ALEX Classroom Resource

  

Flying Cheap: The Crash of Continental Flight 3407

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

 Flying Cheap: The Crash of Continental Flight 3407

URL:

 https://aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/frntc10.guide.flying/flying-cheap-the-crash-of-continental-flight-3407/

Content Source:

 PBS
Type: Audio/Video

Overview:

In February 2009, Continental Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, NY, killing 50 people. The flight was operated by Colgan Air, a regional airline that flies routes under contract for US Airways, United, and Continental. The crash and subsequent investigation revealed a little-known trend in the airline industry: Major airlines have outsourced more of their flights to obscure regional carriers.

In this video chapter from FRONTLINE  Flying Cheap, correspondent Miles O'Brien explores this trend and examines some of the many factors that may have contributed to the accident.

Content Standard(s):
Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 12
Economics
3 ) Describe different economic systems used to allocate scarce goods and services.

•  Defining command, market, and mixed economic systems
•  Describing how different economic systems answer the three basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce
•  Evaluating how each type of system addresses private ownership, profit motive, consumer sovereignty, competition, and government regulation
Unpacked Content
Strand: Economics, Civics and Government
Course Title: Economics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Identify economic systems from their characteristics.
  • Identify economic systems from the ways that they make the basic economic choices.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Adam Smith
  • invisible hand
  • laissez faire economics
  • command economy
  • market economy (free enterprise or capitalism)
  • traditional economy
  • mixed economy
  • consumer sovereignty
  • voluntary exchange
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • The characteristics of each basic type of economic system.
  • The three basic economic choices.
  • How each the three basic economic choices are made in the different types of economic systems.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify examples of different types of economic systems.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • There are specific roles for consumers, businesses and government in each type of economic system.
  • Each type of system responds to and incorporates change.
  • The type of economic system impacts economic growth.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SS.E.AAS.12.3- Understand that economic systems answer the three basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce; identify how the three basic economic questions are answered in a mixed market economy.
SS.E.AAS.12.3a - Identify examples of different types of economic systems.
Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 12
Economics
4 ) Describe the role of government in a market economy, including promoting and securing competition, protecting private property rights, promoting equity, providing public goods and services, resolving externalities and other market failures, and stabilizing growth in the economy.

•  Explaining how government regulation and deregulation policies affect consumers and producers
Unpacked Content
Strand: Economics, Civics and Government
Course Title: Economics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Classify government activities as specific examples of the government's role in the economy.
  • Explain how specific government actions impact economic growth.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • positive externalities (spillover benefits)
  • negative externalities (spillover costs)
  • public goods and services
  • tragedy of the commons
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • The roles of government in a market economy.
  • The purpose of each of the government's roles in a market economy.
  • How to identify examples of the government acting in each of its roles in a market economy.
  • The different types of market failures.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify the ways in which governments, including the United States government, participate in the economy.
  • Determine the impact of government actions in the market.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • There are specific causes market failures.
  • Government action can sometimes correct for failures of private markets.
  • Government actions impact the market.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SS.E.AAS.12.4- Recognize the role of the government in a market economy; recognize examples of how the government is involved in the economy.
SS.E.AAS.12.4a- Classify government activities as specific examples of the government's role in the economy.
Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 12
Economics
7 ) Describe the organization and role of business.

•  Comparing types of business firms, including sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations
•  Explaining the role of profit as an incentive, including short-term versus long-run decisions, for all firms
•  Describing basic characteristics of pure competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly
•  Explaining ways firms finance operations, including retained earnings, stocks, and debt, and the advantages and disadvantages of each
•  Explaining ways firms engage in price and nonprice competition
•  Recognizing the role of economic institutions, including labor unions and nonprofit organizations, in market economies
Unpacked Content
Strand: Economics
Course Title: Economics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Identify the characteristics of the basic forms of business organization and determine the appropriate form of organization for different situations.
  • Construct perfectly competitive market graphs.
  • Calculate diminishing returns.
  • Construct both short run and long run ATC curves.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • sole proprietorship
  • partnership
  • corporation
  • stock
  • bond
  • pure competition (perfect competition)
  • monopoly
  • patents
  • copyrights
  • trademarks
  • monopolistic competition
  • oligopoly
  • collusion
  • vertical merger
  • horizontal merger
  • law of diminishing returns
  • economies of scale
  • diseconomies of scale
  • short run
  • long run
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • The advantages and disadvantages of the three major forms of business organization.
  • The characteristics of each type of competition.
  • How oligopolies are formed.
  • The different types of monopoly.
  • The meaning of the profit motive and how it impacts production decisions.
  • How businesses invest using equity financing, borrowing and saving.
  • The advantages and disadvantages of each method of raising money for investment.
  • How businesses compete through pricing and marketing.
  • The different types of economic institutions and their goals.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify the characteristics of the basic forms of business organization and determine the appropriate form of organization for different situations.
  • Identify and construct a perfectly competitive market graph (supply and demand graph).
  • Calculate examples of diminishing returns.
  • Draw short run and long run ATC curves.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Different forms of business organization may be appropriate depending on the type of good or service to be produced.
  • Different methods of raising money for investment are appropriate depending on the goals of the business.
  • There are many ways in which businesses compete depend on the type of industry structure.
  • The actions of economic institutions impact market outcomes.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SS.E.AAS.12.7- Understand the role of businesses in a market economy; recognize that businesses are important in the distribution of goods and services; recognize different business types and the goods and services they sell to consumers.
Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: 12
Economics
8 ) Explain the impact of the labor market on the United States' economy.

•  Identifying regional characteristics of the labor force of the United States, including gender, race, socioeconomic background, education, age, and regional specialization
•  Explaining how supply of and demand for labor affect wages
•  Describing characteristics that are most likely to increase wage and nonwage benefits, including skill, productivity, education, occupation, and mobility
•  Explaining how unemployment and inflation impose costs on individuals and nations
•  Determining the relationship of Alabama and the United States to the global economy regarding current technological innovations and industries (Alabama)
Examples: World Wide Web, peanut industry, telecommunications industry, aerospace industry

•  Tracing the history of labor unions and methods of contract negotiation by labor and management (Alabama)
Unpacked Content
Strand: Economics, History, Civics and Government
Course Title: Economics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Construct labor market graphs, and indicate the impact on employment and wages of the determinants of labor supply and demand.
  • Assess the economic impact of inflation and unemployment on the economy.
  • Use the Phillips curve to calculate trade-offs between inflation and unemployment.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • inflation
  • unemployment rate
  • labor force
  • labor productivity
  • Philips curve
  • Misery index
  • stagflation
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • The factors that affect labor productivity and wages.
  • The factors that affect the supply of and demand for labor.
  • How the Phillips curve reflects trade-offs between inflation and unemployment.
  • The impact of demographics and regional specialization on wages and employment.
  • The non-market factors that affect wages, such as discrimination.
  • The overall economic impact of inflation and unemployment.
  • The role of Alabama in the national and global economies.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Determine how certain factors impact wages and employment.
  • Determine specific impacts on economic growth of inflation and unemployment.
  • Use the Phillips curve to calculate trade-offs between inflation and unemployment.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • There are certain factors that affect labor productivity and wages.
  • There are certain factors that affect the supply of and demand for labor.
  • There are trade-offs between inflation and unemployment reflected on the Phillips curve.
  • Demographics and regional specialization, as well as productivity, affect wages and employment.
  • Non-market factors also impact wages.
  • Inflation and unemployment negatively impact economic growth.
  • Economic interdependence in Alabama impacts and is impacted by the national and global economies.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SS.E.AAS.12.8- Define labor; recognize that labor is an essential part of the economic system; identify characteristics that are most likely to increase wages and benefits.
Tags: monopoly, nonwage benefits, oligopoly, productivity, profit motive, supply demand for labor wages, wage
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Author: Ginger Boyd
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