Lesson Plan

• Define free goods and private (economic) goods using the criteria of scarcity, rivalry and excludability.
• Distinguish between free and private goods through relevant real‑world examples.
• Explain how market allocation differs for free versus private goods.
• Analyse situations where a good can shift from free to private and predict likely policy responses.

• Projector and screen
• Whiteboard and markers
• Printed handout with the free‑vs‑private goods comparison table
• Worksheet containing the quick‑check questions
• Sticky notes for group classification activity
• Poster of the “free good → private good” diagram

Begin with a quick poll: “What do you use every day that costs nothing?” Use the responses to link prior knowledge of everyday items to the economic concepts of scarcity, rivalry and excludability. Explain that today’s success criteria are to correctly classify goods and to articulate why the classification matters for market decisions.

1. Do‑Now (5'): Students list three items they think are “free” on sticky notes; teacher collects and displays.
2. Mini‑lecture (10'): Define scarcity, rivalry, excludability; introduce free goods vs private goods with the poster diagram.
3. Guided practice (12'): Work through the handout comparison table in pairs, filling characteristics for each example.
4. Whole‑class discussion (8'): Share pair findings, correct misconceptions, and highlight the economic implications.
5. Quick‑check quiz (10'): Students answer the three provided questions individually; teacher circulates to check understanding.
6. Reflection & exit ticket (5'): Students write one real‑world example of a good that could shift from free to private and note a possible policy response.

Recap the key distinctions between free and private goods and why they matter for allocation decisions. Collect exit tickets as a retrieval check and assign homework: a short paragraph describing a local resource that has become scarce and proposing a policy solution.