Global SchoolNet: International CyberFair: 3: Business and Community Organizations

Category 3: Business and Community Organizations

Task
Learning Objectives
Discussion Questions
Starter Activities
Project Examples

A: Task:

Design a website and/or create a video story that showcases local businesses or organizations (e.g. chamber of commerce, city hall, hospitals, banks, libraries, boys & girls clubs, civic clubs, stores and shops).

The theme for CyberFair 2024 is COLLABORATE & Unite!

Let's unite to protect our communities, our environment, our culture, our health, our animals, and our future.

"In collaboration we find strength, support, and the power to overcome any challenge. Magic happens when we collaborate with an open heart and a shared vision." ~Unknown

B: Learning Objectives:

Students will demonstrate the interdependence which exists within their community, learning about the networks that connect goods, people ideas and information.
Students will identify local businesses and organizations and describe the contributions those organizations make to the their community.
Students will begin to think about their own career path.

C: Discussion Questions:

How do people get jobs or decide on careers?
How early should a student start thinking about making money and being a part of a community?
What jobs and careers are available in your community?
What opportunities are there to prepare you for these positions?
Are there local schools and colleges to help prepare you to enter the work force or will you have to leave the community to get the preparation you will need?
What can be learned from reading the classified "Want Ads" in the local newspapers?
Why should a student consider doing volunteer work? (for example, at local hospital?)

D. Suggested Starter Activities:

View past projects produced by students in this category.
To acquire basic knowledge of the economic interdependence between businesses, community organizations and the residents of a community, students can start by learning the difference between things they need and things they want. Have the students distinguish the difference.
Search through various ads for items we could use in our daily lives and categorize them as "Needs" and "Wants."
Divide a large sheet of chart paper or butcher paper into two sections with headings: "Needs-necessary for everyday life" and "Wants-extras." Have the class discuss items before taping or gluing them in the appropriate section on the paper.
Determine which businesses and community organizations provide the wants and needs in your area.
Research which type of businesses or organizations are thriving, such as the service sector, and which appear to be on a decline. Describe how this information will affect how people get jobs and decide on careers.
Interview an officer in a local business organization. Report back on what jobs and careers are available along with opportunities for job preparation.
Make contact with officials at local colleges and universities. Find out what is happening in the work force and how that affects their curriculum.
Use Want Ads from various sources. Classify the different jobs into various categories, such as Service, Manufacturing, Sales, etc. Make some general conclusions based on this information.
Illustrate the basic components of a graph on the board or overhead labeling the x and y axis. A simple graph might be the number of students present each day of the week. The y axis would identify the number of students, the y axis would identity the days of the week. Using Help Wanted columns, have students choose at least five job titles and write them on the x (horizontal) axis on the worksheet (one job title corresponding with one letter). Then have students count the number of ads for each job title and plot this information using the y (vertical) axis.
Extend the assignment by having students graph the number of Help Wanted ads in the paper for a five-day period.
Survey teachers, administrators, support personnel at school and graph the number of different jobs each held before entering the field of education.