The purpose of this activity is to engage students in solving a financial problem using decimal arithmetic techniques.
This activity assumes the students have experience in the following areas:
The problem is sufficiently open ended to allow the students freedom of choice in their approach. It may be scaffolded with guidance that leads to a solution, and/or the students might be given the opportunity to solve the problem independently.
The example responses at the end of the resource give an indication of the kind of response to expect from students who approach the problem in particular ways.
A year 8 class is making a fundraising stall for the school fair.
They have decided to make chocolate coated strawberries in white, dark and milk chocolate and to present these in boxes made from origami.
The goal is to raise at least $250 for the school. They plan to sell boxes of six strawberries for $2.
The local supermarket sells punnets of a dozen strawberries for $2.50, and cooking chocolate for $3.95 per bag.
A bag of chocolate should be enough to coat two dozen strawberries.
The boxes take one sheet of coloured paper (10 cents) to make.
Is this plan going to work?
How could it be modified to make this fundraising goal realistic?
The following prompts illustrate how this activity can be structured around the phases of the Mathematics Investigation Cycle.
Introduce the problem. Allow students time to read it and discuss in pairs or small groups.
Discuss ideas about how to solve the problem. Emphasise that, in the planning phase, you want students to say how they would solve the problem, not to actually solve it.
Allow students time to work through their strategy and find a solution to the problem.
Allow students time to check their answers and then either have them pair share with other groups or ask for volunteers to share their solution with the class.
The student creates a list that includes each item and calculates the per packet cost. They sensibly conclude the pricing does not provide a profit.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student creates an itemised list of costs and calculates the per packet cost. They suggest how the product can be adapted to make a profit.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student creates an itemised list of costs and calculates the per packet cost. They suggest how the product can be adapted to make a profit.
Printed from https://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/fair-dip at 9:08pm on the 18th July 2024