By Victoria Sharrow
In Mr. Cole’s economics class, he gathered and split his students into groups of four. Afterwards, he gave everyone a scenario. You and your group have crashed on an isolated tropical island. Students then made a map and flag claiming their new land, along with new land comes the responsibility of how everyone was to run their island. The form of government, what kind of resources, and how to collect such resources.
After finishing the island Mr. Cole gave each group more scenarios about the way the students' islands would solve the problems. The first was an energy policy on how to provide energy to the island. For example, Virgo Island decided on solar energy because it could be used in different climates. The second was population and consumption–with a growing society it is important to provide a good way to collect the resources on the island. Brayden’s Island will only allow Brayden an unlimited supply of children and food. When he dies the whole island will stop working. The third was a non-material economy, a way to entertain the island with art, poetry, or anything fun. Fiji Island will have plenty of creative arts, and philosophical thinking to keep them sane and to keep healthy mentalities. The fourth scenario was international finance and debt, representatives visited from another planet. They offer to help improve the island with money and machinery making production 10 times better, but, in return, the island would be used to grow cash crops and provide for the representatives’ society and 10% interest. Panther Ramia chose not to take the offer because they don't have money since they already have natural resources. Islands are different and use what is best for them.
One student named Brayden Smith made a small essay about the project. “We learned a lot through this unit from the different types of ways to run a government to how to run a country in general,” he wrote. “The first thing we learned is how the types of economic systems work around the world,” he wrote in his second paragraph talking about how different government systems are formed. He closes with “I think that this lesson is good to teach people what has worked in the past and what hasn't.” After all of this, we were left with a good idea of why Mr. Cole worked so hard on this project for all his students.
Virgo Islands Flag
Brayden’s Islands Flag
Fiji Islands Flag
Panther Ramia
Comments