Students’ age range: 14-16
Topic: The effects of high unemployment rates
Description: Introduction of the lesson
The classroom will be set up to facilitate the Fish Bowl strategy. Six chairs will be placed in the middle and the remaining chairs around the circle. 5 students will volunteer to sit in the bowl with one chair being empty. The students will be told the rules and then they will suggest any other rules they think are needed. The empty chair is for any student who at any point wants to join the discussion. If another student wants to join, he or she will tap that student and he or she will switch places. At all times the other 5 students will have 5 minutes in the circle and then the teacher will say ‘switch’. Before the discussion starts students will be shown a video on unemployment:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+on+unemployment+and+it%27s+impacts+as+a+teaching+introduction&&view=detail&mid=9489388648040E96AC599489388648040E96AC59&&FORM=VRDGAR
The video will be played once and students will be asked to state the topic they believe will be discussed in the session. The word ‘unemployment’ will be written and a concept map will be done. Students will state what they know about unemployment. The responses will be listed on the map.
Development
• Teacher will pose a question such as: do you think the unemployment rate in this country is high? Relate it to what you observe in your community. Students in the Fish Bowl will begin their discussions and they will be asked to explain the meaning of unemployment and the unemployment rate.
• After 20 minutes of discussions, the teacher will pose another question:
Do you think the high level of unemployment rate has any negatve impacts on the community and country at large? Explain the impacts.
• Another 20 minutes will be used to discuss the above question and the final question for the session will be posed: Do you believe the government is doing enough to lower the unemployment rate? If your answer is yes, explain. If your answer is no, state some ways in which the government can help to lower the unemployment rate.