18 Week SyllabusClass :                                

    AP MicroeconomicsCourse Number:                    2102370Credit:        

                            1 Introduction The AP program in Microeconomics is designed to provide students with the analyticalskills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materialsin economics. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced collegecourses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by introductory collegecourses. Students should learn to assess economic data - their relevance to a giveninterpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance- and to weigh the evidenceand interpretations presented in economic scholarship. An AP Microeconomics courseshould thus develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of aninformed judgment and to present reasons, analysis, synthesis and evidence clearly andpersuasively in a free response format. After completing AP Microeconomics course, students should be able to do all of the following: 

1. define and understand the key terms given at the end of each chapter;
2. use the graphical and mathematical tools of macroeconomic theory as demonstrated in class, in the text, and in homework problems;
3. explain in detail how the basic measures of economics performance are calculated and the significance of changes in these measures;
4. explain in detail the money creation process and the workings of our financial system;
5. use microeconomics models presented in class and the text, analyze the various fiscal and monetary policies to determine their impacts on the measures of economics performance.

 COURSE OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this course is to provide the student with a broad overview of the study of  Microeconomics. AP Economics  is a 18 week course of instruction, the course will be content driven with a good deal of thought and theory.  The ultimate goal is a successful score on the AP Exam at the end of the instruction period.   To this end the student should have a well defined understanding of how economics  effects them in their everyday life and what their responsibilities are as citizens and consumers. The course places primary emphasison the nature and functions of product markets, and includes the study of factor marketsand the role of government in promoting greater efficiency and equity in the economy. Itincludes the following concepts: scarcity, opportunity costs and production possibilities,specialization and comparative advantage, the functions of any economic system, thenature and functions of product market, supply and demand, models of consumer choice,firm production, costs, revenues, product pricing and outputs, efficiency and governmentpolicy, factor markets, efficiency, equity, and the role of government.  The content will include but not be limited to:  

Textbook:  McConnell, Campbell R. and Brue, Stanley L. 15^th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill  2002 

UNIT 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS (2 WEEKS) (CR1)(CR5)Total Unit Readings: McConnell and Brue chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5.  Readings Requirements :  Chapter 1, The Nature and Method of Economics pp 3-21 Topics:• The economic perspective: scarcity and choice, rational behavior, marginalism,benefits and costs.• Why study economics: Economics for citizenship, professional and personalapplications• Economic methodology: theoretical economics, policy economics• Macroeconomics and microeconomics: macroeconomics, microeconomics,positive and normative economics• Pitfalls to sound reasoning: biases, loaded terminology, definitions, fallacy ofcomposition, causation fallacies 

Readings Requirements: Appendix to chapter 1: graphs and their meaning. Chapter 2, Theeconomizing problem, pp. 22 – 38Topics:• The foundation of economics: unlimited wants, scarce resources• Economics: employment and efficiency, full employment, using availableresources, full production, using resources efficiently, production possibilitiestable, production possibilities curve, law of increasing opportunity cost, efficiencyrevisited• Unemployment, Growth and the Future: unemployment and productiveefficiency, a growing economy, a qualification- international trade, examples andapplications• Consider this: A matter of degrees, Is college worth the cost?• Economic systems: the market system, the command system• The circular flow model 

Readings Requirements: Chapter 4, the market system, pp. 60-72Topics:• Characteristics of the market system: private property, freedom of enterprise andchoice, self-interest, competition, markets and prices, reliance on technology andcapital goods, specialization, use of money, active but limited government• The market system at work: what will be produced, how will goods and servicesbe produced, who will get the goods and services, how will the systemaccommodate change?• Competition and the “Invisible hand” 

Readings Requirements: Chapter 5, The U.S. Economy: private and public sectors, pp 73-90Topics:• Households as income receivers: functional distribution of income, the personaldistribution of income• The business population• Legal forms of businesses: advantages and disadvantages, the principle-agentproblem• The public sector: government’s role• Providing the legal structure, maintaining competition, redistributing income,reallocating resources, promoting stability, government’s role: a qualification• The Circular Flow revisited  Activities and assessmentsThe cycle of instruction is to first use the text to introduce the concepts. Students areassigned notes, outlines, graphs and their captions, and the vocabulary list for eachchapter. Students are also assigned completion of four sections of each chapter’s studyguide: fill in the blanks, true - false, multiple choice, and problems. After the study guidefor a chapter is turned in, the students get a multiple-choice quiz on the study guide. Theday after the study guide and quiz have been completed the chapter notes are due. Thestudents on that day will get a chapter test on content that will reinforce vocabularydefinitions and understanding of tables and graphs. Once these have been accomplished,the students are ready for lectures on chapter content and activities that will reinforce theunderstanding. 

Unit 1: activities come from the Advanced Placement Economics supplemental materialsof the National Council on Economic Education. These activities are presented alongwith lectures and use of graphs that parallel the chapter content. Unit 1activities areplanned as follows.Schedule:• Day 1: Lecture on the economic way of thinking, using visual 1.1 Discuss ideasof activity 1 but do not assign it.• Day 2: Give a lecture on scarcity, use visual 1.2 and illustrate the PPC. Assignactivity 2 as homework.• Day 3. Discuss activity 2. Then, discuss explicit and implicit costs. Use activity3 for discussion but do not assign it.• Day 4: Lecture on how economies deal with scarcity. Discuss activity 4 ideas butdo not assign it.• Day 5: Lecture on circular flow of resources using visual 1.3 and assign activity5.• Day 6: Discussion of comparative and absolute advantage using visuals 1.4 and1.5 and assign activity 6 as homework.• Day 7: Discuss activity 6. Teach on marginal benefits and costs. Discuss ideasof activity 7 but do not assign it. Assign activity 8 as a review of key conceptsand preparation for essay portion of the coming unity exam.• Day 8: Review activity 8 and key ideas for the unit 1 exam• Day 9. Give the unit 1 exam, both multiple choice and essay portions. 

UNIT 2: THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF PRODUCT MARKETS (3 WEEKS) (CR2)(CR6) 

Readings: McConnell and Brue chapter 3 pp. 39 - 58, chapter 21 pp. 372-391, thenchapter 20 pp. 356-371, and chapter 31 only pages 586-593. Chapter 3 IndividualMarkets: Demand and Supply, pp. 39-58Topics:• Markets• Demand: law of demand, the demand curve, market demand, change in demand,changes in quantity demanded• Supply: law of supply, the supply curve, determinants of supply, changes insupply, changes in quantity supplied• Supply and demand: market equilibrium: surpluses, shortages, equilibrium priceand quantity, rationing function of prices, changes in supply, demand, andequilibrium, A reminder, “Other things equal”• Price ceilings and shortages, price floors and surpluses 

Readings: Chapter 21: Consumer Behavior and Utility MaximizationTopics:• A closer look at the law of demand, income and demand: income and substitutioneffects, law of diminishing marginal utility• Theory of consumer behavior: consumer choice and budget constraint, utility maximizingrule, numerical example, algebraic restatement• Utility maximization and the demand curve: deriving the demand schedule andcurve, income and substitution effects revisited• Diamond-water paradox, value of time and other examples 

Readings: Chapter 20 (taught after chapter 21 in order to match the order of activitiesand sequence of ideas tested in the unit 2 exam). Elasticity of demand and supply, pp.356 – 370.Topics:• Price elasticity of demand: The price elasticity coefficient and formula,interpretations of elasticity of demand, refinement of the midpoint formula,graphic analysis, the total revenue test, price elasticity and the total revenue curve,determinants of elasticity of demand, applications of price elasticity of demand• Price elasticity of supply: the market period, price elasticity of supply: the shortrun, price elasticity of supply: the long run, applications of price elasticity ofsupply• Cross elasticity and income elasticity of demand 

Readings: Chapter 31: use only a portion – pp. 586-593Topics:• Apportioning the tax burden: benefits received versus ability to pay, progressive,proportional, and regressive taxes• Tax incidence and efficiency loss: elasticity and tax incidence, efficiency loss ofa tax, probable incidence of US taxes, the US tax structure Activities and assessmentsThe cycle of instruction is to first use the text to introduce the concepts. Students areassigned notes, outlines, graphs and their captions, and the vocabulary list for eachchapter. Students are also assigned completion of four sections of each chapter’s studyguide: fill in the blanks, true - false, multiple choice, and problems. After the study guidefor a chapter is turned in, the students get a multiple-choice quiz on the study guide. Theday after the study guide and quiz have been completed the chapter notes are due. Thestudents on that day will get a chapter test on content that will reinforce vocabularydefinitions and understanding of tables and graphs. Once these have been accomplished,the students are ready for lectures on chapter content and activities that will reinforce theunderstanding.In the case of a partial chapter assignment such as chapter 31, textbook homework isrestricted to applicable vocabulary and graphs with captions. There is a matching quiz. 

UNIT 2 activities: come from the Advanced Placement Economics supplemental materialsof the National Council on Economic Education. These activities are presented alongwith lectures and use of graphs that parallel the chapter content. Unit 2 activities areplanned as follows.Schedule:• Day 1: Difference between change in demand versus a change in quantitydemanded using visual 2.1 and use visual 2.2 to teach determinants of demand.Assign activity 9 as homework.• Day 2: Discuss activity 9. Lecture on diminishing marginal utility, identifyconsumer surplus, and demonstrate with a simulation. Activity 10 is done in classin small groups. Discuss this. Activity 11 is assigned as homework.• Day 3: Discuss activity 11. Use visual 2.3 to illustrate the difference between achange in supply versus a change in the quantity supplied. Use visual 2.4regarding determinants of supply. Assign activity 12 as homework.• Day 4: Discuss activity 12 with explanation of producer surplus. Completeactivity 13 in class and reinforcement of determinants of supply.• Day 5: Demonstrate equilibrium and use visual 2.5. Assign activity 14 ashomework.• Day 6: Discuss activity 14. Use visual 2.6 to illustrate shifts in supply anddemand. Do activity 15 in class and discuss it. Assign activity 16 as homework.• Day 7: Go over activity 16. Use Visual 2.7 to lecture on elasticity of demand.Use visual 2.8 to illustrate how to calculate elasticity coefficient. Assign activity17 as homework.• Day 8: Discuss activity 17. Do activity 18 in class in small groups. Discuss eachpart as it is accomplished.• Day 9: Lecture on the total revenue test for price elasticity of demand usingvisual 2.9. Have the student’s complete activity 19 and discuss it in class.Discuss ideas from activity 20 but do not assign it.• Day 10: Use visual 2.10 to discuss tax incidence. Complete activity 21, whichcovers shifts and elasticity of supply and demand applied to an economic policyquestion.• Day 11: Conduct a brief supply and demand simulation with “A Market inWheat”. Use 2.11 to illustrate a price ceiling. Use visual 2.12 to illustrate a pricefloor. Assign activity 22 as homework.• Day 12: Discuss activity 22. Do activity 23 in class.• Day 13: Use activity 23 as a review discussion for the essay portion of thecoming unit 2 exam.• Day 14: Review key ideas of the unit.• Day 15: Give essay portion of exam• Day 16: Give multiple-choice portion of unit 2 exam. 

UNIT 3: THE THEORY OF THE FIRM (5 WEEKS)(CR2)

Readings: McConnell and Brue chapters, 22, 23, 24, and 25. Chapter 22, The costs ofproduction, pp 392 – 411Topics:• Economic costs: explicit and implicit costs, normal profit as a cost, economicprofit (or pure profit), short run and long run• Short-run production relationships: law of diminishing returns• Short-run production costs: fixed, variable, and total costs, per-unit, or average,costs, marginal cost, shifts of cost curves• Long-run production costs: firm sizes and costs, the long-run cost curve,economies and diseconomies of scale, minimum efficient scale and industrystructure• Chapter 23, Pure Competition, pp 413-437• Four market models• Pure competition: characteristics and occurrence, relevance of pure competition• Demand as seen by a purely competitive seller: perfectly elastic demand,average, total, and marginal revenue, graphic portrayal• Profit maximization in the short run: total-revenue/total –cost approach, profitmaximization case, marginal revenue – marginal cost approach• Marginal cost and short-run supply: generalized depiction; diminishing returns,production costs, and product supply; changes in supply; firm and industry –equilibrium price• Profit maximization in the long run: assumptions; goal of our analysis; long-runequilibrium; long-run supply for a constant cost industry; long-run supply for anincreasing cost industry; long run supply for a decreasing cost industry• Pure competition and efficiency: Productive efficiency: P=Minimum ATC;Allocative efficiency: P=MC• Pure competition and consumer surplus 

Readings: Chapter 24, Pure Monopoly, pp. 438-459Topics:• An introduction to pure monopoly: examples of monopoly; dual objectives o thestudy of monopoly• Barriers to entry: economies of scale, legal barriers to entry, patents and licenses,ownership or control of essential resources, pricing and other strategic barriers toentry• Monopoly demand: marginal revenue is less than price; the monopolist is a pricemaker; the monopolist sets prices in the elastic region of demand• Output and Price Determination: Cost data; MR=MC rule; no monopoly supplycurve; misconceptions concerning monopoly pricing; possibility of losses by amonopolist• Economic effects of monopoly: price, output, and efficiency; income transfer;cost complications; assessment and policy options• Price discrimination: conditions; examples of price discrimination; pricediscrimination outcomes• Regulated monopoly: socially optimal price-P=MC; fair return price – P=ATC;dilemma of regulation 

Readings: Chapter 25, Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly, pp. 460-483Topics:• Monopolistic competition: relatively large number of sellers; differentiatedproducts; easy entry and exit; advertising; monopolistically competitive industries• Price and output in monopolistic competition: the firm’s demand curve; the shortrun- profit or loss; the long run; only a normal profit• Monopolistic competition and efficiency: neither productive nor allocativeefficiency; excess capacity• Product variety: benefits of product variety; further complexity• Oligopoly: a few large producers; homogeneous or differentiated products;control over price, but mutual interdependence; entry barriers; mergers; measuresof industry concentration• Oligopoly behavior: a game theory overview: mutual interdependence revisited;collusive tendencies; incentive to cheat• Consider this: creative strategic behavior• Three oligopoly models: kinked-demand curve theory-noncollusive oligopoly;cartels and other collusion; price leadership model• Oligopoly and advertising: positive effects of advertising; potential negativeeffects of advertising• Oligopoly and efficiency: productive and allocative efficiency; qualifications Activities and assessmentsThe cycle of instruction is to first use the text to introduce the concepts. Students areassigned notes, outlines, graphs and their captions, and the vocabulary list for eachchapter. Students are also assigned completion of four sections of each chapter’s studyguide: fill in the blanks, true - false, multiple choice, and problems. After the study guidefor a chapter is turned in, the students get a multiple-choice quiz on the study guide. Theday after the study guide and quiz have been completed the chapter notes are due. Thestudents on that day will get a chapter test on content that will reinforce vocabularydefinitions and understanding of tables and graphs. Once these have been accomplished,the students are ready for lectures on chapter content and activities that will reinforce theunderstanding. 

UNIT 3 activities come from the Advanced Placement Economics supplemental materialsof the National Council on Economic Education. These activities are presented alongwith lectures and use of graphs that parallel the chapter content. Unit 3 activities areplanned as follows.Schedule:• Day 1: Give a lecture on characteristics of perfect competition, monopolisticcompetition, oligopoly and monopoly. Do activity 24 in groups. Use visual 3.1in conjunction with activity 24.• Day 2: Provide overview of revenue, fixed costs, variable costs, and profits. Usevisual 3.2 to show relationship of marginal product to marginal cost and averageproduct to average variable cost. Have students begin activity 25 and finish it ashomework.• Day 3: Discuss activity 25. Discuss implicit and explicit costs. Use visual 3.3 toshow relationships among FC, VC, and TC. Use visual 3.4 to show relationshipsamong AFC, AVC, ATC, and MC. Use visual 3.4 to explain why MC crossesATC at the minimum point. This is always true. Assign activity 26 ashomework.• Day 4: Discuss the answers to activity 26.• Day 5: Review costs. Use visual 3.5 to show the perfectly competitive firm andindustry in short-run equilibrium. Have the students complete parts A and B ofactivity 27 and discuss the answers. Assign the rest of activity 27 as homework.• Day 6: Go over the rest of activity 27. Use graphs from activity 27 as visuals.Use visual 3.5 again to summarize the concepts learned.• Day 7: Use visual 3.6 to illustrate profit, loss, and shutdown for a perfectlycompetitive firm. Use visual 3.7 to illustrate a firm in the long-run equilibrium.Students will complete part A of activity 28 and discuss the answers.• Day 8: In class, students complete part B of activity 28 and discuss the answers.• Day 9: Use visuals 3.8 and 3.9 to illustrate how the firm and industry reach longrunequilibrium. The students complete activity 29 and discuss it.• Day 10: Explain the differences between long-run and short-run average costcurves. Students complete activity 30 in class and discuss it.• Day 11: Review perfect competition. Students complete activity 31. Studentsdraw the graphs in activity 31 on the board.• Day 12: Give a test on perfect competition.• Day 13: Use visual 3.10 to explain why a monopolist is a price seeker and whyMR is less than P. Students complete activity 32 and discuss it.• Day 14: Use visual 3.11 to explain the monopolist’s profit-maximizing price andto compare the output of a monopolist with that of a perfect competitor. Thestudents complete activity 33.• Day 15: Discuss the answers to activity 33. Illustrate consumer surplus for amonopolist and for a perfect competitor. Students complete activity 34 anddiscuss answers.• Day 16: Students will read activity 35 and answer the questions in class. Give alecture on price discrimination. Assign activity 36 as homework.• Day17: Go over answers to activity 36. Lecture on regulating monopolies.Assign activity 37 and discuss answers.• Day 18: Students complete activity 38 in small groups. Discuss answers toactivity 38. Students do activity 39 as a quick review of monopoly and perfectcompetition.• Day 19: Give a test on monopoly. Assign activity 42 in advance as homeworkfor day 22.• Day 20: Use visual 3.12 to describe the characteristics of monopolisticcompetition. Students complete activity 40 and discuss answers.• Day 21: Give lecture on game theory. Have the students’ complete activity 41and discuss the answers.• Day 22: Go over activity 42 in class as a review for the essay portion of the unit 3exam.• Day 23: Review key ideas for the multiple-choice portion of the test.• Day 24: give the multiple-choice portion of the exam.• Day 25: Give the essay portion of the exam. 

UNIT 4: FACTOR MARKETS (3 WEEK)(CR3) 

Readings: McConnell and Brue: Chapters 27, 28, and 29. Chapter 27, Demand forresources, pp. 504-520Topics:• Significance of resource pricing• Marginal productivity theory of resource demand: resource demand as a deriveddemand; marginal revenue product; rule for employing resources; MRP=MRC;MRP as a resource demand schedule; resource demand under imperfect productmarket competition; market demand for a resource• Determinants of resource demand: changes in product demand; changes inproductivity; changes in the prices of other resources; occupational employmenttrends• Elasticity of resource demand• Optimal combination of resources: the least-cost rule; the profit maximizing rule;numerical illustration• Marginal productivity theory of income distribution 

Readings: Chapter 28, Wage determination, pp. 521-541Topics:• Labor, wages, and earnings• General level of wages: role of productivity; real wages and productivity; seculargrowth of real wages• A purely competitive labor market: market demand for labor; market supply oflabor; labor market equilibrium• Monopsony model: upward-sloping labor supply to firm; MRC higher than thewage rate; equilibrium wage and employment; examples of monopsony power• Three union models: demand-enhancement model; exclusive or craft unionmodel; inclusive or industrial union model; wage increases and unemployment• Bilateral monopoly model: indeterminate outcome of bilateral monopoly;desirability of bilateral monopoly• The minimum-wage controversy: case against the minimum wage; case for theminimum wage; evidence and conclusions• Wage differentials: marginal revenue productivity; non-competing groups;compensating differences; market imperfections• Pay for performance: the principal-agent problem revisited; addenda; negativeside effects of pay for performance 

Readings: Chapter 29, Rent, interest, and profit, pp. 542-557Topics:• Economic rent: perfectly inelastic supply; changes in demand; land rent: asurplus payment; application: a sing tax on land; productivity differences and rentdifferences; alternative uses of land• Interest: loan able funds theory of interest; extending the model; range of interestrates; pure rate of interest; role of the interest rate• Economic profit: role of the entrepreneur; sources of economic profit; functionsof profit• Last word: determining the price of credit• Income sharesActivities and assessmentsThe cycle of instruction is to first use the text to introduce the concepts. Students areassigned notes, outlines, graphs and their captions, and the vocabulary list for eachchapter. Students are also assigned completion of four sections of each chapter’s studyguide: fill in the blanks, true - false, multiple choice, and problems. After the study guidefor a chapter is turned in, the students get a multiple-choice quiz on the study guide. Theday after the study guide and quiz have been completed the chapter notes are due. Thestudents on that day will get a chapter test on content that will reinforce vocabularydefinitions and understanding of tables and graphs. Once these have been accomplished,the students are ready for lectures on chapter content and activities that will reinforce theunderstanding. 

UNIT 4 activities come from the Advanced Placement Economics supplemental materialsof the National Council on Economic Education. These activities are presented alongwith lectures and use of graphs that parallel the chapter content. Unit 4 activities areplanned as follows.Schedule:• Day 1: Use the circular flow diagram to distinguish between factor markets andproduct markets. Have students complete activity 43 and discuss the answers.Use visual 4.1 to present a lecture on major ideas in the factor markets.• Day 2: Use visual 4.2 to explain how many workers are hired under certainconditions in a firm that is perfectly competitive in the resource and factormarkets. Use visual 4.3 to discuss how many workers a firm hires if it isperfectly competitive in the factor market but imperfectly competitive in theproduct market. Assign activity 44 as homework.• Day 3: Discuss activity 44. Students will complete activity 45, and discuss theanswers. Assign activity 46 as homework.• Day 4: Discuss the answers to activity 46. Students will complete activity 47.• Day 5: Discuss answers for activity 47. Review the basic concepts discussedthus far.• Day 6: Use visual 4.4 to show how wages are determined in a competitive labormarket for both the industry and the firm. Use visual 4.5 to show how wages aredetermined in a monopsonistic labor market. Have the students’ complete activity48 and discuss it.• Day 7: Students complete activity 49 and discuss the answers.• Day 8: Use visual 4.6 to introduce economic rent. Students will completeactivity 50 and discuss it.• Day 9: Do activity 51 in class as review for the essay portion of the unit 4 exam.• Day 10: Review key ideas of unit 4 for the multiple-choice portion of the exam.• Day 11: Give the essay portion of the exam.• Day 12: Give the multiple-choice portion of the exam. 

UNIT 5: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT (2 WEEKS)(CR4) 

Readings: McConnell and Brue: Chapters 30 and 34. Chapter 30, Government andmarket failureTopics:• Public goods: demand for public goods; supply of public goods; optimal quantityof a public good; cost-benefit analysis• Externalities: spillover costs; spillover benefits; individual bargaining: CoaseTheorem; liability rules and lawsuits; government intervention; a market-basedapproach to spillover costs; society’s optimal amount of externality reduction;recycling; global warming• Information failures: inadequate information involving sellers; inadequateinformation involving buyers; qualification 

Readings: Chapter 34, Income inequality and poverty, pp 631-649Topics:• Facts about income inequality: distribution of personal income by category;distribution of personal income by quintiles (fifths); the Lorenz Curve and GiniRatio; income mobility: the time dimension; effect of government redistribution• Causes of income inequality: ability; education and training; discrimination;preferences and risks; unequal distribution of wealth; market power; luck,connections, and misfortune• Trends in income inequality: causes of growing inequality• Equality versus efficiency: The case for equality: maximizing total utility; thecase for inequality: incentives and efficiency; the equality-efficiency tradeoff• The economics of poverty: definition of poverty; incidence of poverty; povertytrends; the “invisible” poor• The income-maintenance system: social insurance programs; public assistanceprograms• Welfare: goals and conflicts: common features; conflicts among goals• Welfare reform: temporary assistance to needy families; assessment of TANF• Last word: US family wealth and its distributionActivities and assessmentsThe cycle of instruction is to first use the text to introduce the concepts. Students areassigned notes, outlines, graphs and their captions, and the vocabulary list for eachchapter. Students are also assigned completion of four sections of each chapter’s studyguide: fill in the blanks, true - false, multiple choice, and problems. After the study guidefor a chapter is turned in, the students get a multiple-choice quiz on the study guide. Theday after the study guide and quiz have been completed the chapter notes are due. Thestudents on that day will get a chapter test on content that will reinforce vocabularydefinitions and understanding of tables and graphs. Once these have been accomplished,the students are ready for lectures on chapter content and activities that will reinforce theunderstanding. 

Unit 5 activities: come from the Advanced Placement Economics supplemental materialsof the National Council on Economic Education. These activities are presented alongwith lectures and use of graphs that parallel the chapter content. Unit 5 activities areplanned as follows.Schedule:• Day 1: Lecture on economic role of government, using visual 5.1. Lecture onpublic goods. Have the students’ complete activity 52 and discuss it.• Day 2: The students will complete activity 53 in class and discuss it.Externalities will be covered using visuals 5.2 and 5.3.• Day 3: Students will accomplish activity 54 and discuss it.• Day 4: Explain the Coase Theorem. The students will complete activity 55 anddiscuss it. Review marginal analysis. Assign activity 56 as homework.• Day 5: Discuss the answers to activity 56. Discuss information costs with anemphasis on the importance of marginal analysis in making cost-benefitdecisions. The students will complete activity 57 in class and discuss it. Lectureand discuss on reasons why markets fail and how government can correct thesefailures.• Day 6: Use visual 5.4 to explain why government fails. The students will workin groups to solve activity 58.• Day 7: Students will report on findings regarding activity 58 and discuss theanswers. Lecture on progressive, proportional, and regressive taxes.• Day 8: The students will complete activity 59 in class and discuss it. Explain theequity versus efficiency issue. Discuss government tax policies and their effecton the distribution of income.• Day 9: The students will do activity 60 in class and discuss it. Review for theunit 5 exam with its key ideas.• Day 10: Give the multiple-choice test.• Day 11: Give the essay portion of the exam. 

UNIT SIX: AP REVIEW AND SELECTED TOPICSFinal dates to be determinedIn-class exercise: AP released exam multiple choice with immediate discussion andfeedback regarding “why this answer?” This will establish a diagnostic baseline forongoing AP exam review.75 Question released M/CFree Response essaySelected Topics

TEACHING STRATEGIESThis is a large lecture course and, as such, the teaching strategies used focus on givingstudents opportunities to analyze and respond in class, to write mini-essays of 50 wordsor so reacting to provocative statements, and to do short role-play simulations.Instructions are given throughout the course on the following:• Essay organization diagram for free-response questions• Essay tasks for AP Exam free-response questions• List of directive terms used in free-response questions• Reminders for answering timed essay questions• Essay frame• Generic free-response scoring guidelines• Generic core-structure scoring guidelines• Guidelines for responding to a graphing questions 

STUDENT EVALUATIONQuizzes are given on the reading assignments. Occasional outside-of-class assignmentsmay also count as daily grades.Test formats are objective (multiple choice) and free-response questions (called essaytests in the Course Syllabus)Most objective tests consist of 50 to 75 multiple-choice questions and a 35-minute essayquestion, and are timed to approximate the time allowed on the AP Exam.Homework is accepted before students begin to take the unit exam. The homeworkconsists of unit terms and/or outlines; questions about readings, notations, and/orassigned primary and secondary sources; charts that pertain to the unit (e.g.,characteristics, similarities, and differences between economic theories, governmentalpolicies, etc.) and applicable graphic data. Well-completed terms and course themesdemonstrate a student’s effort and most students find this to be indispensable inmaintaining a high grade point average.The unit exams are a requirement of the Microeconomics course. A final semestercomprehensive exam for all material covered will be given at the end of the term.The final exam is a performance-based evaluation that helps students synthesize theirlearning from the semester. It consists of a variety of written exercises and cooperativegroup activities that also help students prepare for the AP Microeconomic Exam.The AP Microeconomic Exam is comprehensive, covering material from the entiresemester. Students who are enrolled in the AP Microeconomic course are expected totake the AP Microeconomic Exam. Class time and after school reviews are held prior tothe AP Exam. In addition, many students participate in informal study group reviewsessions.   

Materials used:  Textbook, overhead projector, transparencies, movies, tapes and guest speakers. Book:      (1)  McConnell, Campbell R. and Brue, Stanley L. 15^th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill  2002                (2)  Miller, Roger LeRoy  14^th edition. The Micro View, Pearson Addision-Wesley.  Methods of performance measurement: 

1. Chapter test.
2. Quizzes.
3. Oral presentations.
4. Written projects.
5. Group Activities.
6. Class participation.