VISUALIZING ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

 

VISUALIZING ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore how they can express the characteristics of different economic systems through line, shape, and color. Students will then write about their artwork explaining how their artwork shows the different characteristics of each economic system.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 6-7
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & SOCIAL STUDIES
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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can describe the characteristics of a command, market, and mixed economy.

  • I can use line, shape, and color to express the characteristics of different economic systems.

  • I can explain the connection between my artwork and the characteristics of different economic systems.

Essential Questions

  • What are the characteristics of a command, market, and mixed economy?

  • How can I use line, shape, and color to express the characteristics of different economic systems?

  • How can I explain the connection between my artwork and the characteristics of different economic systems?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 6

SS6E, SS6E7, SS6E10 

Analyze different economic systems. a. Compare how traditional, command, and market economies answer the economic questions of 1-what to produce, 2-how to produce, and 3-for whom to produce. b. Explain that countries have a mixed economic system located on a continuum between pure market and pure command.

 

Grade 7

SS7E1, SS7E4, SS7E7

Analyze different economic systems. a. Compare how traditional, command, and market economies answer the economic questions of 1-what to produce, 2-how to produce, and 3-for whom to produce. b. Explain that countries have a mixed economic system located on a continuum between pure market and pure command.

 

Personal Finance and Economics

SSEF3 Analyze how economic systems influence the choices of individuals, businesses, and governments. 

  1. Analyze how command, market and mixed economic systems answer the three basic economic questions (what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce) to prioritize various social and economic goals such as freedom, security, equity, growth, efficiency, price stability, full employment, and sustainability.

 

 

 

 

Arts Standards

Grade 6

VA6.CR.1 Visualize and generate ideas for creating works of art. 

VA6.CR.2 Choose from a range of materials and/or methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan and create works of art.

VA6.CR.3 Engage in an array of processes, media, techniques, and/or technology through experimentation, practice, and persistence.

VA6.CR.4 Incorporate formal and informal components to create works of art.

 

Grade 7

VA7.CR.1 Visualize and generate ideas for creating works of art. 

VA7.CR.2 Choose from a range of materials and/or methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan and create works of art.

VA7.CR.3 Engage in an array of processes, media, techniques, and/or technology through experimentation, practice, and persistence. 

VA7.CR.4 Incorporate formal and informal components to create works of art.

 

High School

VAHSAD.CR.4 Incorporate formal and informal components to create applied design art products and/or designs.

 

VAHSAD.RE.3 Engage in the process of art criticism to make meaning and increase visual Visual Art Georgia Standards of Excellence 

 

VAHSAH.RE.3 Compare and contrast works of art, artists, cultures, and eras based on visual and contextual evidence.

 

VAHSAH.CN.1 Evaluate the influence of historical, political, economic, social, cultural, religious, and technological factors on the development of selected works of art from prehistoric to contemporary times and in a variety of societies 

 

VAHSCR.CR.1 Visualize and generate ideas for creating works of art. 

 

VAHSAH.PR.1 Identify and discuss related themes throughout the history of art (e.g. power and authority, sacred spaces, human figure, narrative, nature, spiritual objects) as expressed in different media within each culture and time period (e.g. two-dimensional work, three-dimensional work, architecture, multi-media).

 

VAHSAH.RE.1 Identify and describe how artistic expression is conveyed visually through subject matter, media, technique, and design (e.g. composition, color scheme). Visual Art Georgia Standards of Excellence 

 

VAHSAHRE.2 Discuss aesthetic issues (e.g. why humans create, criteria for defining an object as art, the effect of how content affects value, standards of beauty and beauty’s role in defining art, how needs are fulfilled by art in varied societies). 

 

VAHSAH.RE.3 Compare and contrast works of art, artists, cultures, and eras based on visual and contextual evidence. 

 

 

 

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Economics and Personal Finance

Standard 1: Demonstrate an understanding of fundamental economic concepts at an individual, business, and governmental level.

EPF.1.IN Research and utilize evidence to explain how various economic systems address the basic economic questions regarding distribution of resources.

 

 

Arts Standards

Artistic Processes: Creating- I can make artwork using a variety of materials, techniques, and processes.

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Artistic Processes: Responding- I can evaluate and communicate about the meaning in my artwork and the artwork of others.

Anchor Standard 5: I can interpret (read) and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

Artistic Processes: Connecting- I can relate artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

 

 

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Market economy - An economic system in which all economic questions are answers by consumers and producers
  • Command economy - An economic system in which all economic questions are answered by the government
  • Mixed economy - An economic system in which economic questions are answered by both the government as well as producers and consumers

 

 

Arts Vocabulary

  • Line - One of the Elements of Art; the path of a moving point
  • Shape - One of the Elements of Art; a two-dimensional or flat object; an enclosed line
  • Color - One of the Elements of Art; how light is seen as reflected or absorbed on a surface
  • Symbol - An image that has meaning

 

 

Materials

     

     

    Instructional Design

    Opening/Activating Strategy

    • Display the painting, Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan by Liu Chunhua (7th grade Social Studies) or The Bolshevik by Boris Kustodiev (6th grade Social Studies). Direct students to engage in the Artful Thinking “Step Inside” protocol. In this protocol, students ask themselves: 
    • Allow students time to discuss in small groups.
    • Provide context for the painting shown: Chairman Mao and the communist revolution in China or the Russian Revolution of 1917. 
    • Engage students in a conversation about what they know about economic systems in communist and socialist countries.

     

    Work Session

    ***Teacher note: If students have not learned about market, command, and mixed economies, pause the arts integrated lesson to teach these economic systems.

    • Provide students with a graphic organizer on the three main economic systems. 
      • One column has the economic system, one has a place for students to write characteristics, and one has a place for students to draw symbols, lines, shapes, and colors that represent characteristics of that economic system.
    • Show students images of lines, shapes, and colors. 
      • Examples: A straight line might symbolize complete control while a very wavy/curly line might symbolize total freedom; a slightly wavy line would represent a mixture of both a straight and very wavy/curvy line. A solid primary color (red, blue, yellow) or white or black might symbolize something that is absolute while gray or a secondary color, which is a mix of primary colors (orange, purple, green), might symbolize a mix of two economic systems.
      • In collaborative groups, direct students to identify what they think these lines, shapes, and colors represent. 
      • Help students connect these elements of art to characteristics of the three main economic systems. 
    • Show students an example of an abstract artwork such as Cossacks by Wassily Kandinsky versus a representational artwork like Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan or The Bolshevik. 
      • Discuss with students how abstract artists use the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, value, space, color, and texture) to communicate meaning while representational artists use recognizable images to communicate meaning. Ask students what they see in Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan or The Bolshevik that might symbolize meaning.
    • Explain to students that they will use symbols, lines, shapes, and colors to create an artwork that represents each economic system. 
      • Students will use these elements of art to represent something representational or abstract. Whichever they choose, they should be able to explain how their use of symbols, lines, shapes, and colors communicate the characteristics of each economic system.
    • Demonstrate to students how to create a trifold with their paper. Each section will represent a different economic system. 
    • Allow students time to complete their artwork.
    • Students should then write an artist statement in paragraph format that answers the following questions:
      • What are the three economic systems and what are their characteristics?
      • How did you show the characteristics of each economic system using symbols, lines, shapes, and colors (students should  be specific citing each characteristic and how it was represented.

    Closing Reflection

    • After students have created their artwork, students should present in collaborative groups how they represented each economic system using line, shape, and color.

    Assessments

    Formative

    Teachers will assess student learning using the following criteria:

    • Are students able to explain the characteristics of command, market, and mixed economic systems?
    • Are students able to identify symbols, lines, shapes, and colors that represent the characteristics of the economic systems?

     

    Summative

    CHECKLIST

    • Does the student’s final artwork demonstrate an understanding of the three economic systems through the use of symbols, lines, shapes, and colors?
    • Does the artist statement demonstrate a logical connection between the characteristics of each system and the symbols, lines, shapes, and colors that the student used?

    Differentiation

    Acceleration: Students can choose an economic system of one of the countries they are studying. Students will use what they learned in the economic systems artwork to create one large piece of art specifically about their selected country’s economic system. Students can work with partners or independently.

    Remediation: 

    • Provide guided notes in the graphic organizer under the “characteristics” section.
    • Allow students to work in groups of three–each student will create an artwork for one economic system. Students will put their artwork together once they’ve finished.
    • Allow students to explain how they showed the characteristics of their system(s) in their artwork orally.

     

     ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

     

    *This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

    Ideas contributed by:  Katy Betts

    Revised and copyright:  2023 @ ArtsNOW
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