Materials

• Pictures, slides, and/or videos that illustrate various aspects of the economies of the United States and Canada

Instructional Activities

1. Review the content from the previous session.
   
   
2. Ask students to define the factors that contribute to a region’s or a nation’s economy. Guide discussion by suggesting natural resources and land use.
   
   
3. Ask students to describe factors that contribute to the economies of the United States and Canada. After some discussion, display the following characteristics, and encourage students to respond to the questions or statements listed. Provide resource materials in the class, or have students use the media center or computer lab to answer these questions. Another option is to assign certain questions to different groups and to allow the groups to report the answers to the class. Review the answers with the class by displaying pictures, slides, and/or videos that illustrate the answers or by providing additional information to enhance content understanding
   
   •    Major exporters of technology, consumer goods, information systems, and foodstuffs. What products are exported from each country? What technology is exported from each country?
   •    Highly developed infrastructures. Define infrastructure, and identify key elements of the infrastructures of the United States and Canada.
   •    Highly diversified economy. Describe the various features of the economy of the United States and Canada.
   •    Rich supply of mineral, energy, and forest resources. Identify the various minerals found in the United States and Canada and the location of each of the major deposits of these minerals. Identify the various sources of energy and their location. Identify the types of forest products and the regions from which they come.
   •    North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Describe what this agreement is and how it serves all member nations.
   •    Multinational corporations. Identify some of these multinational corporations that operate in the United States and Canada.
   •    Center of world financial markets (New York Stock Exchange). Describe how the New York Stock Exchange functions within a global economy.
   •    Sustained economic growth. Prepare a chart illustrating the economic growth of the United States and Canada. Include the GDP of both countries over the past 50 years.
   •    Widening gap between rich and poor. Develop a chart that indicates the percentage of citizens in the United States and Canada who were in the lower, middle, and upper levels of income over the past 50 years.
   Consumer mentality. Examine what products are purchased.
   •    Export of U.S. culture via the global marketplace (e.g., McDonald’s Coca Cola, music, blue jeans). Provide other examples of U.S. culture spreading to other parts of the world.