Stage 1 Economics Excursion

The Stage 1 Economics class under the leadership of Mr. Swart & Ms Maywald, undertook an educational and fun excursion to the Adelaide Central Market on Thursday 26 March. This excursion bookended an informative unit of work and an assignment, where students were taught the theory and principles behind ‘Thinking like an Economist’. Thinking like an economist and being fluent in the ‘language’ of business, finance and economical principles is critical for the world after school, and they did a great job of applying those theories in an authentic real world market environment. This unit included concepts that included but were not limited to:

• Safety Management;
• Cost Analysis and cost benefits analysis;
• Trade-offs and Competitive edge;
• Supply and demand;
• Competition (E.g., why do stalls next to each other selling the same products have different prices…?) Take economics and you’ll find out!
• Quality Control;
• Reputational risk (for example, did you know? One of the impacts of the Leongatha mushroom poisoning case recently in the news has caused mushroom sales in the market to plummet…);
• Import and Export analysis;
• Globalisation and Multiculturalism;
• The Circular Economy, Sustainability and Waste Management;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Planning (proper planning prevents poor performance) and Budgeting;
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and
• Production performance curves and frontiers (the students favourite class lessons…?)

The excursion was conducted in an informal formative manner where an online series of challenges and questions were set on a platform called a ‘Goosechase’. The students formed teams (The Bok Choy Boys, 4 Flying Unicorns, Nardos and Teams) and went competitively through the various questions and interviews with stakeholders, stall holders and business owners, documenting and answering their findings and taking photos and videos of the evidence and were allocated points for each challenge completed. Students were permitted to use their mobile devices to complete the quests.

There were fun challenges too. Students were tasked to ‘do an act of kindness’ and ‘take a fun group photo’, and network with any fellow school pupils in the market.

There was good food eaten, laughter, learning and leadership displayed by the group, who conducted themselves in a professional manner and represented Norwood International High School to a high standard. This was evidenced by Mr. Swart being advised by many stallholders that they were polite, courteous in their interviews, fun, well behaved and very professional.

The excursion ended with a reflective exercise as an exit ticket. Students were asked to consider their day and answer questions themed along the lines of what they had learnt and observed about the economy in action. After consumption of a Portuguese tart, everyone was dismissed.

Good work Stage 1s, all the best with the rest of your studies and if you choose so, in your careers as Economists!

Gavin Swart
Teacher, Economics