Introduction:
The above information in this unit is presented to provide the teacher with specific ideas for developing meaningful and innovative curriculum. The unit is designed to be implemented during the first and second quarters of Consumer or Proficiency Math. The topics to be covered are as follows:
Wages
Coupons
Unit pricing
Budgets
Discounts
Finance charges
Loans
Calendar
Tables and graphs
Home production
Deceptive and manipulative advertising
Comparison shopping
The lessons which follow are examples of ways in which the math core objectives can be achieved in settings which are highly pertinent to the students’ lives.
Sample Lesson I
Survey of Consumer Behavior
Students should complete the following questionnaire at home, possibly enlisting their parents’ aid. This should be done anonymously to insure privacy and encourage openness. In class the questionnaires can be collected, redistributed, and the results tabulated on the board following a discussion of each question.
-
1. Who manages the money and pays the bills in your family?
-
2. Does your family discuss how the family income is spent?
-
3. List the things you consider most important to spend money on?
-
4. What things do you consider most important in choosing a place to live?
-
5. What do you consider most important in purchasing food?
-
6. Where do you buy most of your groceries?
-
7. Do you use coupons when shopping for food?
-
8. Do you ever use unit pricing to get the best buy?
-
9. Do you ever buy in quantity to take advantage of sales?
-
10. If your family is eligible for Food Stamps do you purchase them?
-
11. If you qualify for WIC vouchers do you obtain them?
-
12. Do you discuss major purchases with friends and relatives before making your decision?
-
13. Do you consider designer jeans worth their cost?
-
14. Do you or any member of your family sew your own clothes?
-
15. Do you read newspaper ads to take advantage of sales?
-
16. Do you prefer to shop in smaller neighborhood stores for clothes and appliances or in large discount stores?
-
17. Is it less expensive to buy hamburgers at a Fast Food Restaurant or fix them at home?
-
18. Where would you go to borrow money for a house or a car?
-
19. Do you shop around before buying something to compare prices?
-
20. Do you find yourself buying things you really don’t need?
-
21. Do you ever check the magazine,
Consumer Reports
, when you want to buy something?
-
22. Do you or your family ever use credit to buy things?
-
23. What is the maximum finance charge you would pay when buying on credit?
-
24. Would you consider washing diapers yourself in order to save money rather than buying disposable diapers?
-
25. Do you have a savings account?
-
26. Do you have a checking account?
-
27. Do you have a Christmas Club?
-
28. Do you belong to a Credit Union?
-
29. If you are planning to attend college, do you ever consider trying for a scholarship?
-
30. Who would you talk to for advice on getting a scholarship?
After tabulating the results on the board, students should complete the table on the following page by recording the class results in the appropriate columns. This can be done on sheets of the table which have been copied by the teacher; or students may copy the table from the board into their notebooks. Encourage students to share the results with their families.
(figure available in print form)
Sample Lesson II
Budgeting
For discussion:
The income a family receives should be thought of not as income for an individual but as income to support the entire family. In order that all members might cooperate in the best management of the family income, family financial management should be discussed. To achieve the best possible financial management, expenditures should be planned in advance. Such planning is referred to as preparing a budget. By talking about the budget together, parents and children both know what the family expenses are and how much money is available to meet those expenses. The children are thus given a chance to understand the economic facts of family living and become aware of the need to spend intelligently.
In order to prepare a budget, it is necessary to determine the size of the family income. This includes the after-tax wages or salary of all members, interest on savings, and any other income. The items of family expense to be included in a budget are: food, household expenses, furnishings and equipment, clothes, transportation, medical care, personal care, education and recreation, gifts and contributions, and savings. A helpful way of arriving at the amounts of each of the expenditure categories is to accurately keep a record of actual expenditures for a week or two.
Problems:
-
1. Calculate the total available yearly income of the following family whose after-tax wages are:
-
____
Mother—$3,000
-
____
Father—$15,000
-
____
Son—$300
-
____
Daughter—$350
-
____
Savings account interest—$100
-
2. How much money is available to this family each month?
-
3. Prepare a monthly budget for this family using the following percentages for each item:
|
|
Item
|
Percent
|
Amount
|
|
|
Food
|
20%
|
|
|
Clothing
|
15%
|
|
|
Housing
|
20%
|
|
|
Transportation
|
12%
|
|
|
Insurance
|
10%
|
|
|
Recreation
|
10%
|
|
|
Savings
|
13%
|
|
|
Total
|
100%
|
-
4. Using a compass and protractor, prepare a circle graph of the above data. (Students must know there are 360° in a circle and will have to calculate the number of degrees in each angle.)
Homework assignment or to be done in class if the newspaper is used in the classroom:
Have the students look through the classified section to find a job which they think they will qualify for upon graduation from high school or from any post secondary education they might be planning. After deducting 25% (an approximate amount for income and Social Security taxes) they are to:
-
1. Calculate their net available monthly income.
-
2. Using the following percentages which are the percentages for expenditures of the average American family, calculate the amount available for each item:
|
|
Item
|
Percent
|
Amount
|
|
|
Food
|
22%
|
|
|
Clothing
|
10%
|
|
|
Housing
|
15%
|
|
|
Household operation
|
14%
|
|
|
Medical care
|
7%
|
|
|
Recreation
|
7%
|
|
|
Transportation
|
14%
|
|
|
Personal allowance
|
|
|
and Savings
|
11%
|
Sample Lesson III
Saving Through Home Production
For discussion:
Teenagers typically give very little thought to saving money. They tend to spend money quickly and frivolously. They usually do what is most convenient and what their friends are doing. With a little thought, sometimes it is possible to save a great deal of money with just a slight inconvenience. The following problems are designed to encourage students to give more thought to their spending habits. The prices used are current prices. If students have the necessary household equipment, such as a blender, washer, dryer, and kitchen appliances, they should be aware of the savings that can be realized by performing certain tasks at home.
Problems:
-
1. Baby food—A can of green beans processed in a blender will yield 12 oz. of pureed baby food. The cost of the can of green beans at a supermarket is about $.35. A 4 oz. jar of green beans baby food costs about $.26 at the supermarket.
-
Calculate:
-
____
a. How many jars of strained baby food it would take to get 12 oz. of green beans.
-
____
b. How much the above number of jars would cost.
-
c. How much could be saved by using the blender to make green beans baby food rather than buying it already processed.
-
2. Fast food restaurants—The cost of a large hamburger at a popular fast food restaurant is $1.50. To prepare hamburgers at home you will need:
-
____
hamburger meat—$1.49 per pound
-
____
rolls—$.50 for a package of 8
-
____
condiments, such as lettuce, tomato, onion, etc.—approximately $.20
Calculate:
-
____
a. The cost of preparing a large hamburger (1/4lb.) with roll and condiments at home.
-
____
b. How much can be saved by preparing the hamburger at home rather than buying it at a fast food restaurant.
-
Small group activity—Prepare a poster comparing the cost of a home-cooked hamburger and the cost of a fast food hamburger. Display poster in classroom.
-
3. Diapers—Calculate the cost of using disposable diapers for one month if they cost approximately $9.00 per week.
-
____
How much is this for a year?
-
____
Even counting the initial cost of the diapers and the cost of the laundry detergent, water, and electricity used if you wash the diapers yourself, would the savings in one year be enough to pay for a washing machine? Would the savings for the second year a child is in diapers be enough to pay for a clothes dryer?
