Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems
Section 1.3.9 Power in the economy, which explains where power comes from and how it shapes economic relationships
Section 7.1.1 Global exchange as a system, which describes global exchange as a system with parts, relationships, functions and emergence
Section 7.1.2 History of global exchanges, which describes how global exchange systems have evolved over time, shaped by changes in technology, power, and environmental factors
Section 7.1.3 What moves across borders? which describes what flows across borders and explains how visible global flows are linked to less visible social and ecological effects
Section 7.2.1 Why do countries trade and restrict trade? which describes different forms of protectionism and explains arguments for and against freer trade
Section 7.2.5 Who writes the rules of global exchange? which explain who shapes the rules of global exchange and how various sources of power influence which rules are written and whose interests they reflect
Section 7.3.1 Unequal global value exchange, which explains how unequal prices and unequal wages systematically transfer value from periphery countries to core countries
Section 7.3.8 Foreign aid: flows, conditions, and limits, which explains how development aid can affect the sovereignty, institutions, and debt of receiving countries, and disucsses whose interests it primarily serves
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems, and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)
Learning objectives:
explain how development narratives function to maintain existing patterns of global exchange
Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 7.5
Coming soon!