Posts tagged basic economic problem

We are still introducing some important concepts (ideas) in Economics while following the IGCSE Economics Syllabus which includes the following requirements:

• define opportunity cost and analyse particular circumstances to illustrate the concept;
• evaluate the implications of particular courses of action in terms of opportunity cost.

Here are two videos designed to introduce the idea of opportunity cost:

Episode 8: Opportunity Cost by mjmfoodie

This light-hearted YouTube clip reinforces the fact that it need not be about money, but that cost in this sense can be measured in time:

What Is Opportunity Cost? by wreuter1

This pdf file is a set of resources for teaching the idea of opportunity cost to young children. You might find it useful, especially the first page and the top of the second page which has questions and their answers.

http://www.kidseconposters.com/images/hp_op_cost.pdf

This page from tutor2u gives a useful overview suitable for IGCSE Economics: click here.

Suggested activity

Perhaps working with one other partner, can you create a short video of your own to illustrate the concept of opportunity cost. Try to present several different scenarios, at different scales. Here are some examples:

• An opportunity cost you might face today
• An opportunity cost you might face at the weekend
• An opportunity cost following a recent decsision by your school
• An opportunity cost linked to a decision made by the government for your country

Technology tip:

You could create a video a bit like the mjmfoodie one at the top. One way of doing this is to have a set of slides with pictures and perhaps a few key words in a powerpoint or google presentation. You need a way of recording your voice and capturing things that are happening on the screen at the same time (such as playing through your finished presentation while you speak over it). This is called a screencast. It is a good idea to write a script for your screencast so that the finished product is as professional as possible.

Quicktime allows you to create screencasts. An online solution (which needs you to already have an account for google, twitter, facebook or a few others to sign in is http://www.screenr.com. On the free plan, you are limited to 5 minutes but that should be an ideal maximum time for this kind of activity anyway. At the end you publish to screenr but you can then download the .mp4 file and delete the online version if you want. Screenr requires you to have java enabled.