Teacher Notes

Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page

6.B.4 Select and use appropriate arithmetic operations in practical situations including calculating wages after taxes, developing a budget and balancing a checkbook.

6.D.4 Solve problems involving recipes or mixtures, financial calculations and geometric similarity using ratios, proportions and percents.

8.B.4a Represent algebraic concepts with physical materials, words, diagrams, tables, graphs, equations and inequalities and use appropriate technology.

Introduction to Lesson
The purpose of the Budget WebQuest is to study the mathematical concepts of economic principles and consumer education while reinforcing basic math concepts. The simulation of the WebQuest develops a sense of ownership by the student because they are able to investigate the costs and lifestyles in the context of a young adult. Through this process the students are made aware of financial dangers that can lead to life shattering experiences as an adult. At the conclusion of the WebQuest, students should feel informed about personal finances and mathematical connections to material taught in the classroom.

Focus Group
The material here is focused for freshman in high school. Material that should be covered to give the student the tools to complete the WebQuest are rates, interest, percents, and averages. Material that could be covered after the completion of the WebQuest would be functions, relations, recursion, and graphing of these topics. The WebQuest could easily be adapted to 7th or 8th grade students.

Material
When preparing to use the Budget WebQuest in your classroom, you do not have to make copies of the material. Throughout the WebQuest are links to items the students will need. Instead of you having to make copies and hand them out, they can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have a computer with Internet connection and a printer. Two benefits are evident in this situation. Students can progress at their own pace. When they need a worksheet they can access it themselves instead of using the teacher as a resource. If a student looses a paper, they can print another one off and begin again. Both of these features allow you more time to be movig around the class looking at how students are progressing. This also allows a student to work outside of the classroom because they are able to access the material as soon as they visit the web. Worksheets that students will want to access are the rubric, reflection questions, and balance worksheet. Each of these has been set up to be printed off directly from the web or copied and pasted into a word processing program. To keep things simple, have the students organize their worksheets, budget spreadsheet, and career summary by handing them in all at once with the rubric on top.

Technology
The following hardware and software will be needed to complete the WebQuest.