Overview
New technologies
offer opportunities for teachers to develop interesting hands-on projects
that engage students actively in learning. In this project, fourth-grade
students in Virginia and Arizona used computers to form a business partnership,
communicate daily on the Internet, design a product, and run their business.
The Richmond, Va., students sent out a call for participation over the
Internet and found students in Tempe, Az., as partners.
Initially, students spent time comparing the geography, history, natural resources, and cultures of the two states. Later they emailed each other, discussing possible products they could trade, deciding what prices to charge, and working out last-minute production deadline details. The Virginia students set up their business, applied for a business loan, and secured a financial grant for their interstate trade partners. They researched every aspect of the business and used spreadsheet programs to create and track surveys. These nine- and 10-year-old students used computers to design graphics for the T-shirts they decided to produce. The Arizona students created Native American jewelry, Navajo sandpaintings, and computer-generated cookbooks, which they shipped to their trade partners in Virginia, for sale at the Virginia school's annual fair. They decided to call their business "Techie-Ts and Arizona Imports."
Objectives
- Students develop entrepreneurial abilities in forming a new business partnership.
- Students use technology to give their business a competitive edge.
- Students analyze data to compare immigration trends, natural resources, and principal industries and products produced in Arizona and Virginia.
- Students experience the benefits of interdependence through trade.
- Students develop and use a market survey to create a demand schedule and graph.
- Students use economic reasoning to make decisions based on a market survey.
Time Required
- The school year
Materials Required
- Computers, modem, software
- Resources for making the product
Teaching Activity
Before involving the class in a discussion about possible business opportunities, it is advisable that the teacher make arrangements with a teacher in another class geographically distant and, to enhance the experience even more, a class culturally different from his or her own.
The
fourth-grade class at Collegiate School used Kidsphere, a global Internet-based
electronic discussion group for teachers and administrators who want to
develop collaborative projects, and put out a call for participation. Contact
does not have to be made over the Internet. For example, friends and business
acquaintances can put you in touch with a school and teacher in another
part of the country or the world.
The Virginia students received several replies, and they answered each one. Following is a letter received from Jay Marino, the Arizona teacher who became the partner-teacher for the joint business venture.
Karen,
Welcome to the net. My name is Jay Marino and I'm a fourth-grade teacher in Tempe, Arizona. I'm in my fourth year of teaching and I integrate technology into all of my subjects. My class runs a weather station, a television station, and a radio station as well as communicating on the Internet. We have a lot of fun with technology. I am interested in your plea for some type of business. That is exactly what I'm trying to do for next school year.I would like to hear more about some of your ideas. ... I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Jay Marino
The Arizona and Virginia classes formed a business partnership. Students researched the Arizona and Virginia economies and shared the information through e-mail correspondence. A typical message follows:
Dear Misty,
One day we went to the library and did some research on Virginia. I found out the crops that Virginia is growing are corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tobacco, apples, and soybeans. We process turkeys, cattle, hogs/pigs, and sheep.What would you be interested in buying?
Your keypal, Meredith
Once the products were chosen, the Arizona class created Native American jewelry, Navajo sandpaintings, and computer-generated cookbooks. The Virginia class produced T-shirts.
The students created the T-shirt design on a computer, and a local business loaned the use of a thermal transfer machine for payment of one T-shirt.
The Virginia students also created a market survey (shown) and each student interviewed 3-5 adults. When they compiled the results of the survey and used computer software to track the results, they produced the demand curve shown.
The students at both schools decided that the Virginia school's annual fair was the best place to sell the products. Both schools' products sold well. Specialization, trade, and exchange had been fun and profitable for students in both schools.