Sister Cities... Economic Relatives?

Unit Name: Sister Cities... Economic Relatives? An exploration of the potential for developing international economic partnerships.
Content Areas: Economics

Instructional Days-4


Unit Overview
Students will break into teams to develop a proposal that will be given to either a representative from the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce or the Kern Economic Development Corporation that will highlight the strategic reasons why that organization should help facilitate a visit by a delegation of local business leaders to one of our sister cities to potentially develop an economic partnership or relationship. Students will use what they have learned about the local business environment both here in Bakersfield and in Kern county to build consensus as to what are the industries or businesses are present in our community, and will then research the economic activities and environments of each of our three east Asian sister cities and look for potential economic links between the two communities. Students will then target and tailor their presentation so that the are linking a more narrowly defined business interest in our community in some way to a more narrowly defined business interest in one of our sister cities. Each team of students will craft a 3-5 minute presentation in which they would explain the link between some business interest in our community with a similar or complimentary interest in one of our sister cities in such a way so as to be persuasive to either the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce or the Kern Economic Development Corporation so they agree to help facilitate sending a delegation of business leaders to the target sister city to pursue the relationship. On the final Day of instruction we will invite representatives from both organizations in to hear the students presentations and offer feedback.



Essential “Driving” Questions

How can we leverage our understanding of economics and business to increase our success in an increasingly interconnected world? How can we develop persuasive arguments so that we can strengthen already established relationships and take them to a new more mutually beneficial level? Which of our three east Asian sister cities has an economy that is most complimentary to our own and what evidence can we cite to support our claims?


Standards / Key Concepts or Skills / Enduring Understandings

ELA Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grades 11-12 here.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

Activities:
Day 1- Introduce project and rationale in terms of course curriculum. -10mins
- Introduce president of the Bakersfield Sister City Project, John Hefner to give a brief orientation to the sister city project as well as a brief background to the three cities. -18mins
-Allow students to form into groups and begin exploring the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce and Kern EDC websites for a better understanding of exactly what business interests they need to look for in the sister cities. -20mins
-Assign homework of starting to look at the sister city web resources so groups can get an idea for proposal and discussion during the next class meeting, allow teams to discuss. -5 mins

Day 2: -Start working as a group to focus in on a specific sister city and more specific business interests in that community that are complimentary to the interests the students have determined are present here. -15 mins
-Briefly check in with teacher and explain which sister city your group has chosen to focus on and why. -5mins
-Brainstorm with team about how the economic interests of the two communities overlap or intersect and discuss what kind of relationship might potentially be established if a delegation was to be sent. Get specific facts and data that buttress a compelling argument Specific evidence might include names of companies, development visions and mission statements from organizations' websites.-30mins
-Assign homework of starting to work on the outlines and specific information that will be included in your presentation. -3mins

Day 3: -Work in teams to try and cobble together the information you have into some kind of coherent multimedia presentation. -20mins
- Realizing the presentation is not complete, put all of the information you have thus far on your table in some kind of inteligible fashion so that classmates can go on a gallery walk and leave sticky note suggestions and feedback. -15mins
-Sort through suggestions and try to see if you can use any to improve your presentation. -5mins
- Use the rest of the class period to put together anything else you might need before you present. -15mins
-Assign homework of finishing presentations.

Day 4: -Allow groups to get ready. -5 mins
-Introduce guests from the community organizations and begin presentations with volunteers. -50 mins


Suggested resources:
Starting Points:
http://kedc.com/ The Kern Economic Development Corporation, with information on the industries present in Kern county and the overall economic climate of the area.
http://www.bakersfieldchamber.org/ Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, with information on the specific business environment in the city of Bakersfield.
http://bakersfieldsistercity.org/ Bakersfield sister city website with links to at least some information on all three East Asian sister cities, a very good place to start to research those potential cities we might form stronger business partnerships with.

Wakayama, Japan:
http://www.city.wakayama.wakayama.jp/english/ Wakayama City’s official page.
http://www.wakayama-cci.or.jp/outline1.shtml Chamber of commerce for the Wakayama prefecture.

Cixi, China:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cixi_City Wikipedia page on Cixi City with economic information.
http://www.cixi.gov.cn/col/col16751/ English version of Cixi city government official page.

Bucheon, South Korea:
http://www.bucheon.go.kr/site/main/index002 Bucheon city government’s main page.
http://www.bucheon.go.kr/site/homepage/menu/viewMenu?menuid=002004001 Bucheon industry and Economy section of city’s website.

Evidence of Learning:
Writing Task: Students will write three paragraph essay focusing on three content areas. First, how and why did they choose the economic interest they did in our community; additionally, how and why did they choose the sister city they did and the economic interest in that community; and finally what insight did they find most interesting while completing this project and how could they have improved?
Mulitmedia/ Digital Project: Students will create an original digital product that demonstrates understanding of the economic interests of both communities and the link between them.



Cognitive Difficulty Level -NEW Bloom's Taxonomy (H)

Recalling, identifying, or describing EXISTING information

Understanding, summarizing, or paraphrasing EXISTING information

Using EXISTING information in a new way

Comparing, breaking down, deciding or re-organizing BEYOND existing information

Judging, hypothesizing, or critical thinking BEYOND existing information

Constructing, planning, inventing or producing BEYOND existing information