Focus Areas: Location and Systematics
Focus Area: Location
Learning Goal
On completion of this module students should have the knowledge to be able to:
- find locations and give directions in relation to everyday, familiar places within their extended vicinity
- find locations and give directions using simple navigation with everyday, familiar maps and technologies
- use informal, and some formal, language of location and direction, including simple angle measures and representations such as: quarter and half turns, left and right, N, S, W, E.
Application
Application of the learning goal requires students to demonstrate the following skills:
- provide oral and written instructions to describe the location of familiar, local places and landmarks
- use interactive, digital technologies and paper maps to locate familiar places or landmarks and places of significance, and describe suitable routes
- give and follow simple oral and written directions to familiar locations
- use everyday language of angles and compass directions (N, S, W, E) to describe familiar locations and directions such as half turn, U-turn.
Focus Area: Systematics
Learning Goal
On completion of this module students should have the knowledge to be able to:
- use common and familiar information including data
- read and interpret data inputs and outputs
- summarise information
- plan and schedule.
Application
Application of the learning goal requires students to demonstrate the following skills:
- input data into familiar apps
- read input and output data
- interpret simple output data
- plan and schedule with common and familiar data.
The Problem-solving cycle
Planning
Personal Numeracy: The contexts explored in this unit include technology for planning, scheduling and mapping locations, and planning and undertaking cooking. Students will combine both for their assessment task.
This is a six-week learning program.
Timeline | Activity | Module |
---|
Week 1 |
Activity 1 – Read it, see it?
Activity 2 – Shout it out loud | Location |
Week 2 |
Activity 3 – Map attack
Activity 4 – Made up maps | Location |
Week 3 |
Activity 5 – Chefs in the kitchen
Activity 6 – A busy kitchen | Systematics |
Week 4 |
Activity 7 – Food orders | Systematics |
Weeks 4 – 6 |
Assessment – A day at the park | Location & Systematics |
Teaching
Unit plan descriptor
Students explore personal numeracy with the focus areas: location and systematics. For the focus area location, students work with maps and explore directional language in written and oral forms. For the focus area systematics, students work with inputting data and exploring the outputs.
The contexts used in these activities include, but are not limited to, using local parks nearby, making use of multi-sport courts, completing and creating scavenger hunts, re-purposing fairy tales into creative maps, exploring recipe and cooking apps and websites, preparing a two-course meal plan for ten people and ordering takeaway food via apps and websites.
The assessment task combines these tasks and students work in pairs to present a day out at the local park where they plan activities and a BBQ lunch. The class votes on the best proposal that fits within the budget and parameters set by the teacher.
This unit explores and demonstrates all three learning requirements as mandated by the curriculum. The four stages of the Problem-solving cycle are supported and demonstrated in multiple activities. The Mathematical toolkit is highlighted throughout the activities, as indicated by the third learning requirement.
Integrated unit suggestion
N/A
Suggested resources/required equipment
General classroom stationery supplies which support student learning and teaching in mathematics. These may include, but are not limited to:
- Student workbooks or paper
- Pens and pencils
- Paper maps
- Grid paper
Access to the internet and computers/tablets is essential.
The Mathematical toolkit technologies explored include, but are not limited to:
- Google Maps
- PTV website
- Multiple cooking apps and websites
- Multiple on-line food delivery apps and websites
- Online interactive maps
- Spreadsheet software
- Phones for apps and calculations where permissible by the principal
Teachers are encouraged to use extra materials and resources that support the learning that caters directly for their students needs. All timelines are given as a guideline only.
Unit 3: Module 1: Personal Numeracy
Focus areas: Location and Systematics
This section details the activities.
Please note: These activities
must not be taught in isolation from the Problem-solving cycle, or the Mathematical toolkit.
These activities are detailed in this table to help with implementation, but must be
read in conjunction with the planning table.
Focus Area: Location
Activity 1
Read it, see it?
Students practise using directional language within their school grounds by working in pairs and using the school map. They write instructions on how to get from a common location to their new location, using common direction language such as left/right, up/down etc. They swap the instructions with their partner and complete the task. Each pair meet up and provide feedback on the written description and check if the final location was correct. Students repeat task using feedback to improve written instructions.
Students brainstorm local venues nearby school, such as the local shops, parks, primary schools, other businesses etc. Using that list, students each select one location and write the directions from the school to the location using an online mapping tool, such as Google Maps.
Students take it in turn to share their directions to the class or in small groups and their peers guess the locations. This could also be done via different stations around the room with the directions at different tables, and students could submit their answers via electronic form or have an answer card ready.
Focus Area: Location
Activity 2
Shout it out loud
Students visit sporting courts that have multiple courts, such as basketball, netball, tennis, volleyball etc. Students study the lines and develop warm-up routines using the different lines. Students pair up and shout out their instructions to their partners (e.g. jog along the white netball line in a southerly direction, turn right, sprint the top line, turn right, complete lunges along the first netball third and cross the court doing star jumps). Students might also incorporate the different equipment of the relevant sports.
Focus Area: Location
Activity 3
Map attack
Provide students with a detailed paper map of a well-known place, such as The Royal Melbourne Zoo or the Royal Melbourne Show. Prepare a scavenger hunt where students shout out answers or answer via Kahoot and use their map skills to find:
- How many toilets there are.
- What compass direction the train station is.
- How many information services stands there are etc.
Students show their own skills by producing their own scavenger hunts on maps. Provide three to four different maps in the classroom and have students generate six to ten questions. Students with the same maps swap and complete the hunts. A timer could be visible on the front whiteboard if the class wants to make it a competition. Students then swap feedback about their maps with a Plus ,Minus Interesting (PMI) graphic organiser.
Open a digital map as a class and explore the features. Compare the view on a laptop to a smaller screen, such as a tablet. Create a story for the students to follow with directional language and see if they finish at the intended stop. Ask a few students to create a story, share it with the class using their directional language and see if the class can follow the instructions and finish at the correct stop.
Focus Area: Location
Activity 4
Made up maps
Students need to recreate a known story, or write their own, that has multiple locations and is an adventurous tale.
Students draw a map on grid paper that correlates with the story and provide co-ordinates on each side to be able to locate the locations (e.g. A5, B8 etc.).
Students read and reconstruct the story on cards. They use directional language on the last line of each card to give directions to the next location, which lands them in a certain co-ordinate and this is on the next card. The students repeat this process until the end of the story and have their cards in order to check with the writer.
Focus area: Systematics
Activity 5
Chefs in the kitchen
Explore different food apps by exploring the different inputs, including:
- different levels of recipes by skill to prepare/cook
- different levels of recipes by time to prepare/cook
- cooking requirements, such as vegan, dairy intolerant etc
- different ingredients which then output different recipes.
Students collect a variety of different recipes based on different situations to practice using the input functions.
Focus Area: Systematics
Activity 6
A busy kitchen
Students form a team that will cook for 10, as if for cooking in a pop up restaurant or a big family meal. Each student sets their own two-course menu that will be prepared.
Problem-Solving Cycle
Step 1: Identify the mathematics
Each student writes up the kitchen preparations list for the 1pm sit-down and identifies each step that needs to be completed. Consider how long will it take and how best to record it?
Step 2: Act on and use the mathematics
Students start creating the plan of how the kitchen will operate to complete and plate the lunch to start at 1pm. Students list all jobs in order that need to be completed: approximate job times (such as grating carrots 5 minutes), pre-heating oven 10 minutes etc. Students list how long cooking will take and if batch cooking will be needed.
Step 3: Evaluate and reflect
How will students be able to double-check their times and expect them to be reasonable? Is there an expert they could consult? Can they have a small interview with the teacher? Have they double checked the recipe?
Step 4: Communicate and report
Students consider how their plan will be presented to the kitchen team. Will there be different teams working on different aspects? Will it need colour coding? How big will the font be? Will it be in columns to separate person, job and time? The class should brainstorm ideas to help work out these aspects.
Focus area: Systematics
Activity 7
Food orders
Discuss students’ experiences of using food ordering apps. Students explore and compare two food services online, cost their family favourite takeaway and see if there are discounts ordering via the restaurant directly.
Problem-Solving Cycle
Step 1: Identify the mathematics
Discuss with students their experiences using food delivery apps and websites. Students consider their successful and not so successful experiences. Each student recalls their family’s favourite takeaway meal and the shop/restaurant from which it is usually ordered. They then open one of the food delivery apps/websites to see how much the order would cost and if there are any specials/discounts. Students compare this order with another competitor in the area or with the same shop on a different food ordering app/website, and their specials/discounts. Compare whether ordering directly from the shop would bring any extra savings.
Step 2: Act on and use the mathematics
Students complete their research and compile it on a spreadsheet. Remind students to have the food in one column and the cost in another so the spreadsheet can add the costs together.
Step 3: Evaluate and reflect
Students look over their costs and check their figures. Using a spreadsheet, students check their formulas so they are adding the correct columns together.
Step 4: Communicate and report
Students consider the best way to produce this information. Would it be best to communicate it in the spreadsheet? Enhance it with graphs? Talk to students about conventions used in formatting spreadsheets, including making the totals stand out, bolding the headings, placing the investigation question up the top etc.
Focus Area: Location
Focus Area: Systematics
Assessment task
Planning a day at the park
This task demonstrates assessment of the three components: Numeracy in context, Problem-solving cycle and Mathematical toolkit cohesively as per the curriculum guidelines. Students use the Problem-solving cycle within the context and skills outlined in Personal numeracy, and students use their Mathematical toolkit to support Personal numeracy.
Assessment Task: Students plan and cater for a BBQ lunch at a local park that has appropriate facilities for lunch and activities. Students work in pairs to present their plans to the class. These are voted on and then executed on the day.
Students are required to complete the following:
- Participate in the brainstorm
- Present a menu and costing for the BBQ lunch
- Present the chosen park and the public transport route to and from school
- Present a draft email script
- Present a list of jobs for each team member when at the park
- Present the scavenger hunt game to play at the park using directional language and compass points
- Present a map of the park with the set up
Problem-solving cycle:
Support students through the problem-solving cycle as they complete the requirements of the task.
Step1 – Identify the mathematics
Present the idea to the students and complete a brainstorm together for ideas for the day. Help students organise their thoughts into different categories: food/drinks, activities/equipment, school logistics/communication, public transport, etc. This will form as a checklist for work to be completed. Students consider and list the mathematics required for each job.
Step 2 – Act on and use mathematics
Students work in their pairs to work through and put their plans together. The teacher might need to help conduct a class survey (such as BBQ preferences or food allergies, or provide budget limits for supplies) to support planning. Students should keep evidence of all planning, such as a screenshot of the supermarket estimate, the public transport routes and ticket costs, the draft email to PE departments to borrow equipment etc. The teacher will support students with the school logistics (permission forms, organising the class to be out on the day etc.).
Step 3 – Evaluate and reflect
This step supports students to stop and review their work and consider if the work is authentic, if they need to review or repeat some component of the work. Students should:
- Check if their shopping list adds up correctly. Does it appear reasonable and within budget?
- Check their public transport time going to the park, the route, stop and journey time. Students have a backup ready in case they miss it.
- Check their public transport time returning to school, the route, stop and journey time. Students have a backup ready in case they miss it.
- Print and review their draft email to the PE staff that makes a request to borrow the equipment.
- Check that everyone is included on the setup plan for being at the park and jobs list. See if any additional equipment is needed? (sunscreen, garbage bags, first aid-kit etc.).
- Create a scavenger hunt to play before lunch. Has it been tested?
Step 4 – Communicate and report
Students present their plans to the class and explain how their day out at the park would look. Students consider how to arrange their presentations so they present information in an easy to read format that includes all details required.
Students provide feedback and vote on which team’s excursion they attend.
For assessment: Students submit their final presentations
Focus Area: Number and Change
Focus Area: Number
Learning Goal
On completion of this module students should have the knowledge to be able to:
- place value and reading numbers up to 10 000
- whole numbers and monetary amounts up to $10 000
- common decimals and fractions and percentages such as ¼, ⅒, 50%, 0.25, 0.75 and other common decimals up to two decimal places, such as money and time
- addition and subtraction with borrowing and decomposition
- multiplication and division related to small whole-value numbers
- the order of the four arithmetical operations.
Application
Application of the learning goal requires students to demonstrate the following skills:
- identify place value and read whole numbers up to 10 000
- perform calculations of addition and subtraction with numbers up to 10 000
- recognise and use common decimals, fractions, and percentages such as ¾, 10%, 75% or 0.75, and other common decimals up to two decimal places
- find and use multiplication and division facts related to small whole-value number values only
- calculate simple problems using the order of the four arithmetical operations with whole-value numbers only.
Focus Area: Change
Learning Goal
On completion of this module students should have the knowledge to be able to understand:
- familiar and simple patterns or sequences in patterns and in a series of numbers
- familiar mathematical language and terms used in numerical pattern prediction
- changes and reconciliation in sets of numbers into the 1000s
- repeating patterns with two or more elements such as simple pricing structures.
Application
Application of the learning goal requires students to demonstrate the following skills:
- identify and describe relationships and patterns of change in sets of simple numerical values
- demonstrate repeating patterns with one element, e.g. $2, $4, $8, $16…
- reconcile and compare simple numbers in context, e.g. prices, warehouse stock levels
- predict simple pattern continuation using familiar mathematical terms
- demonstrate repeating arithmetical and spatial patterns of familiar and simple numbers with more than one element.
The Problem-solving cycle
Planning
Financial Numeracy:
The contexts explored in this unit include looking at our income statements and how we spend our money, and looking for patterns using coins and notes.
This is an eight-week learning program.
Timeline | Activity | Module |
---|
Weeks 1 & 2 |
Activity 1 – Income statements
Activity 2 – Shopping discounts | Number |
Week 3 |
Activity 3 – Splitting bills
Activity 4 – Catalogue madness | Number |
Week 4 & 5 |
Activity 5 – Counting coins
Activity 6 – Counting notes
Activity 7 – Reconciling cash registers | Number & Change |
Week 6 |
Activity 8 – Patterns in the garden
Activity 9 – Stock control | Number & Change |
Weeks 7 & 8 |
Assessment – Moving out of home | Number & Change |
Teaching
Unit plan descriptor
Students explore financial numeracy with the focus areas: number and change. For the focus area number, students explore place value using Australian coins and notes, work with money values through shopping activities, applying the four arithmetic operations and discounts using fractions and percentages. For the focus area change, students work with coins and notes to identify patterns with money, looking for simple patterns in real-life examples and costing the designs, and looking at inventory templates for predictions of stock control.
The contexts used in these activities include, but are not limited to, exploring the information found on income statements, checking the calculations, looking into the benefits of family’s meal planning over the week and creating their own planning to suit their family’s needs and preferences.
For the assessment task, students use these skills to explore the finances needed before moving out of home and into a rental property. Students would investigate the on-going costs needed to create a budget based on their apprentice wages found on the
Fair Work Australia website.
This unit explores and demonstrates all three learning requirements as mandated by the curriculum. The four stages of the Problem-solving cycle are supported and demonstrated in multiple activities and the assessment task. The Mathematical toolkit is highlighted throughout the activities, as indicated by the third learning requirement.
Integrated unit suggestion
N/A
Suggested resources/required equipment
General classroom stationery supplies which support student learning and teaching in mathematics. These may include, but are not limited to:
- Student workbooks or paper
- Pens and pencils
- Catalogues from supermarkets
- Australian money coins and notes resource kit
- Graph paper
Access to the internet and computers / tablets is essential.
The Mathematical toolkit technologies explored include, but are not limited to:
- Google Maps
- Spreadsheet software
- Better Health website
- Meal Planning apps or websites to create shopping lists
- Meal planning apps or websites to help with ideas and recipes
- Supermarket apps or websites
- Splitting bill apps
- Garden centre websites
- Fair Work Australia website to find wages
- Real estate websites or apps to find rentals
- Utility websites or apps as calculators for estimates
- VixRoads website or app for yearly expenses
- Public transport websites or apps for yearly expenses
- Laptop calculator to replicate phone calculator
- Phones for apps and calculations where permissible by the principal
Teachers are encouraged to use extra materials and resources that support the learning that caters directly for their students’ needs. All timelines are given as a guideline only.
Unit 3: Module 2: Financial Numeracy
Focus areas: Number and Change
Please note: These activities
must not be taught in isolation from the Problem-solving cycle or the Mathematical toolkit.
These activities are detailed in this table to help with implementation but
must be read in conjunction with the planning table.
Focus Area: Number
Activity 1
Income statements
Students look at a variety of pay slips and identify the key features: employee’s name, company name and address, hourly rate, hours worked, tax paid, gross wage, net page. Each feature is discussed to understand how they differ. Encourage students to examine their own pay slip while using the one on the whiteboard as a guide.
Place pay slips in different stations around the room. Students work in pairs to examine these different pay slips and information. Remove total pays from the pay slips so students can calculate hours worked X hourly rate, and calculate the net amount when they subtract the tax from that pay (leave the amount of tax there). Students present in pairs their answers to the class with their calculations for a class discussion.
Focus Area: Number
Activity 2
Shopping discounts
Students discuss how dinners are planned and made in their family. They discuss family meal planning and how to organise who cooks, who shops (e.g. shopping once a week vs every few days vs online and delivery). Use a PMI graphic organiser throughout the discussion and how family schedules can affect dinners. Explore the stereotypes of who cooks dinners and ask if any students like to cook and help with dinner. Create a
concept map to put all ideas together at the end.
Explore the need to eat healthy meals and how we do this. Students go to
BetterHealth and explore the four areas of interest and write a small summary about the ideas listed on the website and their views opinion about their advice. Students collate their information on a
detailed mind map as they read through the information.
Topics listed on Better Health include:
- Australian Dietary guidelines
- 5 major food groups, what makes an ‘occasional food’
- how to order a healthier meal at restaurants and takeaway venues
- high sugar/salt foods and looking at labels
- recommended daily intakes for women and men
- alcohol in moderation, eating healthy on a budget
- pantry staples, changing your mindset about eating.
Read through the Better Health information about
Meal Planning (BetterHealth, 2022). Discuss the benefits and any negatives that the students can think of.
Students write a weekly dinner meal plan for their family, listing the meal and recipe. From this list, they form an ingredients list and consolidate any repeated items. Students explore meal planning apps that help store meal plans and make shopping lists.
Students open a supermarket shopping app or website and put their items into a shopping cart for pricing. Students print their list as evidence, then delete the items in the cart.
With the list, students calculate their total prices including any discounts, 5%, 10% or 15%. Students organise their shopping list into sections: meat, fruit/veg, dairy, bakery, shelf/pantry items. They estimate their items into fractions and percentages of each section.
Look at a supermarket layout or take students on an excursion. See how the fresh produce is on the outside, the shelf/pantry items make up the shelves and the specials/promotions are on the ends. Talk about why this might be. Look at and discuss the different promotions in catalogues or take photos on-site to discuss. Calculate the percentage saving or look at different sales techniques. How are items stocked? Do businesses buy different shelves at eye level? What is effective about a brand’s marketing techniques on packaging etc.? How do they grab attention for sales? How can you save money shopping on a budget?
Look at current catalogues and see if students can change any of their products on their lists for those on sale/promotion to make their final costs cheaper. See who is a savvy shopper and how much they can alter their budget. Use catalogues from all supermarkets. They are easy to find online or look up the sale items on the supermarket websites.
Focus Area: Number
Activity 3
Splitting bills
What restaurants have students been to? What did they like about them? What didn’t they like? What restaurants would they like to try? The class list several different restaurants on the whiteboard and print the menus/display on laptops.
Place these menus around the room in different stations. Create an ordering slip for each menu for each table and place it with the menus. Students spread themselves out around the stations, look at the menus and write down their order for each restaurant (note: when students have finished writing their order place a line under it to show it is finished). If they really do not want to go to that restaurant, it’s OK not to write an order. Encourage the restaurant selection at the start of the activity to be inclusive of all students. Have enough restaurants for either one per student or one per pair.
Students work independently or in pairs to take one order and calculate the total bill on another piece of paper (keep the order paper separate). Students then create change from different options. The teacher can help with different ideas once they have seen the totals. Students calculate the amount of the order if the bill was split evenly amongst the number of people ordering.
Note: Have all money totals, change calculations, split money amounts shown by students in place value Australian notes and coins, such as $32.50 would be shown as 1 x $20 note, 1 x $10 note, 1 x $2 coin, 1 x 50c coin.
The class discuss the task: what was easy, what was challenging, what tips can the students share to make it easier for others? Students repeat this task for another restaurant. They share their results with the other people/groups and check their calculations. Repeat again.
Students explore bill splitting bill apps and how people use them to keep track of who owes what (used when people go out or travel) and how they can help pay others their share of the bill in a meal or house sharing situation.
Focus Area: Number
Activity 4
Catalogue madness
Students find an electronics store catalogue to find items that they desire and make a list (only one item per category). Students start to make a running total where they add the items as they go and see who can get their total closest to $10,000 without going over. Students perform these calculations in spreadsheet software. Change the rules along the way by telling students they can get two of one item or their most expensive item went on sale with 10% off, etc.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Activity 5
Counting coins
Students use an Australian Coins Resource Kit to separate the coins into the different categories, checking they recognise the different values.
Students put the different coins into dollar values: how many 10c coins make $1, how many 20c coins make $1, how many are in $2, $5 bundles, etc.
Place sets of random coins around the classroom in stations, to replicate a cash register at the end of a shift that needs totalling. Create a sheet that with a breakdown of each type of coin, how many of each coin are there? What’s the total of each coin? Make a grand total of the register.
Students go around to each station, calculate the breakdown of each note type and calculate the grand total of each register. Students should use a calculator to check their workings out.
Discuss the breakdowns and totals at each station when students have finished.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Activity 6
Counting notes
Use Australian Money Notes Resource Kit to count combinations of:
How much do you have when you have one of each note?
How many $5 notes to make $100?
How many $10 notes to make $100?
How many $20 notes to make $100?
How many $50 notes to make $100?
How many $100 notes to make $1,000?
How many $50 notes to make $1,000?
Place sets of random notes around the classroom in stations, to replicate a cash register till at the end of a shift that needs totalling. Create a sheet that with a breakdown of each type of note, how many of each note are there? What’s the total of each note? Make a grand total of the register. Students to check their totals using a calculator .
Discuss the breakdowns and totals at each station with students when they have finished.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Activity 7
Reconciling cash registers – Counting coins and notes
If students are enjoying or needing more practice with Activities 5 and 6, re-create the task with each station now having a combination of coins and notes. Create the breakdown sheet to now have coins and notes so they can total each coin and note separately before finding the grand total of each register. If students find this task easy, put them under a time limit. Check answers with a calculator.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Activity 8
Patterns in the garden
Students consider where they see real-life examples of patterns or repeated shapes?
Cover some of the image so students guess what the image is showing and ask them to repeat the patterns shown. Ask their opinions, and see what combinations they would choose instead. Examples to look at include, but are not limited to, gardens, road crossings, table cloths and other printed fabrics etc.
Students create an outside garden tile area and cost it. Explore the cost of bigger tiles, smaller tiles, the shapes and varieties that exist. Look at the patterns they would need to lay. Use graph paper to assist if needed.
Look at examples of gardens, does the school have one? Is there a pattern there? Why do we like patterns? Is there an appealing factor to them?
Cost a design for the school’s front garden using a trip to the local nursery or using an online gardening centre. What design pattern would students use? Ask students to look into different designs and maintenance and write a proposal to support their plans.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Activity 9
Stock control
Present examples of stock inventory from the internet and alter it to show trade for a week.
Ask students to highlight the importance of dates of sales, stock quantity, when they re-order, how long it takes for the re-ordering stock to come in, how many items are re-ordered at a time, cost of re-ordering etc.
Present some inventory templates on different tables for students to analyse. Include some mistakes in them, include stock that needs ordering, include stock over-stocked and not moving off the shelves, include dis-continued stock that someone has ordered again etc. Students analyse what is selling well, what isn’t moving and consider what should be taken off their selling list.
This activity could also focus on showing the inventory of one business with the tables dated in order. Students make their way around following this order with another activity running in the room, so students are not waiting around and wasting time.
Focus Area: Number
Focus Area: Change
Assessment task
Moving out
Overview: Students explore the basic costs of moving out and renting.
Problem-solving cycle:
Step 1 – Identify the mathematics
Present the idea to students. Use the
detailed mind map graphic organiser to organise the class brainstorm about what it means to move out, what costs are associated with it, what responsibilities come with it etc.
To help students understand the task:
- Students create a list of wants and needs when moving out. Discuss this definition before students complete the task.
- Students think about an area they would like to live in when they move out.
- Students consider how much they will be earning. Settle on an age/time in their life where they can research the wage on Fair Work Australia.
- Students consider the bills/utilities that they will need vs want.
- Students consider the furniture and other items they will need.
- Will the student live on their own or share with someone/a group. Students consider this and write a statement justifying their ideas.
Step 2 – Act on and use the mathematics
Students visit Fair Work Australia first and find out their wage for this assignment. It could be their first/second/third/final year as an apprentice, or whatever you all agree on. Walk them through the website and find their award wage.
Students start investigating and collecting their information. Use real estate websites for rental properties. Discuss with students what a bond is, and how they need to come up with first month’s rent too. Ask students to create a fortnightly, monthly and yearly total for budgeting.
Explore utility websites. Some of these websites often have calculators that give estimates. Students create a fortnightly, monthly and yearly total for budgeting.
Students keep a screenshot of all information found as evidence. Students put all totals into spreadsheeting software for calculations.
Students look into creating a simple list of furniture and items needed to move out and cost this.
Students factor in their transport option for the year: will they have a car, what are the costs of a car, Will they use public transport? If so, estimate their needs. Ask students to create a fortnightly, monthly and yearly total for budgeting.
Step 3 – Evaluate and reflect
Students look at their fortnightly, monthly and yearly total. Does it exceed their salary? Will they need a side-hustle? Will they need to alter their budget?
Are the costs reasonable? Do students consider it good use of their money?
Students check their formulas in the spreadsheets. Are items in the correct columns and do they add up properly?
Step 4 – Communicate and report
How do students best present this?
Would a poster, presentation or a budget printed out, communicate this best?
Students produce a draft and ask for feedback again from the teacher/peer.