Economics Lesson in Incentives: "Classroom Helpers"

Using this easy-to-execute lesson plan, students will explore incentives and disincentives through a classroom experiment. Students will first volunteer for certain classroom helper positions. The teacher will then change the conditions (i.e. incentives) for the various positions. Students will predict how they expect the class as a whole to react to the changes in incentives, and then compare those predictions to actual results.

This lesson plan includes a full script, step-by-step instructions, and a final group assignment to cement the concepts. Students will end with a strong understanding of incentives and how they are affected by incentives in their everyday lives.