review the main points of the lesson by asking the following questions.
- What is productivity? (the amount of output produced per unit of input)
- Name ways to increase productivity? (training/education, practice)
- What is income? (the market value of the productive resources that people
sell)
- How does higher productivity lead to higher income? (Workers are able
to produce more of a product using the same amount of resources in
the same amount
of time. As a result, they are able to earn more income.)
ASSESSMENT
- Give a copy of Activity 3 to each student. Have them read the
directions
and complete the work.
- Display a transparency of Activity 3. Review student answers.
- Have students write a paragraph explaining how developing writing, mathematics,
calculator and computer skills helps them be more productive in
school and will help them be more productive as adults.
- How does
training affect productivity and income? Explain your answer. (Training
improves productivity. Workers are
able to produce more of a
good using the same resources in the same amount of
time. Increased productivity increases income.)
EXTENSION
- Have students interview their parents or other adults and ask
them how many years of education they have completed
and what job they hold. Have them
also find out what special training that the
adults received and how many years they worked at the job.
- Conduct other production activities to help students recognize that a
division of labor method of production and investment in
capital resources will also
increase productivity.
- Have students complete a human capital inventory in which they identify
skills, talents, and education that they might develop
in order to increase the productive abilities.
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