Lesson Plan

Franklin's Fortune

Main Subject Area: Mathematics

Additional Subjects: Social Studies, Technology

Duration of Lesson:  90 minutes

Keywords:

• Coins
• Cold War
• Economics
• Money
• Problem Solving
• Writing

Brief Description:

Students will learn that fifty cents in the past could buy much more than it can today. They will construct graphs showing how the buying power of fifty cents has changed over time. They will also graph how the price of a product has changed over time. Students will also write percentage increase rate problems.

National Standard(s):

• Data Analysis and Probability
• Problem Solving

Additional Subject Area Standard(s):

• Production, Distribution, and Consumption
• Technology research tools
• Time, Continuity, and Change

Objectives:

Students demonstrate an understanding that the purchasing power of fifty cents was greater in the past than it is today.

Students will construct graphs showing how the buying power of fifty cents has changed over time as well as how the price of a product has changed over time.

Students will apply the information learned when they compose mathematical problems relating to the percentage increase rate of a product.

Materials (online):

Access to a computer classroom that has connection to the Internet

Ben Franklin: Glimpses of the Man - http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/economst/economst.html

D’Marie Time Capsule - http://www.dmarie.com/timecap/

H.I.P. Pocket Change - http://www.usmint.gov/kids

American Institute of Economics Research - http://www.aier.org/colcalc.html

Materials (offline):

Graph paper

Pencils

Lined paper

Rulers

Coins Used in Lesson:

Franklin and Kennedy half dollars

Grade Level(s):   6-8  

Procedures (online):

Use the D’Marie Time Capsule Web site to research prices (See step 2 of offline procedures).

Procedures (offline):

1. Show students either pictures or actual coins of Franklin and Kennedy. Ask students what are the values of the coins? Most will respond that they are worth fifty cents.

2. Ask students how much a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a gallon of gas are today using www.dmarie.com/timecap. Record the amount on class chart for reference.

3. Now ask students what they think these products cost in 1950 and 1970. Record all predictions on board.

4. Have students find the actual average costs of these products and record them on a chart.

5. Have students pick one product (bread, milk or gas) and starting at 1900 and working every ten years, instruct students to record the prices for this product.

6. Have students construct a bar graph of their results. Bar graph should be titled with labeled axis. (X = Years, Y = Cost)

7. Review percentage rate increase with the class using class chart in step 2.

8. Instruct students to write their own percentage increase word problems using the information that was collected in step 4. Students are to pick two years and then calculate the percentage rate increase for their product.

Assessment / Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on the accuracy of their bar graph and their percentage rate increase word problem. Suggested evaluation tool could be a rubric.

Differentiated Learning Options:

To enrich this lesson, students could research the causes of why these products increased over time.