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VIRGINIAECONOMICEDUCATORAWARDS2023THE ECONOMICS OF LEGOSSpotswood High SchoolRockingham County Public SchoolsRYNE POWELLLESSON PLAN:

THE ECONOMICS OF LEGOSPresentations- Provided belowDocument With Links- Provided belowArby's "We Have The Meats" Article and questionsLego blocks- about 1500 pieces per class of 25 studentsTeacher Designed Google SpreadsheetsComputersTradeGainValue of productsStudents will also analyze products' investment potential and try and pick agood investment. Students will also learn how some companies need to adapt or die due to anever-changing market.Grade Level: High SchoolMaterials:Time Required: 480 minutesLesson Description: During this unit, students will learn about the economics of Legos. Students willlearn how Lego was a company that built wooden toys to become the largest toycompany in the world. They will look at how Legos have become an option forinvesting for some people. Students will also explore the concepts of trade, gain,and value to develop and try and market their own Lego sets based on what theyhave learned in this unit.Economics and/or Personal Finance Topics:

EPF.1 The student will demonstrate knowledge and integration of basiceconomic concepts and structures byEPF.2 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the role of producers andconsumers in a market economy byEPF.9 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the global economy byDay 1Part I- Students will follow along with the presentations named 1.1 "LegoIntroduction Notes", and have an open discussion about businesses.Specifically, we will focus on businesses such as Amazon, Netflix, Youtube,and Arby's. Businesses that have had to adapt, change, and completelyredo their companies to survive. The goal will be for students to findthemes about why businesses change, what helps them adapt, and otheraspects for businesses to change in a world that is always updating andchanging. After the students have done this they will be given an Articleabout Arby's and how they have had to change over the last 10 years tosurvive in the fast food world. Once students have gone over this articleand answered the questions as a class we will have a discussion abouthow Arby's adapted using the video and notes in presentation 1.1 "LegoIntroduction Notes".Part II- Students will then watch the Netflix Documentary, "The Toys ThatMade Us: Legos". They will watch how Lego went from a company thatmade wooden toys to plastic blocks. They will answer specific questions inthe document titled "Lego Documentary Written Assignment", that focuson what caused Lego's change, what ideas they had, and what new ideasthey created to be the world's largest toy company. The focus of the videois to make a connection with students' past, Legos and toys, to hopefullylet them see how a toy that they might have played with has adapted andsurvived to be the most profitable toy company in the world sat $8 billiondollars.Standards: Procedure: The Economics of LegosBy: Ryne Powell

Day 2-3Part I-Students will then talk about the growth and popularity of Legos.Using the presentation "Lego Growth over the Years", students will watchsmall clips and analyze charts about how the popularity of Lego hasgrown over the past few years Legos and has grown so much that peopleare now seeing them as investing options. Using graphs and videos wewill look at how Legos have grown in popularity and price over the pastfew years. We will look at specific examples on the website "BrickEconomy" about sets that have exponentially grown in price due to theirpopularity and their scarcity due to Lego retiring sets after a certainamount of time. Students will learn how this website tracks current andpast Lego sets and their annual growth once they retire.Part II- Using the assignment "Defend a Lego Set Value", students will usethe website "Brick Economy" to choose three past sets that have sinceretired and Lego does not make anymore to analyze their future. They willthen use the "Lego Company Website" to find a current set they are stillbeing sold that is similar in piece size, theme, and design. They will usedata that is available and the Google sheet created below to project theirgrowth and also to determine if the set they have picked will have a betterreturn than stock in the stock market and have the growth that otherretired sets have seen. They will then use this to type up a one-pagesummary in the role of a financial advisor who would be recommendingtheir current set to a potential investor. The goal would be to explain whythis set will grow in value based on current trends, past growths on similarsets, and their research.Day 4-6Part I- Students will start this class with a small intro lesson about Trade,Gain, and Value. The focus of this lesson will be to look at graphs andgraphics about how these three concepts impact the world's countries,companies, and the general population. We will focus on how trade getsus better access to more goods, cheaper goods, and new goods. We willlook at how we gain new jobs, better relationships, and opportunities. Wefinally will see how this values us as companies, countries, and consumers.The focus will be to see why trade is important and what it can do for us asa whole.Procedure: The Economics of LegosBy: Ryne Powell

Part II- Students will get their end assessment using what they havelearned about why we should trade, what we gain from it, and how it caninfluence the value of a product or a service. The goal of this project will beto create their own Lego set, market it, trade with other groups, and tryand get the best value out of their product. It will start by explaining toeach group that they will receive a random assortment of Legos. Theteacher will say "I will not give you any more", with the goal that they willthink about trading to gain value for their set. They must have at least a100-piece set that has to have a theme, design, box, and instructions. Overthe next three days, students in groups must make a list of all pieces theyneed for their set, create a package to sell with their set, designinstructions, design and create a theme to market, and actually build theirLego set to display along side of their Lego box. The goal will be to marketthis set to a group of "Judges" that will then decide based on the setdesign, package, and marketing how much they would be willing to pay.The goal is to get a better average of all judges. Students will be assessedon their ability to have 100 pieces or more at least, their box design, themecreativity, and their marketing strategy to the perspective judges in thiscompetition.Procedure: The Economics of LegosBy: Ryne PowellThe assessment of this unit will be to see if students can adapt to currentthemes that are popular after their research on "Brick Economy" to then designtheir own set and theme and trade with other groups to increase their value toget a better product and value for their finished product. Students will use whatthey learned about set growth to design a set that will grow and make themmoney, while also using trade to gain more and increase their overall value.Students with disabilities benefited in this unit because of the hands-onopportunity for learning. It was also beneficial to them as well because I wasable to go around and help with a lot more with specific building details, orsuggestions on how to create something. The final project for this unit was veryhands-on learning so it benefited a lot of students who have great ideas butcould express them in a different manner. Students also had to use the Defenda Lego activity to help them develop a set that was beneficial to them.Assessment: Extension and Modifications:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PdDMjGVNjDu2kLnCHC5YgaxDAgaB9W-1?usp=sharingDuring this unit, students were able to see how the Lego company adaptedand changed just as all companies need to. They were able to first hand seehow trading with other students benefitted their sets and their values just asin the real world it does with countries trading goods and services. Studentswere able to then apply what they had learned about the growth of the set,popularity or themes, and designs to create their own and make the mostprofit. Supplemental Materials Found Here: Explain how this lesson/unit teaches or reinforces the economic/personalfinance concepts above.Ryne PowellSpotswood High SchoolRockingham County Public SchoolsThe Economics of LegosBy: Ryne Powell