What Choices Do I Have?

Keystone Principle #4 – Economic Systems Influence Choices

Click here for a printable PDF version of this Monthly Teaching Theme Assessment

(Secondary Grades)

Name _________________________________ School________________________________

Date _________________ Grade_________________________________

I. Skills – Put an “A” in front of the statements you agree with and a “D” in front of statements you disagree with.

1. _____ Only positive incentives affect people’s choices.

2. _____ We can predict all the outcomes of people’s choices.

3. _____ For an incentive to be effective, people must receive money.

4. ______ The possibility of a serious punishment will probably stop me from breaking the rules.

II. Vocabulary – Match each word with its definition.

____ 5. Incentive

____ 6. Disincentive

A. Something negative that influences another to decide in a certain way.

B. Something positive that influences another to decide in a certain way.

III. Understanding Concepts – For each of the statements in the table below, indicate:

• Whether it is an incentive or disincentive – write in which one you think it is.
• Whether you think it will or will not work
• Explain why, and if you think it will not work, say what might work better to get the desired result.

Statement	Incentive or Disincentive	Will It Work?	Why? Or Why not? What might work better?
7. A math teacher wants her student Mary to do her homework. Since Mary cares about her grades the teacher decides to make homework worth half of the students’ grades.
8. The government places a high value on the environment and wants more people to buy hybrid cars. They put a $1000 “Save the Earth Tax” on all gasoline-powered vehicles. The citizens do not value the environment but care deeply about saving money.
9. A parent wants his child to keep his room clean so he offers to take him to an amusement park if his room stays clean for a month. This child is lazy and gets motion sickness easily.

IV. Relevancy:

11. Where do you see yourself using the information you learned about choices and consequences?

12. Please rate the impact that studying about choices and consequences has had on your life. Circle the number below:

0 – No Impact

1 – A little impact

2 – Moderate amount of impact – I might consider it

3 – Quite a bit of impact – I see how it fits and appreciated learning about it

4 – Great Impact – I understand how important it is to my life and will use the information I learned