Key Stage 2 Skills for Active Citizenship
Year 5 and 6 Making Consumer Choices
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Lesson Plan
Teachers Notes
What is the difference between what I want and what I need?
Background Notes
In the UK, it is an everyday practice to travel on buses or trains, perhaps visit the doctor or dentist, go to the library, have a haircut, go to the cinema or watch television.
We all buy goods and services everyday and most of them we choose to buy because we want them. Some people will even think that they need them - ie,
'I simply cannot live without a new pair of designer trainers'.
The reality of the matter is that we all could actually live on very little if we had to. All we really need to survive is food and drink, warmth and shelter. For many people around the world their wants will be the type of things that we take for granted everyday.
Suggested Teaching Activity
Classroom discussion
Talk to the students about needs v wants. What is the difference between wanting something and needing it?
Ask the students to make 2 lists, one of things that they need and one of things that they want.
Does everyone have the same basic needs to satisfy? How do we prioritise our needs?
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How do I decide what to buy?
Background Notes
There are many different factors that influence our decisions and these include:
- Advertising - You may have been made to believe that you will only be accepted if you are wearing a particular brand label or playing with a particular toy
- Friends/Peer pressure - You might choose to buy something because all your friends are wearing similar things and you don't want to appear odd or to feel left out
- Fashion - you may model your style on someone that you particularly admire
Decisions made on the spur of the moment (impulses) or those that have been heavily influenced by other people can often lead to disappointment.
There is a skill involved in resisting this kind of pressure so that you end up choosing what you really need - and not what someone else wants you to buy.
To help avoid being let down try asking yourself some of these questions:
- What exactly am I looking for?
- Why do I want it?
- How often will I use it?
- How much can I afford to pay?
- Will it cost anything to look after?
If you think and answer honestly you stand a much better chance of finding what you really need.
Suggested Teaching Activity
Classroom Discussion
Ask the students to think about the clothes they are wearing now and try to analyse what made them choose them. Were they restricted in some way by their parents or by the school who insisted on a certain style or colour?
If there were no restrictions, what would you be wearing now and why?
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Does advertising help me decide what to buy?
Background Information
In the world today, advertising is big business. Companies spend millions of pounds trying to convince us that we simply cannot live without their products.
Advertisers use every possible medium - TV, radio, posters, national and local newspapers, magazines, shop windows, on product packaging, etc, to ensure that we get the message.
A great deal of time and money is spent getting advertising campaigns just right:
- Deciding on the target audience
- Deciding what type of media will be used
- Thinking about the most appealing theme - music, colours, people in the advert
- Deciding on a slogan
All of these are done to try and ensure that we are convinced that we simply cannot live without a particular pair of trainers or that we will have so much fun if we play with a particular toy.
No matter who the target audience may be or which medium is used, all advertisements have a common objective - they are designed to sell products and, on occasions, advertisers get carried away in their enthusiasm to sell their products.
Suggested Teaching Activity
Classroom Discussion
Select 6 different adverts from magazines - varying in colour and interest. Ask the children what they like and do not like about each advert and make a list. Which is their favourite advert and why?
Advertising Design Activity
Ask the children to draw an advert for a new product. You can ask them to all design the same product or let then choose one from a range of products.
Allow the children to choose a name for their new product.
Ask the children to think who they are targeting with their advert.
Ask the children to think up a strap line which will make their product memorable, eg - Have a break, have a Kit Kat.
Ideas for new products
- A soft drink
- A chocolate bar
- A flavour of crisps
- A toy
- A computer game
- A comic book
Resources and Information
The Media Smart� website (www.mediasmart.org.uk/) has been designed to primary school children interpret and understand advertising. This free teaching resource is mapped to the National Curriculum and is particularly useful for the literacy hour. It includes: teaching video, poster, teachers� notes, activity sheets and a leaflet for parents.
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How can I pay for my shopping?
Background Information
In today's world there are a number of ways to pay for the things you want to buy.
It doesn't matter where your money comes from or where you put it - in a bank, building society or in a piggy bank, you can guarantee that once you start to buy things, it will begin to reduce the amount of money that you have.
If people spend more than they have, they will be in debt - they will owe somebody or an organisation money.
It is not always bad to be in debt. In fact some things are difficult to buy without taking out some form of loan - eg, a car or a house - and these types of loan are not usually thought of as a debt. It is important, however, never to borrow more than you can afford to pay back.
Suggested Teaching Activity
Class lessons and Projects
Money Counts (www.pfeg.org/Resources/Detail/default.asp?CssSizeID=1&ResourceID=29) is available from the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg) (www.pfeg.org/) and provides teachers with the tools to develop children's financial capability within the context of mathematics. Money Counts offers activities suitable for the main part of a daily numeracy or mathematics lesson and three extended projects that develop real-life contexts for money.
Information and Resources
Mega Money (www.pfeg.org/Resources/Detail/default.asp?ResourceID=189) is a set of 40 large demonstration coins (five of each denomination) that is available from the Personal Finance Education Group (www.pfeg.org/) to help develop childrens' coin recognition and understanding of money. The coins are printed both sides on laminated cards and are supplied with teachers' notes offering activities for children in the 5-9 age range.
Project Work
Colossal Cards (www.pfeg.org/Resources/Detail/default.asp?ResourceID=187) have been developed by the Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk/) for pupils aged 10-14 and can be used to teach the wide range of ways in which money can be represented offering pupils opportunities to investigate in detail.
Case Studies
The Personal Finance Education Group website (www.pfeg.org/) has a range of case studies that are suitable for use with KS 2 pupils.
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