What Pushes and What Pulls
A 50-minute Grade 4 lesson on identifying incentives and predicting what behavior each one produces.
What Pushes and What Pulls is a free 50-minute Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies lesson plan for C3 Framework indicator D2.Eco.2.3-5 — spot the rewards and penalties that push people toward a decision. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the claim, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.
- Grade:
- Grade 3 to Grade 5
- Length:
- 50 minutes
- Standard:
- D2.Eco.2.3-5
Grade 3 to Grade 5 · Economics
D2.Eco.2.3-5
Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
Objective
Students will be able to classify an incentive and predict what people do in response.
Students are successful when they can
- Sorts incentives into positive and negative.
- Names the behavior each produces.
- Says when an incentive fails to work.
What you need
- The mill notice and the emigration ledger
- Twelve incentive cards
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — paid off
5 min- Read: any hand refusing the new rate will be paid off.
- Ask what behavior that sentence is designed to produce.
Teach — direction, behavior, limit
17 min- Name the notice's threat as a negative incentive: it pushes hands away from refusing.
- Name a bonus for a full year as a positive incentive: it pulls people toward attendance.
- Write the test: does it make the behavior more attractive or less?
- Take "no refunds if you miss the sailing." Negative, and it pushes people to arrive early.
- Take "an assisted passage for a family with no fare." Positive, and it pulls families abroad.
- Now the limit: an incentive only works on somebody able to respond.
- Thomas Reid could not pay the fare. No incentive reaches him at all.
“Who can actually respond to this, and who cannot?”
Guided practice — sort, predict, test
15 min- Pairs sort twelve incentive cards.
- For four, they write the behavior produced.
- For two, they name somebody the incentive would not reach.
Independent practice
10 min- Students complete the "What Pushes and What Pulls" page.
- Check the behavior matches the incentive's direction.
Close
3 min- Name one school incentive and say who it does not reach.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Calls every negative incentive unfair.
Why: Penalties feel punitive.
Fix: A higher due on an overloaded vessel protects the crew. Ask what it protects.
Thinks incentives always work.
Why: The mechanism sounds automatic.
Fix: An assisted passage is no use to somebody who cannot leave a sick parent.
Confuses an incentive with an order.
Why: Both change behavior.
Fix: An order removes the choice. An incentive changes what the choice costs.
If they are not there yet
- Six cards, three of each kind.
- Give the behavior and ask which incentive produced it.
If they finish early
- Design an incentive that would have reached Thomas Reid.
- Find an incentive with the opposite effect to the one intended.
- Say when a reward works better than a penalty.
Exit ticket
"Any hand refusing the new rate will be paid off." Which kind of incentive is that, and what behavior does it produce?
What to look for: Negative, pushing hands to accept the rate. Naming it without the behavior means the second half is missing.
Printable practice for D2.Eco.2.3-5
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- What Pushes and What PullsSort each one into reward or penalty.
Questions about What Pushes and What Pulls
How long does the What Pushes and What Pulls lesson take?
50 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 17 min, guided practice 15 min, independent practice 10 min, close 3 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.
Which indicator does What Pushes and What Pulls teach?
D2.Eco.2.3-5 — D2.Eco.2.3-5, Economics for Grade 3 to Grade 5: “Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.” In plain terms, spot the rewards and penalties that push people toward a decision.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
The mill notice and the emigration ledger, twelve incentive cards and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.
What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?
Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: calls every negative incentive unfair; thinks incentives always work and confuses an incentive with an order. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.
How do I know whether the lesson worked?
The exit ticket asks: “"Any hand refusing the new rate will be paid off." Which kind of incentive is that, and what behavior does it produce?.” Negative, pushing hands to accept the rate. Naming it without the behavior means the second half is missing. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.
Is there a worksheet to go with What Pushes and What Pulls?
Yes — 1 printable D2.Eco.2.3-5 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.
Is What Pushes and What Pulls free to use?
Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on September 7, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.
Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Eco.2.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.