Suggested Curriculum Integration

Economics / Wabanaki Economic Systems

2007 MLR Content Standard C: Economics

Students draw on concepts and processes from economics to understand issues of personal finance and issues of production, distribution, and consumption in the community, Maine, the United States, and world.

Performance Indicator 1

Economic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns

Performance Indicator 2

Individual, Cultural, International, and Global Connections in Economics

Economic Systems

Broad Understandings, Guiding Questions, and Notes and Relevant Information for grades PK-12 (PDF)

Understand how wants and needs were met using scarce resources from land and (fresh and salt) water giving specific examples from pre-contact Wabanaki society.

Describe the contributions/ specialization of different groups in pre-contact Wabanaki society (work of women vs. men; hunters vs. elders; different trades such as canoe making, basket making or healing).

Understand that the economic system of the Wabanaki was traditional prior to European contact. Wabanaki communities had organized systems (including widespread trade networks throughout North America) to allocated its resources.

No benchmarks are currently identified for this concept in Wabanaki Studies.

Economic Change

Broad Understandings, Guiding Questions, and Notes and Relevant Information for grades PK-12 (PDF)

No benchmarks are currently identified for this concept in Wabanaki Studies.

Understand that contact forced Wabanaki to revisit the three economics questions: What goods and services will be produced (for example, beaver furs), how will they be produced and distributed (more time/ specialization dedicated to beaver trapping), and for whom they will be produced (Europeans). This created a fundamental change in how Wabanaki lived and worked (for example, specialized division of labor, competition with Iroquois nations).

Understand that today many Wabanaki seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for their community and themselves by creating, sustaining and enhancing entrepreneurial activity that benefit the tribal unit.

Analyze wealth, poverty, resource distribution, and other economic factors of Wabanaki people.

Economic Sovereignty

Broad Understandings, Guiding Questions, and Notes and Relevant Information for grades PK-12 (PDF)

No benchmarks are currently identified for this concept in Wabanaki Studies.

Describe the challenges and success in economic development for Wabanaki in modern times.

Analyze and evaluate economic sovereignty as a component in the preservation of Wabanaki culture.