Students will investigate the Silk Road to learn about the beginnings of globalization, and study the process of globalization, global trade, comparative advantage, design, sourcing, manufacturing and distribution. Students will consider if globalization results in more positive or negative contributions to our communities and society as whole.

Students build a model turbine to observe how different energy resources can be used to turn a turbine, inquire how the interaction between a wire and a magnet generates electricity, and investigate the different mix of energy resources used to generate electricity in Michigan, the United States, and the world.

The Tapestry Segmentation from ESRI divides the US population into 67 different "market segments" - that is, groups of people who make about the same amount of money, live similar lifestyles, and have common preferences. This enormously rich set of data can be used to better understand communities around the country. It is especially useful to businesses who want to target their products and services to those who are most likely to buy them. Students will be successful with this lesson after they are able to review a number of Tapestry Segmentations and make models as to how the information can be used by business leaders to make decisions.