McREL Standards Activity
Not In My Back Yard!
| | Purpose: | As a result of this activity, students will be able to recognize and define the externalities related to society’s increasing push toward urban development. | | Related Standard & Benchmarks: | | Economics | | | Standard 4. | Understands basic features of market structures and exchanges | | | | | Level IV [Grade 9-12] | | | | | Benchmark 5. Understands that externalities are unintended positive or negative side effects that result when the production or consumption of a good or service affects the welfare of people who are not the parties directly involved in the market exchange (e.g., a negative externality in consumption occurs when cigarette smoking by one individual has harmful or undesirable effects on nonsmokers, a positive externality in production occurs when a neighbor’s home improvements increase the value of nearby properties) |
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| | Student Product: | Debate--mock city council meeting | | Material & Resources: | No special resources required for this activity. | | Teacher's Note: | No supplementary notes for this activity. | | Activity | | A local developer wants to build a shopping mall in a wooded lot near the high school. In small groups, students make lists of the positive and negative effects (externalities) this development might have on the surrounding community (e.g., students will have easy access to the stores and jobs, increased taxes for the city, loss of habitat for animals, increased traffic in the area, decreased property values for homeowners adjacent to the development, potential storm water run-off problems, etc.). Divide the class into developers and supporters of the project, environmentalists, homeowners, and others who are opposed to the project, and city council members. Students then present arguments for or against the proposed development. Let the council decide on the proposal. During the debate, the teacher may challenge students to quantify (or at least identify strategies for quantifying) the externalities they’ve listed--how should the council arrive at its decision? To add interest and relevance to the activity the instructor could choose an area actually under development (for example, a locally planned shopping mall, housing development, etc.). Students could even create architectural drawings, create mock environmental impact statements (based on real research if possible), and use real, or created, studies on urban planning or development. Conducting research and/or writing proposals, would require a great deal more time, but it would increase the authenticity of the experience and prevent students from merely debating the obvious and emotional. After the debate is concluded the instructor may want to discuss with the class issues related to externalities, or he/she may want to have the students write a short essay that reacts to the experience and elaborates on the issues raised in the debate. | |
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