Worthless to Priceless: It's all Relative
What different types of capital do we have that can be used to serve the common good?
Photo Credit: 2012 Fall Personal Care Packs by Direct Relief is licensed under CC by 2.0
Students explore the message of the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum," in which a child shows repeated compassion when he recognizes the needs of others and shares his meager "capital." In this cross-curricular unit, the students rewrite the story as a ten-minute play; explore the economic concepts of capital, bartering, and goods and services; and create a Public Service Announcement.
Students read and discuss the folktale "The Drum," a folktale from India. Students determine the central message of selfless giving (giving without expectation of reward) and write and produce a play that communicates that message clearly. They perform it for an appropriate audience.
In this lesson, students respond to the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum" and explore the concept of capital as it applies to traditional economic systems and trade economies. Students contrast trade without money (bartering goods and services) to giving and volunteering. Students work in groups to create public service announcements that promote the use of non-monetary capital to address community and world problems.
In this lesson, students explore the relative value of items to recognize that what is not valuable to them might be valued by someone else. They collect data related to the traded items in the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum." They calculate means and averages and create line graphs, stem and leaf plots, and box-and-whisker plots. Students analyze their data and compare the actual value of items to the relative value perceived in the context.
The purpose of this lesson is to plan and carry out a service-learning project in which students give something that is needed or wanted by someone else without any expectation of receiving something in return. They use the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum" as a model.
Students continue to respond to the South Asian Indian folktale "The Drum." The purpose of this final lesson is to allow students time and an audience to showcase what philanthropy can mean for their future.