The purpose of this resource is to use a land cover type map to make environmentally sound decisions.
In this assignment, a group of four to five students will select one country that has been ranked in the World Development Indicators of the World Bank, the Human Development Indicators of the United Nations Development Program, and the Happy Planet Indicator of the New Economic Foundation. Using the selected country's political, social, and economic statistics, each group will assess the methodology and validity of the measurements of WDI, HDI, and HPI indicators for the country. Students will compare and contrast the measurement methods, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each indicator, and propose recommendations to improve these indicators.
An in-class demonstration of perception and individual perceptual differences, using optical illusions and visuals.
This course is designed to lay the foundations of good empirical research in the social sciences. It does not deal with specific techniques per se, but rather with the assumptions and the logic underlying social research. Students become acquainted with a variety of approaches to research design, and are helped to develop their own research projects and to evaluate the products of empirical research.
In this macroeconomics problem, students check to see whether they understand the role nominal aggregate demand and inflation expectations play in determining the economy's output level and inflation rate.
The lecture focused on the banking system and included a discussion about total reserves, required reserves and excess reserves. Students practiced calculating each category in pairs and then compared their solutions with those of the instructor.
This document is a Docoumented Problem Solving exercise that utilizes the Keynesian model of the macroeconomy.
Gross domestic product (GDP) was introduced in class as a way to determine the value of a country's output. Consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports were discussed as the components of GDP. Items that are excluded from GDP were also discussed.
Following a lecture about unemployment, students are asked to calculate the unemployment rate. They will need to apply their knowledge about unemployment and the labor force in order to make the calculation.
Determining a Tax Structure - The different tax structures are reinforced through the calculation of the tax rate at two different income levels.
In this assignment, students think about four events that would affect a country's exchange rate. Without actually drawing a supply and demand diagram, students say what direction, if at all, each curve would shiftâand whether the currency would appreciate or depreciate as a result.
The topic of gross domestic product (GDP) was introduced in class. The components of GDP - consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports - were discussed. The items that are excluded from GDP and the difference between GDP and gross national product (GNP) were also explained.
Students in an economics course are asked to write a doumented problem solution to explain how a change in a determinant of demand will impact the equilibrium price.
The concept of comparative advantage is used to make a decision about specialization and trade. The microeconomic impact is also included.
The concept of price elasticity of demand was introduced in class. Elastic and inelastic goods were discussed. The impact that a change in price will have on total revenue was also presented.
During the lecture, labor demand and labor supply were discussed and were used to determine the equilibrium wage rate. Then, the concept of a minimum wage rate was introduced and the impact of the wage rate on the labor market was demonstrated graphically.
During the lecture, the competitive market was introduced. A graph was used to demonstrate a competitive market in which there was an economic profit. The profit motive causes an increase in supply. As additional producers enter the market, the price of the product or service decreases. In the end, price will decrease until the long-run equilibrium situation is reached which means that the economic profit decreases to zero.
Dr. Stephen O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute discovers a 700-year-old mutation that makes a person resistant to HIV infection. From Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race."
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build a spreadsheet to explore the trade-offs between "bargain-priced" gas vs. the extra mileage needed to get it. A modeling problem.
In 1931, a severe drought hit the Southern and Midwestern plains. As crops died and winds picked up, dust storms began. As the "Dust Bowl" photograph shows, crops literally blew away in "black blizzards" as years of poor farming practices and over-cultivation combined with the lack of rain. By 1934, 75% of the United States was severely affected by this terrible drought.The one-two punch of economic depression and bad weather put many farmers out of business. In the early 1930s, thousands of Dust Bowl refugees ? mainly from Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico ? packed up their families and migrated west, hoping to find work. Entire families migrated together (such as the men shown in "Three generations of Texans now Drought Refugees") in search of a better life. Images such as "Midcontinent ? Family Standing on the Road with Car," "Drought Refugees," and "Untitled, ca. 1935 (Worn-Down Family in Front of Tent)" offer a glimpse into their experience on the road, and show that cars provided many families both transportation and shelter on the road. About 200,000 of the migrants headed for California. The state needed to figure out how to absorb the thousands of destitute people crossing its borders daily. One of their tactics was to document the plight of the refugees. In 1935, photographer Dorothea Lange joined the Rural Rehabilitation Division of the California State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA), a section of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. She was assigned the job of using her camera to document the growing number of homeless Dust Bowl refugees migrating to California. She worked with Paul S. Taylor, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was researching conditions of rural poverty in order to make recommendations on how to improve the workers' conditions. The work by Taylor and Lange played an important role in helping to raise public awareness of the crisis. The reports they made for the government included both data and striking images that revealed the desperate conditions in which the migrants lived and confirmed the need for government intervention. Stark images such as "Home of Oklahoma Drought Refugees" resonated with the public, and portraits of drought refugees like "Ruby from Arkansas" and others shown in this topic humanized the migrants for more fortunate citizens. In March 1936, Lange took what became one of her most famous images, "Migrant Mother." This image of a 32-year-old woman became an icon for the suffering of ordinary people during Great Depression.