James Penstone
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Posts by James Penstone
Recap – A collection of ‘Live’ Output and Cost Curves
Nov 30th
This MS word document asks you to explore the concepts of different cost curves, and their relationships, further:
[Source unknown]
The World Scaled Down to A Village of 100
Nov 28th
Just came across this video, based on what is now a widely-read summary of some key demographic and economic statistics. These statistics do need to be verified, as the opening shot states, if not for any other reason than the age of the data. This notion of the world as a village of 100 (and the associated data) first emerged in the early 1990s.
As David Truss argues, this could be really useful for cross-curricular discussion. I’ve used the Village of 100 idea a few times – in Geography, Economics and as part of an assembly. I first received an email with this idea in 1998, and used some of it when visiting a Secondary School in southern Ghana in 2003. Teaching a Geography class of nearly 70 students, I tried to apply the same concept for some of the issues covered by asking the appropriate proportion of the class to stand up. The Ghanaian students were blown away by the proportion of their class that would live in Asia (having guessed Africa and Europe to carry the highest populations, by far). The ICT teacher at that school (who commanded a suite of 16 computers for a school of c. 2,500 students) was fascinated by the internet access statistic.
For another way of visualising global economic inequality (which features in the Village of 100 idea), I highly recommend this website:
Update:
This impressive and simple website helps you to make quick comparisons between your own country and any other – this can call up statistics that call to mind the inequality depicted in the Village of 100. Watch out for the adverts though:
Short Run Cost Curves
Nov 25th
Our eventual aim of this learning session is to understand (and know ‘like the backs of our hands’) the following diagram:
First we need to understand the difference between fixed and variable costs. This video by MJM Foodie handles this well:
This is a very good interactive exercise to consolidate your understanding of the different types of cost, and ends with a graph to show how their ‘curves’ will look. It introduces the idea of marginal costs and links changes in these costs to the theory of diminishing returns – crucial to understanding the shapes of the graphs. Read all of the text and work through the activities from start to end.
http://www.sambaker.com/econ/cost/cost.html
Now MJM Foodie begins to link us to the graphs more directly:
If you need another glimpse of how the product curve ‘translates’ to the cost curve so that the theory of diminishing marginal returns is transferred, see the first few slides of the following (after slide 3 , the slideshow really gets too technical for IB Economics):
http://www.unc.edu/depts/econ/byrns_web/Flash/Chapter_8/8_2.swf
We need to understand and be able to draw the TC, FC and AC curves.
This link helps us understand how to achieve the graph at the top – work your way through these explanations very carefully:
http://www.reffonomics.com/TRB/chapter8/COSTS6.swf
This next link gives a useful summary of the different cost curves, and includes an interactive exercise to check your understanding on Average Total Costs
http://www.kmversteeg.com/mult/9_05.swf
This is very useful for understanding the shapes of each of the cost curves:
Cost Curves Part 2 from reffonomics
Activity 7 here is a very good practical exploration of products and costs using both the EXCEL sheet and the Word Document:
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/archive/richard_green/
Finally this interactive graph allows you to ‘play’ with the set of cost curves we see in the first image of this post, showing how labour prices and fixed costs can be altered to change the gradients of the graphs, but notice how their overall shapes remain:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007334365x/student_view0/chapter9/interactive_graph_2.html
Back to MJM Foodie. She explains how we can link from TC, FC and AC to ATC, AFC and AVC curves:
Finally, some more videos (if you need them) to reinforce what you should have learned by now:
Cost Curves for Firms by pajholden
Output or ‘Product’ in The Short Run
Nov 25th
a) Find out the definition for the short run (in Economics it has a specific definition).
Use google and the define: prefix.
Image: Some rights reserved by °Florian
b) A practical activity in the classroom.
Rules:
1) A wall in the classroom – you can not move away from the wall, you must always stay right next to the wall. Physical land is fixed.
2) At one end of the wall a desk with a pile of raw-material-paper (or text books).
3) At the other end of the wall a desk. This is where the paper is manufactured into end-of-wall paper once it has been transferred from the other side to this desk.
4) Only one piece of paper can be carried by a worker at a time.
5) We will add more and more workers, but since no-one can move away from the wall, they can not pass each other.
6) Each production cycle (period of time) lasts one minute only.
7) All workers recognise the profit-maximising incentive of working to full ability, and behave accordingly. (No slacking …)
6) First volunteer up. Results will be recorded on a Google Spreadsheet. Access the one below and make a copy of it in your Google Account.
Direct link (make a copy in your own google account): Opengecko Product Exemplified – Carrying Books Exercise
c) Make sure you have thoroughly discussed the graphs – what is happening? Why do they have these shapes?
d) Research (text book and / or web) the definitions of, behaviour of and relationship between the following as the one factor of production (labour) is increased:
- total output [total product]
- average output [average product]
- marginal output [marginal product]
Key phrase: diminishing returns (define and be precise about the full phrase)
Your ultimate aim is to be able to identify the 3 curves below and explain them:
e) Review your understanding of the above with the following videos:
#Edtech: ForgeFX Simulations – Excellent Interactive Learning Tools
Nov 24th
These online ‘immersive’ simulations by ForgeFX are brilliant, and could really help students understand some key concepts in Science, Geography, and other subjects. They require shockwave installed so that they can work in your browser.
My personal favourite is the Heifer Village : Nepal (which takes time to download as it is an entire ‘3D’ game in your browser). This could definitely be used for studying development in Geography or Economics, considering sustainable farming practices through a “a serious game that teaches players about poverty and hunger”.
Other highlights for Geography include:
Topographic Maps – dig and build a piece of relief and see how it alters the contours on a map
Earth’s Biomes – explore various biomes on a globe
Seismic Waves Training Simulation – for exploring the impact of Primary, Secondary and Surface Waves
3d Water Motion Simulator – change wind speed and watch the impact on (labelled) waves
There are good Biology simulations (explore a cow’s eye, plant and animal cell simulation, genetic drift simulation and even track an ant pheromone trail)
The 3D Solar System Simulator is very impressive.
There are a few more relevant to other disciplines – explore them here and here.
Windows Live Writer – Excellent if you Blog
Nov 24th
This is one of the programs installed on my computer that I now use the most often. It’s free to download as part of the windows live essentials suite (incidentally I don’t install any of the other programmes from that suite of software as I don’t currently have a real use for them, although Movie Maker does have its place).
I am using Live Writer right now. It is simply excellent if you use any sort of well-known blogging platform such as Blogger and WordPress (I use both for different purposes).
Why is it so good? Here are a few reasons:
- It is as simple to use as a word processor. It has a simple interface, makes the most of the screen space and is much easier to use than the usual online editors many people use for their blogs.
- It has good spell check, word count, formatting options as you might expect from a simple word processor.
- You can use it offline, and then when you have created a post, you can connect to the internet and publish.
- Once you link your blog account to it (which is straightforward), it detects your theme, categories, tags, etc. and updates when those change.
- You can link to as many blog accounts as you like and switch between them easily.
- You can drag and drop pictures in and adjust their settings quickly (including the default settings of your pictures which is itself a real time saver).
- You can paste youtube embed code in (even if you are not in the html view) and it picks it up straight away.
- Adding categories, tags, time and date posted is easy to do, and it reminds you if you haven’t.
- You can easily access previous posts and pages that have been published (it detects the list and downloads the ones you choose quickly enough). This is handy if you want to adapt them.
- It is customizable with plugins developed by a community of programmers who use this software. However I no longer use these much as Live Writer is quite often updated with internal improvements that fill the same gaps that some of the plugins used to .
- You can store draft posts and pages locally, handy if you work on some posts more gradually, coming back to them in more than one sitting.
And here’s a real bonus if you use Dropbox. I am about to go home to another computer where I will pick up the next sentence on another computer … So I’ve now picked this post up again, this time from home, because it is synced across my dropbox account. You have to set this up your self using a nifty piece of software called DirLinker and redirecting the Weblog Posts default directory (in My Documents) to a folder in Dropbox. Do this on each computer. Although it is not a straightforward a solution, it’s well worth the effort if you’d like to use Live Writer across multiple computers.
Download and info: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-writer
Output or ‘Product’ in The Short Run
Nov 23rd
a) Find out the definition for the short run (in Economics it has a specific definition).
Use google and the define: prefix.
Image: Some rights reserved by °Florian
b) A practical activity in the classroom.
Rules:
1) A wall in the classroom – you can not move away from the wall, you must always stay right next to the wall. Physical land is fixed.
2) At one end of the wall a desk with a pile of raw-material-paper (or text books).
3) At the other end of the wall a desk. This is where the paper is manufactured into end-of-wall paper once it has been transferred from the other side to this desk.
4) Only one piece of paper can be carries by a worker at a time.
5) We will add more and more workers, but since no-one can move away from the wall, they can not pass each other.
6) Each production cycle (period of time) lasts one minute only.
7) All workers recognise the profit-maximising incentive of working to full ability, and behave accordingly. (No slacking …)
6) First volunteer up. Results will be recorded on a Google Spreadsheet. Access the one below and make a copy of it in your Google Account.
Direct link (make a copy in your own google account): Opengecko Product Exemplified – Carrying Books Exercise
c) Make sure you have thoroughly discussed the graphs – what is happening? Why do they have these shapes?
d) Research (text book and / or web) the definitions of, behaviour of and relationship between the following as the one factor of production (labour) is increased:
- total output [total product]
- average output [average product]
- marginal output [marginal product]
Key phrase: diminishing returns (define and be precise about the full phrase)
e) Review your understanding of the above with the following:
What Are Supply Side Policies?
Nov 23rd
Image: Some rights reserved by Re-Entry One Stop
Here is a simple activity that could be completed as a class.
Visit this site to see a list of 12 supply side policies:
http://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/economic-growth/supply-side-policies.html
In pairs or ones, create a cartoon to explain one policy from the list of 12. Your cartoon should be designed to make the idea easy to understand.
Remember to add speech bubbles and appropriate characters / setting to give the policy some meaning. Add a title that matches the policy itself.
I recommend you use toondoo which is easy to use and quick and free to sign up for.
If you use this particular piece of online software, you can share it as a public comic book so that it can then be embedded on a website.
Looking for an example of toondoo? Here is a great cartoon by my colleague Maree (this one introduces three different economic systems):
Google Apps Bonanza
Nov 21st
This is potentially brilliant for schools using Google Apps for Education. A whole raft of apps have been added for administrators to cherry-pick from so that students can access these under their one school-linked google account. Highlights for me include blogger, picasa web albums, google maps and google map maker.
Hat-tip to Brian and freetech4teachers quickly spotting the good news.
#15MINPLN No. 10 – Set Up A Blog For The Bigger Stuff
Nov 19th
Short version:
Set up a blog using blogger.com where you can share your own resources, ideas and observations deserving of more space than 140 characters.
Image: Some rights reserved by EB05
Long version:
I think it is a very good idea to have a blog as an educator. It is a powerful yet simple structure for a website – you add posts (like entries in a journal) that are date-sequenced with the most recent at the top. They can be reorganised and searched by categories and tags which you choose to give them. You can invite feedback from others via comments, valuable for an emerging PLN. A blog can accept content from a host of other online tools – photo albums, videos, slideshows, twitter updates, social bookmark lists, interactive maps, mind-maps, collaborative documents, and much more.
Blogging software has been around a long time and can now be very sophisticated but also very accessible, to the point that setting up a working blog for you to start adding to can takes less than 15 minutes. Then, I think the blog is a good place to regard as your main space (or as a vital component of your existing web site) which you can use to connect to those other corners of the internet which you have already marked out (such as twitter and your social bookmarking account).
In #15MINPLN No. 2, I spoke about ‘breathing out’ either (a) things you know quite a bit about or (b)things you would like to learn more about. In both regards, a blog as a journal and repository of resources helps you shape your own professional development very well. Just as we ask students to reflect on what they have learned, a blog is a great place to share what you are learning as an educator while you explore ideas and approaches. (Note I currently use my ‘blog’ as a repository of learning content and some generic student activities for the subjects I teach, but other teachers prefer to keep these aspects separate).
This particular blog is hosted on a web hosting service (bluehost.com) that I have paid for and uses highly sophisticated blogging software called WordPress, but that is quite complicated to use and although I think it is great, I do not advocate it as a simple way forward (and in this series, I hope I am conveying a preference for simplicity).
I think there are several good options that would allow you to set up a blog quickly, yet allow for good flexibility and functionality that you could harness later as you get more used to it. But I am going to recommend just one, otherwise I will slow you done by posing you with a decision which that you may not feel you are ready to make.
To that end, I recommend the free service ‘blogger’ which has been around for over 10 years and was acquired by Google in 2003 and now integrates very well with many other Google online services, such as Picasa web albums for photos.
Image source: blogger.com
Your blog can be personalised as much as you like – but beware of one thing. Content really does take priority. If adjusting the design of your blog takes a long time, it can delay precious time in putting useful stuff out there for sharing with others – a valuable part of your PLN development. The purpose of this and the next step in the #15MINPLN series is to set up, play with design and then be ready to move forwards with content.
Action: Visit blogger, and sign up for an account. Start to personalise it with your details, bearing in mind points raised in earlier posts in the #15MINPLN series. Start to experiment with it. After you have experimented, the next step in this series will encourage further understanding on how to take the blog forwards.
Next in the #15MINPLN series: No. 11 – Develop your understanding of how to use Blogger.
