Needs and Wants
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Provided by: C3 Teachers|Published on: June 1, 2022
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
K12
Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this set of economic and social studies lessons, students will consider their wants and needs, discuss how they meet them, and learn about the economic concept of scarcity.
- Students will sort images into needs and wants, brainstorm ways to meet their needs, and think about what happens when there isn't enough to meet everyone's needs or wants.
- The lessons can be completed in three to five 30-minute classes.
Subjects: Social Studies
Authors: C3 Teachers
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This resource has everything you need to deliver an inquiry-based mini-unit on wants and needs.
- The picture sorts and class discussions are engaging and will allow students to come to their own conclusions.
- Appendix A offers a vocabulary list with definitions.
Additional Prerequisites
- A subscription is needed to access some of the additional resources, but they are not necessary components of the unit.
- Students should be able to use scissors and glue to complete the picture sort.
Differentiation
- Cross-curricular connections could be made in health, language arts, and science classes. The following questions could guide other discussions:
- What are healthy ways people meet their needs?
- How can you control your emotions when you do not get what you want?
- Can anyone remember a time we read about a character meeting their needs?
- Can anyone remember a time we read about a character who got or didn't get what they wanted?
- How do animals in the wild meet their wants and needs?
- The picture sort could be extended by asking students to find additional pictures in newspapers or magazines to cut out and sort.
- Advanced students could debate or defend their decisions on how to sort the three more ambiguous choices in the picture sort (lunch box, ice cream, family).
- Other related resources include this video about habitat basics, this digital book about turning water into energy, and this set of games that teach about environmental issues through play.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers aims to empower teachers as they wrestle with the big ideas and instructional implications of the C3 Framework. Teachers play a critical role in helping students learn academic content using the C3 Inquiry Arc, which outlines the social studies habits of mind, disciplinary tools, and conceptual content that students need to become ready for college and career, and most importantly, civic life. As social studies students map their own disciplinary inquiries, C3 Teachers embark on a pedagogical investigation examining and experimenting with their own practice as they support students’ questions, learn, apply, analyze, collaborate, express, and act in authentic social studies experiences. C3teachers.org is a place to learn more about that process and to share your experiences with other social studies teachers.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
