Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan
Grade: Date: 25/02/2026
Subject: Economics
Lesson Topic: Decisions made by consumers, workers, producers/firms and governments when allocating their resources
Learning Objective/s:
  • Describe opportunity cost and how it is measured.
  • Explain how consumers, workers, firms, and governments allocate scarce resources using opportunity‑cost reasoning.
  • Apply the decision‑making rule to real‑world examples for each economic agent.
  • Analyse a simple Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) to illustrate trade‑offs.
  • Evaluate the role of prices and government estimates in signalling opportunity costs.
Materials Needed:
  • Projector or interactive whiteboard
  • Slide deck summarising opportunity‑cost concepts
  • Handout with comparative table of economic agents
  • Worksheet with scenario questions
  • Markers and chart paper for drawing a PPF diagram
  • Exit‑ticket cards
 Introduction:
Begin with a quick poll: “If you had $5, what would you buy?” to activate prior knowledge of limited resources. Explain that today we will examine how different economic agents decide where to allocate those scarce resources. Students will learn to identify and calculate opportunity costs and will know the success criteria: correctly naming the next‑best alternative in each scenario.
Lesson Structure:
  1. Do‑now (5'): Students answer the poll and write the next best alternative they could have chosen.
  2. Mini‑lecture (10'): Define opportunity cost, present the formula, and discuss marginal benefit vs. marginal cost.
  3. Group activity (15'): Each group analyses one agent (consumer, worker, firm, government) using provided scenarios; complete the worksheet.
  4. Whole‑class share (10'): Groups present their opportunity‑cost examples; teacher highlights common patterns.
  5. PPF demonstration (10'): Draw a Production Possibility Frontier and explain how the slope represents opportunity cost.
  6. Guided practice (10'): Individual questions requiring calculation of opportunity cost from given data.
  7. Check for understanding (5'): Quick quiz (e.g., Kahoot or show‑of‑hands) to confirm mastery.
Conclusion:
We recap that opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative and applies to all economic agents. For the exit ticket, each student writes one real‑life opportunity cost they observed today. Homework: complete the extended worksheet that applies PPF analysis to a new set of goods.