Understanding Needs & Wants

Overview

Duration: 40 minutes
Year Level: Year 7
Subject: Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) – Economics and Business
Australian Curriculum Area:
ACARA Code: ACHEK002

"Why and how individuals and businesses plan to achieve short-term and long-term personal, organisational and financial objectives."

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Learning Intentions

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Define and differentiate between needs and wants.
• Understand the concept of scarcity and how it influences decision-making.
• Explore the basic economic problem — limited resources vs. unlimited wants — in an Australian context.

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Success Criteria

Students will:

✅ Accurately sort examples of goods and services into 'needs' and 'wants'.
✅ Collaborate in small groups to come up with real-life examples of economic decision-making.
✅ Explain in their own words how scarcity affects individuals and society.

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Resources Required

• Whiteboard and markers
• Printed ‘Needs vs. Wants’ sorting cards
• Sticky notes (30)
• Butcher’s paper (6 sheets)
• Student workbooks
• Exit tickets (template provided by teacher or substitutes)

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Lesson Structure

1. Warm-Up – What Do We Want? (5 mins)

Activity:
As students enter the room, ask them to write down one item they’d want to buy right now on a sticky note — no limits!
Stick all notes on the whiteboard in two columns (teacher-guided): Wants & Needs. The teacher will then prompt brief whole-class discussion:

Key Questions:

• "If you could only keep one item up there, which would it be?"
• "Do we need these things to survive or do we just want them?"

Purpose: To spark curiosity and introduce economic thinking organically through student-led examples.

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2. Mini-Explicit: Needs, Wants, and Scarcity (10 mins)

Use story-based narrative to introduce key economic concepts in a relatable way.

Mini-story:

"Imagine you're stranded on an island with 10 other people. You can take 3 things — what do you choose and why?"

Teacher-led discussion introducing these concepts:

• Needs – Essential for survival (e.g. food, water, shelter)
• Wants – Things that make life more enjoyable, but not essential (e.g. video games, lollies)
• Scarcity – There are limited resources to meet unlimited wants
• The Basic Economic Problem – Resources are limited, but human wants are unlimited

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3. Group Challenge – The Island Economy (15 mins)

Students form groups of 5. Provide each group with a scenario involving a 'new island settlement' — they must work together to:

• Choose 5 essential resources to bring to the island (from a list or their own ideas)
• Justify which are needs and which are wants
• Identify a trade-off the group had to make due to limited ‘cargo space’

They record their decisions and reasoning on butcher’s paper and nominate a speaker to do a 30-second pitch to the class.

✏️ Teacher circulates to question, probe, and support deeper thinking.

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4. Gallery Walk – Learn from Each Other (5 mins)

Stick butcher’s papers around the room. Students walk around to ‘visit’ each group’s economy and place a ✔️ sticky note next to the scenario they think made the best decisions balancing needs, wants, and scarcity.

Prompt students to look for variety and reasoning, not just pick their friends’ group.

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5. Exit Ticket – Personal Reflection (5 mins)

Each student completes an exit ticket answering the following:

• One need I have
• One want I have
• One choice I’ve made in life because I couldn’t have both
• One thing I learned today

Collect these for formative assessment and planning next steps.

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Differentiation & Extension

For Students Who Need Support:

• Group them with a confident peer during the island challenge.
• Use visual aids for students with language processing needs.

For Early Finishers or High Performers:

• Ask them to explore how businesses also face scarcity and make decisions (e.g. a cafe choosing between more chairs or better coffee).
• Challenge: Create an ad for a ‘want’ that convinces someone it’s actually a ‘need’!

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Assessment Opportunities

• Observations during group work
• Quality and reasoning in the island economy challenge
• Depth of understanding shown in exit tickets
• Informal questioning and clarification during gallery walk

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Links to Cross-Curriculum Priorities

• Sustainability: Consideration of resource use and environmental impact
• Civics & Citizenship: Introduction to decision-making in groups and fairness
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (optional extension): Discussion of traditional knowledge systems and how Indigenous economies prioritised needs sustainably

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Teacher Reflection (Post-Lesson)

• Were students confident in identifying needs/wants?
• How well did they grasp the idea of scarcity?
• What misconceptions emerged?
• Which students may need follow-up exploration in the next lesson?

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Suggested Follow-Up

🔁 Next Lesson Idea: Introduction to Opportunity Cost

Building on scarcity, students learn that choosing one option means giving up another — "When we make a decision, what are we missing out on?"

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Teacher WOW Moment ✨

This lesson leverages storytelling, collaboration, movement, and real-life application to introduce students to economics in a relatable and engaging way — without relying on textbooks or lengthy lectures. By anchoring abstract concepts in a mini simulated economy, students not only remember the theory — they live it.

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“Economics isn’t just about money. It’s about people, choices, and making the most of what we have.”