This lesson marries traditional consumerism with social media and explores the strategies used to market consumer goods and brands via social media. This lesson is primarily one that promotes awareness and critical thinking about advertising and the subtleties that can influence consumers like students through a medium they are all too familiar with. I think of this lesson like an informatory discussion with your child about how not every person they meet is a safe person. This lesson is about teaching caution by  thinking & researching before jumping on every trend and by analyzing the company’s point of view and intentions so students can make smart, informed decisions about what they participate in online.

Time Frame: 2 blocks

Objectives

• 3.5.1 Conduct market research to determine consumer trends and product development needs.
• 3.5.1 Analyze features, prices, product information, styles, and performance of consumer goods for potential trade-offs among the components.
• 3.5.8 Utilize appropriate marketing and sales techniques to aid consumers in the selection of goods and services that meet consumer needs.

Set

• What is social media?
• What is the purpose of social media?
• What does it mean to go viral?

Materials

• Computer Lab
• SMART Board

Background for Teachers

• I included a PowerPoint that is merely a slide show of screen shots from Target’s social media sites. It is far better to go to the sites in class so they are most up to date however, I realize a lot of schools still block social media sites. If you want to make your own “screenshot” PowerPoint click here for instructions.

Instruction

• As a class preferably on a SMART board categorize social media sites. Have students give a summary/description of each one.
• Examples

• 
• Next, steer class discussion towards consumerism and their effective or ineffective use of social media. Ask questions like, “How many of you are “friends” or “follow” a company or product. Ask for some examples and why they chose to subscribe, follow, or friend that product/company.
• What are the reasons that companies want you to download their APPS, friend, or get you to follow them?
  • Send you product promotions
  • Brand visibility – to remind you of their brand
  • Get customer feedback on products
  • Track users and data mine user activity to learn about their customers

Activities

• As a class take a look at Target’s social media campaign and ask the class the following questions. It is my preference to let students login to the site individually and silently first to make their own judgments before class comment.  Put the following questions up on the board for them to think about as they view. As an alternative you can also post these questions on a discussion board if your school has access.
  • What was your customer experience like?
  • Was anything compelling about their campaign?
  • Was anything a turn off?
  • From Target’s perspective what do you think their motives are? What are they trying to get you the consumer to do? Do you think it is effective?
  • If this was not a class assignment how many of you would be friends with Target on your own? Why or why not?
  • What demographic is this campaign targeted to? What age range, gender, culture, location, income level, stage of life? How do you know?
• With a partner you are to compare and contrast two similar products or brands’ social media campaigns. Ex. Walmart vs. Target;  Abercrombie & Fitch vs. American Eagle; JcPenny vs. Macy’s; Pizza Hut vs. McDonalds; Este Lauder vs. Lancome; University A vs. University B
  • The final product will be a Glogster (online interactive poster)
  • Guiding Questions:
    • What are the missions of the two companies?
    • If you were in the board meetings of each of the companies what do you think they would say are the objectives of their social media campaign? Awareness, create web traffic, support existing customers, increase sales, brand recognition, etc?
    • Dissect their current social media campaigns. What platforms are they using? There may be more than one!
    • Summarize the messages they are sending or soliciting from their customers.
    • What Gimmicks are they using?  How compelling are their strategies?
    • What things if any are helpful to the customer?
    • Were there any social media marketing campaigns that went bad? How/why?
    • Give a rating, evaluative opinion on which product/brand does a better job utilizing social media and why you think so.

Extensions

• Career Connection: have a social marketing specialist come and speak to your class. Talk about marketing and careers in marketing such as working for ad agencies, promotions, public relations, and social media marketing.
• There are tons of articles out there on how social media sites are tracking user data and selling it. Have students read a few and write a reaction paper.

Closure

• After all the presentations ask the class what type of social media marketing tactics are most effective? What platforms? Why? Answers should involve the idea that brands/companies that can use social media to inform, help, add value to customers are the most successful. Ones that are gimmicky, are misaligned and provide little value put customers on the defensive and destroy customer trust.
• What did you learn today about marketing? As a consumer how can you hedge yourself from being overly influenced?  What are some of the consequences of being inundated with social media marketing?

Evaluation

• Glogster is graded
  

Attachments

• Target Social Media Pictures (PPT)
• Social Media Marketing Consumerism Comparison Glog Project (Word)

Articles

• How Facebook Tracks Its Users
• How to Advertise in Social Media Games
• How Social Media is Changing Paid, Earned, and Owned Media
• How Your Smart Phone is Keeping Track of You

Links

• Glogster

Similar Lessons

• Consumerism
• Consumer Products & Laws & Agencies

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In adult life there are many practical questions that require problem solving skills and a little math. This lesson has students figure out the benefits and costs to joining a shopping club like Sam’s Club. Guide your students through a real life case study that requires lots of critical thinking, a little math and the chance to use Excel!

Time Frame: 1 block + homework or 2 blocks

Objective

• 2.6 Demonstrate management of financial resources to meet the goals of individuals and families across the life span.

Set

• How many of your families shop at wholesale clubs?
• Do you think wholesale clubs save your family money?
• How much does it cost to join a club?

Materials

• Computer Lab
• SMART Board is helpful for instruction & teaching Excel

Background for Teachers:

• The Smith Case Study is complete in itself with prices already figured out and a simple assumption that each item was purchased 12 times a year.
• The Bradford Case Study is more complex in that students need to look through the receipts of the family from the past year and create a spreadsheet. They need to actually look up the prices from the internet since they are not given in the worksheet.

Instruction

• Depending how bright your students are you can give a lot or a little instruction. I like to have the whole class come up with the generic steps to solving this problem as a group before I send students off in pairs to actually solve the problem.
  • Problem Solving Steps
    1. Figure out what the Smith’s purchase at Sam’s (for the purpose of the analysis only choose items they purchase regularly)
    2. Figure out the quantities of the each item & the unit price (go to SamsClub.com to find the items)
    3. Figure out the price of a similar item as Stop & Shop (go to Peapod.com to find items/prices/qty)
    4. Create a spreadsheet (there is one below you can give them as a template)
    5. Get every item in to price per unit subtract the difference (Stop & Shop Unit Price – Sam’s Club Unit Price)
    6. Add the total savings
    7. Multiply by the number of times each item was purchased over the year

• Demonstrate how to add and multiply in Excel (Again I suggest using a SMART Board)

Activities

• Case Study: The Smiths   or  harder Case Study: The Bradfords

Extensions

• An additional activity you can have your students do is a shopping test where they choose 20 items and “shop” (compare prices/qty) at three different stores.
  

• Is Sams Club Worth It -Smith Case Study (Word)
• Is Sams Club Worth it Analysis- Smith Case Study (Excel)
• Is Sams Club Worth It -Bradford Case (Word)
• Is Sams Club Worth it- Bradford Case (Excel)
• Sam’s Club Receipts-Bradford Case Study (Pdf)

Links

• Wholesale Club Shopping
• Peapod.com
• Samsclub.com
  

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Who will learn more you or your students? The verdict is still out with this lesson on emerging technology. Students work in groups to research emerging technologies and give a formal presentation to the class. This lesson is not only fun but informative and helps students with their research and presentation skills.

Time Frame: 2 blocks

Objective

• Students will evaluate the pros and cons of technology on society and explore the newest technological advances.
  

Set

• Watch a day made of glass video clip. If you can’t use YouTube here is a link to the video on Corning’s website.

Materials

• Computer lab
• Computer & Projector

Instruction

• Put students in groups, hand out project instructions. Give students about 10  minutes to decide on the emerging technology they would like to research. Only one per class- no duplicates. Give students the rest of the class to research and put together their presentations.
• Examples of emerging technology projects include: iPads, Kindle, Facebook, Twitter, Mobile Wallet, RFID, BlueTooth, Qcodes, APPS, teleconference, etc.
• You may also want to go over how to properly cite research sources. Noodletools has a great free software for citing sources in MLA format.

Activities

• Have each group present their emerging technology project.

• Emerging technology Project Instructions (Word)

Closure

• Why is it important to keep up with the latest trends in technology?

Websites

• GizMag

Similar Lessons

• Understanding Television
• A Sense for Technology
• Technology at Work

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This lesson follows a case study of a busy couple that is challenged by one of their coworker’s to figure out whether it is cheaper to make sandwiches or buy them from Subway. Students get a chance to apply their critical thinking & problem solving skills to a practical problem as well as get a chance to learn basic math in Excel.

Time Frame: 1 block

Set

• Ask your students how much lunch costs them everyday. Is there a price difference between brown bag lunches and buying it from the cafeteria?

Materials

• Computer Lab
• Shop for Back to School + Spend $50, Get Free Shipping on Select Items at Target.com

Instruction

• If you have a smart board you’ll definately want to set it up to walk through how to use Excel to do math. Don’t know how to use Excel? Click here for a tutorial – it’s easy!
• Read through the case/problem with the class.
• Depending on the level and brightness of your class you may want to walk through the basic problem solving steps asked in question #1 on the Subway Economics Worksheet.
• You may also want to assign students a partner. (optional)

Activities

• Students will work on completing the worksheet using the internet and Excel.

Extensions

• You can also have your students figure out if it is cheaper to eat at your school’s cafeteria or make the equivalent product at home and bring it for lunch.

Closure

• What did you find was cheaper for this couple? Were you surprised? Why or why not?
• Does anyone work at Subway? How does Subway keep its costs down?
• Is eating out always economical?
• What other factors are we not considering in this price comparison? (Opportunity Cost of Time)

Attachments

• Subway Economics Worksheet (Word)
• Subway Economics Answer Key (Word)
• Subway Math (Excel)

Websites

• Subway Online Ordering
• Peapod
• Netgrocer.com
• Target's Printable Grocery Coupons

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My life skills students actually came up with this lesson. This particular class happened to be a class full of guys and they convinced me that simple cooking skills were something that they wanted learn before they graduate. Of course they also loved to eat…thus the birth of this lesson–cooking with small appliances!

Time Frame: 3- 1.5hr blocks depending on the number of student presentations

Objective

• Students will demonstrate how to make a simple recipe using only small kitchen appliances.

Set

• Give a stellar demonstration of this assignment with a recipe of your choice on the day you introduce it so they know what you are expecting.
• Suggested Set Demonstration: Bruschetta- using a food processor and microwave oven to toast the baguette.

Materials

Background for Teachers

• I taught this lesson in a regular classroom- not the culinary room so you can imagine that it takes some planning ahead of time to make it successful! The way I worked around the room situation is by assigning student’s presentations by appliance day. So all the students doing a microwave lesson went on the same day. I placed my appliances on a Rubbermaid Heavy Duty Cart and wheeled them to the room.  I also brought a supply of extra things students might have forgotten like bowls, utensils, can opener, measuring cups/spoons, etc.
• Things like blenders, food processors, grills, & griddles all need to be washed between uses. Make sure you account for the extra time it takes to wash appliances on those presentation days.
• Suggested Toaster Oven Recipes: English muffin pizzas, bagel bites, quesadillas
• Suggested Food Processor Recipes: guacamole, hummus, salsa, bean dip
• Suggested Blender Recipes: smoothies, milkshakes
• Suggested Crock Pot Recipes: chili, fried apples, meatballs, artichoke dip, soup
• Suggested Griddle Recipes: pancakes, bacon & eggs
• Suggested Microwave Recipes: oatmeal, baked apple, scrambled eggs

Instruction

• Go over the directions for the assignment on the first day. If you have time you can have your students go to the library, computer lab or look through cook books to find their recipes.
  

Activities

• Day 1: Look for a recipe & get teacher approval. Sign up for a presentation day.
• Days 2 & 3:Recipe Presentations
  

Extensions

• This lesson is a good way to also talk about nutrition.  You can have your students analyze the recipe that they chose and determine how healthy it is or how many servings from each of the categories of the food pyramid it represents. You can also have your students analyze the nutritional density of the recipe by entering the ingredients into a computer program or website like www.fitday.com. Fitday and other programs like it will tell you how many calories, grams of fat, vitamins and minerals are in the recipe.
• You can also have your students grade each others presentations. This helps students stay focused on the presentation at hand and to better their presentations because they know the criterion.

Closure

• What are some things to keep in mind when operating a microwave?
• What are some safety precautions when working with small appliances?
• What is one thing that you learned today that you will use in the future?

Assessment

• See Assignment Rubric

Attachments

• Small Appliance Cooking Assignment Directions & Rubric (Word)
  

Websites

• How Microwave Cooking Works
• How the Microwave Works

Similar Lesson Plans

• The Microwave
• Microwave Cooking
• Small Appliances
• Microwave Introduction
• Microwave Oven Demonstration
• Microwave Lab

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Johnny Money: An Entrepreneurial Experience

Teach your students about entrepreneurship through a free online interactive game sponsored by the Young Entrepreneur Foundation. The game allows students to start a fictitious retail store. After set up is complete students make business decisions on advertising, donating to local charities, managing their employees, operating costs, inventory control, paying bills, taking out loans, etc. There are also surprises thrown their way such as on the job injuries and natural disasters. Throughout the game students will become familiar with monthly reports such as a balance sheet and cash flow statements. The game is scored and students compete against each other.

Teachers can check in on student’s progress through class reports and base class discussion off monthly reports. The teacher’s manual offers a list of discussion topics to coincide with the game so students can further connect the game to the real world experiences of a business man or woman. Some sample questions include, “if offered fewer working hours in order to keep your job, would you accept?” “Did anything occur during the simulation that you could not control? How did you decide to move forward during those events?”

Websites:

• Johnny Money
• Start-Up Junkies: If you have time in class I highly suggest showing an episode or two of this show produced by Mojo. Hulu.com allows you to watch full episodes for free. As the name implies the show follows a start up company through the beginnings of business and explores topics like venture capitalism, marketing strategies, sales strategies, public relations, etc.
• Dog and Pony: Hulu.com also airs free episodes of  BNET’s interviews with entrepreneurs. They are short clips all under 10 minutes perfect for a lesson introduction or closing to a class.

Similar Lesson Plans:

• Entrepreneurship

Similar Products:

• Go Venture Educational Games & Simulations

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High School Financial Literacy Curriculum

• NEFE High School Financial Planning Program

• Junior Achievement: A place where students can find out information on choosing a college, learning about planning a business, finding a career, planning finances, and paying for college. The center is packed full of financial calculators, worksheets, glossaries, articles, etc.

Middle School Financial Literacy Curriculum

• Junior Achievement: A place where students can find out information on choosing a college, learning about planning a business, finding a career, planning finances, and paying for college. The center is packed full of financial calculators, worksheets, glossaries, articles, etc.

Financial Simulators

• Personal Finance Simulator: type in important information about your current or future income and the simulator will tell you if your income exceeds your expenses. It is pretty thorough asking for entries on student loans, credit cards, taxes, social security, savings, house expenses, car expenses, and salary.

Financial Games

• The Stock Market Game: This is an online game where students are given a hypothetical $100,000 to invest in the stock market. Students compete against other students via an online program that allows students to buy and sell stocks according to their price on wall street. Students compete against teams from their state or region. Some states offer prizes to the students who have the most money in their portfolio at the end of the semester.

• Real Game: The game’s highly-interactive exercises are designed to identify connections between school subjects and work roles. Your students will have fun as they learn about adult life roles in the context of their own career and educational planning. The game can now be played online but can also be purchased as a CD. There are separate games for grades 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12.
  

Financial Literacy Awards

• National Financial Literacy Challenge: “The President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy recently launched the National Financial Literacy Challenge in the same spirit as the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge – a fun approach to personal growth and competition. The Challenge is a fun activity that motivates students to become educated about personal money management with recognition and prizes for top performers.The Challenge is free and will test the financial literacy levels of America’s high school students, ages 13-18. The challenge is open to high school classrooms as well as after-school non-profit community organizations.”

Helpful Educator Websites

• Practical Money Skills.com: “With a diverse palette of resources – free lesson plans, profiles of inspiring teachers, discussion of relevant economic topics, and more – Practical Money Skills for Life hopes to empower educators, enable student learning, and ultimately support the financial literacy necessary for success today.”

• Jump Start Coalition for Personal Finance: “Jump$tart is a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the financial literacy of kindergarten through college-age youth by providing advocacy, research, standards and educational resources.” There are lots of free resources and printouts.
  

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Middle School

• Cash a lesson on to spend the money they earn

Great Granny’s Will
This lesson is a great way for students to spend money responsibly and gives them some idea about the expenses necessary for living on their own.

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I found this lesson on the Columbia Education Center’s website and think that it is a great idea. Basically it is a challenge for students to make nutritious meals for $60 a week and to find all their pricing and food choices from local grocery store fliers. The students would cut out what they wanted to purchase and paste them on a food pyramid chart for each meal. The students would then total the amount of dollars spent and estimate the amount of calories consumed for each meal. Check out the lesson by following this link for more specific details.

Some additional ideas that I would add to this lesson is to allow the students to use online grocery stores like PeaPod or Shoprite for New England and Safeway for AZ, CA, MD, OR, VA, WA, and DC to find their grocery prices. The reason I suggest using online grocery stores is because students can see the serving size and nutrition labels for each item they want to purchase therefore they would not have to estimate the number of calories for each item. The grocery cart will also calculate how much their meals cost once they put them in the “basket” as well eliminating some math or you can just keep that to yourself.  If you don’t have a grocery store that delivers in your state the trick is to use a  zip code from a city that the store delivers to which will allow your students access.

You probably will want to discuss some tricks to grocery shopping frugally. Here are some websites that have good grocery shopping tips.

• Grocery Shop and Cook Frugally
• Tricks Grocery Stores Don’t Want You To Know
• Grocery Store Tricks Save Money

For Information on the Government’s Food Guide Pyramid:

Similar Lesson Plans

• Consumerism- Grocery Shopping

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Objective

Students will compare two different brands of the same appliance, choosing one to hypothetically purchase and evaluate their decision.

Set

• Present a sample of the project

Materials

• Computer Lab

Instructions

• Explain how to choose appliances
• Ask students what to look for when purchasing appliances
• Explain assignment

Activities

• Let students have the remainder of class to complete this assignment on the computer.

Closure

• How do the features increase or decrease the price?
• How did the price relate to the quality?
• How much of the cost of  your appliance was delivery cost?

Evaluation:

• Appliance Comparison Rubric (included with the instructions)

Attachments:

• Appliance Comparison Project Instructions & Rubric (Word)

Websites

• Consumer Reports-Appliances

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