Activity: Food Truck Challenge – A Supply and Demand Activity

In this lesson students will understand and use the concepts of supply and demand to make entrepreneurial decisions in a board game-like simulation.

Teacher note: This lesson requires students to have a basic understanding of supply, demand, and markets including supply and demand curve shifters (determinants of demand and determinants of supply). Lessons to use include these from the FTE’s Economics For Teachers program:

• Lesson 3: Open Markets
• Lesson 4: Markets in Action

Economics

Economists use the supply and demand model to help explain and understand how markets work. Entrepreneurs must also understand supply and demand and how markets can affect their business. Use this lesson to help entrepreneurs make decisions using supply and demand in this interactive game. Students will experience the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face in markets. In this session, participants will work in teams to manage their own food truck businesses, making critical decisions while navigating unpredictable market conditions and real-world scenarios. Entrepreneurship Life! is a lesson from the forthcoming Entrepreneurship curriculum published by the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE). 

Objectives:

After completing this lesson students will be able to:

• explain and demonstrate how changes in the market affect supply, demand, and equilibrium price and quantity.
• understand how supply and demand affect the market and businesses.
• use supply, demand, and the economic way of thinking to make decisions for their fictitious business.

Standards and Benchmarks

See page 20

 Concepts

Decision Making, Demand, Entrepreneurship, Markets, Supply