Through an understanding of the diversity of ways regions have developed and are developing economically, students in grades seven through nine gain insight into current world problems. To answer why some geographic areas are poor, students examine content focusing on the geographic, cultural, human and chance factors that influence the economic development of an area and consider the problems existing today due to inequities in distribution of wealth. In various activities students illustrate via maps and charts the economic activities of man in selected regions of the world; identify and classify types of economics; formulate generalizations about societies in various stages of economic development; propose reasons why selected nations or regions are less developed than others; analyze the effects of world trade on the economic differences among regions; and analyze the economic organization of one region of the world in an individual or group project. The arrangement of the elective course is similar to other series of quinmester courses described in related documents. (Author/KSM)