Widgets and Whatsits Activity Whatsits

Productions Possibilities Frontier Graph (draw it below)

[Production Possibilities Curve]

Directions: One group of 4 is the nation of DunderMiffland. A “factory will be

set up at the front of the room. The group will use 1 stapler and a stack of
half-sheets of paper. The nation of DunderMiffland will use the resources to
produce widgets and whatsits. A widget is a half-sheet of paper folded twice
into a rectangle and stapled. A whatsit is a half-sheet of paper folded three
times to form a smaller rectangle and stapled. A round of production lasts 30 Debrief:
seconds. 1.) What were the resources used in the production (Examples of Land, Labor,
Capital, Entrepreneurship/Human Capital)?
Round 1: All resources are used to produce widgets. At the end of each
round, everyone plots the output on the widget axis of the graph. Be sure to
create a graph with widgets on the vertical axis and whatsits on the
horizontal.

Round 2: One person produces whatsits, the rest of the group produces 2.) What effect did specialization and division of labor have to get more output in 30
widgets. seconds?

Round 3: The labor is divided evenly between widget and whatsit production.

Round 4: One person produces widgets, the rest of the group produces
whatsits.
3.) Were increasing opportunity costs observed or were the opportunity costs
relatively constant?
Round 5: All resources are used to produce whatsits.

Production Possibilities Frontier Chart

Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5

Widgets
4.) How would the activity be modified to show economic growth?