Alabama Social Studies SS24.2.5
The Standard
Explain how scarcity influences supply and demand.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare how many goods are available with how many people want them. They explain what happens when there are not enough goods for everyone who wants one.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given three umbrellas and seven shoppers who want one, a student can say the store has fewer umbrellas than shoppers want. They can explain that some shoppers must wait or choose something else.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think scarcity means nothing is left, rather than not enough for everyone. They may also think fewer items on a shelf means fewer people want them.
How to Assess It
- Ask: “A store has three raincoats, and seven shoppers want one. How many shoppers cannot get one? What could those shoppers do?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs four toy apples and six shopper cards; have them show who gets an apple and who needs another choice.
Ask: “Eight people want a pumpkin, but the farm stand has three. What might the shoppers do?”
Play three rounds with changing numbers of snack cards and shopper cards; students say whether there are enough for everyone.
Use a grocery flyer to pick an item; ask what shoppers might do if the store has only two left.
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Printable SS24.2.5 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.E.4d
Illustrate and explain how supply and demand determine equilibrium price and quantity and how price movements eliminate shortages and surpluses.
- SS24.E.1
Investigate and share information on how scarcity can impact factors of production and the decision-making of individuals, businesses, and governments.
- SS24.E.1a
Explain the relationship between scarcity as a basic condition of economics and the decision-making needed to allocate limited resources.
- SS24.E.4c
Explain how prices serve as incentives in a market economy, and how factors other than price cause changes in supply and demand.
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