I find the the topic of economic integration an interesting part of the syllabus. As the world becomes more and more globalised, economies are becoming more integrated. According to the World Trade Organisation, International Trade has grown nearly every year since 1991 with a few exceptions. The most recent data suggests international trade will likely surge by 13.5% in 2010.
An important factor driving the growth has been the liberalization of trade barriers, and the development of trade agreements. In class this week we have been learning about Trade Blocs. The students are completing small research projects about different blocs and agreements around the world.
Last year I did something similar to Jason Welker as he posted on his site. see here
This year I tried to developed focused tasks for each group. Therefore I have made up questions for each of the groups, which they will research and then present back to class. The descriptions of the trade blocs are relatively similar but the analysis questions at the end are each a little different. Feel free to borrow or adapt.
Digging a Little Deeper 