Sign InRegister

Learning Activity: Explore the economic effects of winter storms

• 'Dangerous storm' slams Northeast, snarls travel

SPECIAL REPORT

CNN STUDENT NEWS

Students will examine the potential economic consequences of the recent East Coast snowstorms on different sectors of the U.S. economy.

Procedure

Point out to students that severe weather is not only an inconvenience, but it also can have a very serious impact on the economy. Divide your class into groups, and assign each group one of the following economic interests:

agricultural interests,

retail businesses,

the insurance industry,

travel and tourism,

banking and finance,

utilities,

municipal services (police, fire, schools).

Instruct groups to conduct research to determine how the recent East Coast snowstorms might affect their assigned economic interests in the short term and long term. After students conclude their research, have each group share its findings and ideas. Then, wrap up the activity by posing the following questions for class discussion: In your opinion, will these interests more likely experience positive or negative economic consequences? Are there any types of businesses for whom bad weather means a good economic forecast? Discuss.

Correlated Standards

Economics

Standard 1. Scarcity: Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people can not have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.

The Economics America National Standards (http://www.ncee.net/ea/standards/) are published by the National Council on Economic Education (http://www.ncee.net/).

Social Studies

Standard III. People, Places and Environments: Students will make informed and critical decisions about the relationship between human beings and their environment.

Standard VII. Production, Distribution and Consumption: Students will learn about how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands/) are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://ncss.org/).

Keywords

winter, snowstorms, economic interests, consequences

Story Tools

Subscribe to Time for $1.99

Home Page

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

Home Page

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.