Curriculum Connectors | PwC Earn Your Future®

Subject: Math

One home, three interested buyers — and three different mortgage payments. Investigate this mortgage mystery.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mortgage Mystery, students learn about down payments, equity, and interest rates. Through these supporting activities, students will perform calculations to determine various down payment and equity amounts, analyze the relationship between credit scores and mortgage costs, and examine how to create amortization tables with spreadsheets.

Applicable skills

Calculate percent of a quantity
Evaluate relationships between values
Examine calculations in a spreadsheet

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mortgage Mystery, students learn that homebuyers are encouraged to make a down payment of at least 20% of the value of the home, that some first-time homebuyer grants and programs may allow less of a down payment, and that as homeowners pay off their mortgage they build equity in the home. Direct students to look up the selling prices of homes in this area. Invite students to calculate the amount of money they would need to have saved in order to make various down payment amounts (i.e., 10%, 15%, 20%, and 30%). Challenge students to create problems for their classmates based on the amount of equity homeowners have in their home (i.e., The Milner family's home is worth $186,000. If they have 67% equity in the home, how much is that in dollars?)

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mortgage Mystery, students discover that the interest people pay on a home loan or mortgage is based in part, on their credit scores. Invite students to locate an online mortgage calculator that considers credit scores such as the Loan Savings Calculator from myFico. Direct students to create a table including the credit score range, monthly mortgage payment, and total interest paid for at least three loan principal amounts (keeping the other variables such as state and mortgage type consistent). Challenge students to describe the relationship between the values (credit score to monthly payment, credit score to total interest paid, monthly payment to total interest rate paid) in words, through a mathematical expression, or with a graph. Ask students if the relationship is proportional, and, if so, how they can prove it?

Activity 3

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mortgage Mystery, students learn that an amortization schedule shows how much of each mortgage payment is applied to interest and principal of the mortgage. Challenge students to locate templates for creating their own amortization table using a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Invite students to explore and understand the calculations used in the template. Direct students to describe the benefits and tradeoffs of using an online mortgage calculator versus a spreadsheet to create an amortization table.

Subject: Math

Are you a risk taker? Explore this module to find out.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Truth or Dare?, students learn about insurance and how it allows people to transfer risk. Through these supporting activities, students will examine how insurance companies are able to operate by insuring large groups of individuals with varying levels of risk and conduct a survey to determine the amount teens spend on automobile insurance.

Applicable skills

Apply concepts of probability
Collect and interpret data
Calculate the percent of a quantity

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Truth or Dare?, students learn that insurance companies offer people the opportunity to transfer their risk of a loss to the company through the purchase of an insurance policy. Invite students to further explore how insurance companies are able to operate by "pooling" the risk of a large group of individuals and the role which probability plays in how companies price their insurance products. Divide students into groups and challenge each group to create a fictional insurance company. Challenge them to consider how they could price insurance policies in order to make sure the insurance company would be able to pay out for claims that occur. If desired, "chance" events can be introduced to make students reconsider their approach. Examples of chance events include "a new report shows that house fires are becoming more prevalent in a particular area of the country" or "more consumers are purchasing home security systems."

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Truth or Dare?, students discover that there are multiple types of insurance. One of the first insurance policies many students will encounter is automobile insurance. Invite students to survey older siblings or reach out to a high school class to determine how much students are paying per month for insurance coverage. Direct students to graph the results and calculate measures of central tendency, the average amount each person pays in insurance each month. Older students may also ask questions about the students' overall monthly budget and draw connections between the amount spent on insurance as a percentage of the students' total expenses. Note: If students are not likely to drive, alter this activity to focus on adults and what they pay for homeowners or renters insurance.

Subject: Math

If you were challenged to save up for something you really wanted, where would you begin?

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future^® Digital Classroom module, Can I Afford a Phone?, students learn what a budget is and how it can help individuals to reach their goals. Through these supporting activities, students will compare the costs of cell phones, examine multiple ways to create a budget, and conduct a survey related to budgeting practices and/or opinions.

Applicable skills

Perform calculations using multi-digit decimals
Evaluate spreadsheets
Collect and analyze survey data

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Can I Afford a Phone?, students meet Jonas who is trying to convince his mother that he should be able to buy a smartphone. Invite students to research and compare the cost of various smartphones. Direct students to calculate the difference in cost between various phone options. Challenge students to determine whether or not it is more cost effective to purchase a phone outright or pay for it over time through a mobile phone provider.

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Can I Afford a Phone?, students discover the purpose of a budget and how to develop one. Guide students through the process of locating various budget templates online. Each student or small group of students should locate at least one paper-based budget worksheet and at least one budget spreadsheet template. Suggest that students begin their search for a spreadsheet template with the spreadsheet software the school makes available to students (i.e., Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets). Invite students to create a sample budget using each method. Challenge students to compare the two methods of using a budget including the benefits and tradeoffs of each and make an argument for which method they would prefer to use. If desired, students may also explore apps and websites for budgeting.

Activity 3

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Can I Afford a Phone?, students are encouraged to use a budget to track expenses and help them reach a savings goal. Invite students to conduct a survey in which they ask individuals one or more questions regarding budgeting. Younger students should ask one question and summarize and graph the data. Older students may ask two questions and create a two-way table to draw inferences. Examples of questions include: Do you use a budget?, Have you ever created a budget?, Do you have a savings goal?, Do you think using a budget would help you reach a savings goal?

Subject: Math

Have you ever heard the phrase, "You better shop around?" Here's your chance to learn why.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Too Good to Be True?, students learn that they should be cautious consumers and evaluate advertisers' claims. Through these supporting activities, students will examine how percent off sales can be misleading, practice using unit rates to compare prices, and consider product reviews in terms of measures of central tendency.

Applicable skills

Calculate percent of a quantity
Solve unit rate problems
Consider measures of central tendency

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Too Good to Be True?, students meet Christopher, a teen who purchased a set of headphones that didn't meet his expectations. There are many ways that consumers can be influenced to purchase certain products — or a certain number of products. Invite students to examine sale ads that encourage people to purchase more of a product than they would normally purchase. BOGO or Buy One Get One offers are one example. Another is when stores stack discounts such as marking an item down 20% and then another 10% off the sale price. Challenge students to perform calculations with sample prices and determine exactly how much consumers are saving. Direct students to describe whether or not these sales use math to influence consumers. For example, many people mistakenly believe that when an item is marked down 20% and then another 10%, they are saving 30%.

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Too Good to Be True?, students learn that it is important to make informed choices when purchasing items. One way for students to compare prices and make sure they are getting a good deal is to calculate the unit price. Direct students to create and solve unit price problems of interest to them or their families. In particular, invite students to consider whether or not buying in bulk or purchasing larger quantities will save money. Students should also consider the tradeoffs of buying too much of an item than can be used or buying more of an item than they intended to or need in order to take advantage of a deal.

Activity 3

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Too Good to Be True?, students are encouraged to examine information about a product before making a purchase. Many websites provide shoppers with the average rating of a product, such as a 4.2 rating out of 5. If you dig a little deeper, you can often view how many customers gave each rating (1 through 5). Invite students to locate and compare the ratings of several products online. Discuss whether or not using the average or mean rating is a good way to know if consumers are happy with the product. Challenge students to consider what additional value is added by seeing the frequency of each possible rating. Which would they prefer to view and why?

Subject: Math

Picture yourself in 20 years. How much money will you have saved? Meet three teens who have discovered the secret to saving.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, What's Your Interest?, students learn that earning interest helps people to grow their savings over time. Through these supporting activities, students will perform calculations to compare savings vehicles and explain the value of saving from an early age.

Applicable skills

Calculate interest on savings
Fluently multiply multi-digit decimals

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, What's Your Interest?, students learn that financial institutions pay interest to savers. Challenge students to research and compare interest rates offered by various financial institutions for savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts. Encourage students to research rates from both local and online institutions. Direct students to calculate and compare the amount of interest that would be earned over time by depositing a given amount of money in each account and keeping it in the account over time. Make sure students also consider any requirements and limitations of each account. Ask students to explain which one they would choose and explain their answer.

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, What's Your Interest?, students discover the importance of beginning to save money at an early age. Pose this common problem to students, "Which of these would you rather receive: a million dollars today or a penny today, double that tomorrow, and continue to double it each day for a month?" Direct students to determine which is the better financial choice by doing the math. Explain to students how doubling the penny each day is similar to the concept of compound interest. Challenge students to develop their own problem to demonstrate the impact of saving money and earning compound interest.

Subject: Math

Can you earn enough Fuel Points to reach the planet of Konfido and be granted permission to land?

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mission to Konfido, students learn that using credit often results in being charged interest. Through these supporting activities, students will examine the impact the interest rate makes on the total cost of purchases made during a specific period and compare and contrast simple interest with compound interest.

Applicable skills

Use an online credit card payoff calculator
Determine the impact interest rates have on the total cost credit card purchases made during a specific period
Compare and contrast simple and compound interest

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mission to Konfido, students learn key differences between using a debit and credit card. Interest charges on balances which are carried is a major difference between the two. Challenge students to consider the impact the interest rate has on the total cost of credit card purchases made during a specific period. Invite students to use an online credit card payoff calculator and adjust for the interest rate. Discuss the importance of holding the balance constant in order to make accurate comparisons. Students should create a table to keep track of their results and graph the results using an appropriate method (paper and pencil, spreadsheet, etc.) to determine whether or not the relationship between interest rate and total cost is proportional.

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Mission to Konfido, students learn that purchases made on a credit card may be subject to interest charges. Invite students to compare the difference in overall cost between interest that is calculated as simple interest and that which is compounded (as in the case of most lenders). Challenge students to create their own problems with reasonable purchase amounts, interest rates, and time periods. Direct students to use the simple interest equation to calculate the total amount of interest that would be charged and add that to the purchase price to determine the total cost. For compound interest, assist students in using an online compound interest calculator or a graphing calculator to determine the answer. Discuss the impact that compound interest has for consumers who earn it when saving, versus pay it when borrowing.

Subject: Math

Are you ready to #Link2YourFuture?

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, #Link2YourFuture, students learn about careers and factors they should consider, including the anticipated income. Through these supporting activities, students will explore readily available career data through a mathematical lens by critiquing whether or not the median income is the best measure to display as well as exploring the relationship between the number of jobs, project change in the number of jobs, and the job outlook.

Applicable skills

Compare measures of central tendency
Calculate percent of increase or decrease of a quantity

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, #Link2YourFuture, students learn that people working in various jobs or careers can expect different incomes. Most of the data on incomes within the module comes from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, which reports the median income of individuals working in specific occupations. Invite students to use their knowledge of measures of central tendency to explain what is meant by the median income (half of the people in that career earn more and half earn less). Divide the class into four groups with each assigned one of the following: mean, median, mode, and range. Challenge each group to develop an argument defending why their measure would be the most appropriate to use when providing information on the income an individual might expect to earn in a given occupation.

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, #Link2YourFuture, students discover the importance of researching jobs and making sure they understand what education and training may be required. Another important factor to consider is the job outlook. Explain to students that some careers are expected to require more people to work in them in the future, while others are expected to require less. Using the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook or another resource, invite students to explore the job outlook of various occupations of interest. Discuss the relationship between the job outlook (given as a percentage) and the projected employment change. Challenge students to consider how the two are related. Advanced students should be able to derive an equation for the job outlook using the information provided for the total number of jobs currently and the projected employment change.

Subject: Math

Meet Bella and learn along with her about education and career options.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Questioning College, students learn about the costs associated with college and ways to prepare for them. Through these supporting math activities, students will explore the differences between the sticker price and average net price at various colleges and gain experience using an online interest calculator to discover the benefit of starting to save money early.

Applicable skills

Summarize a data set
Calculate measures of center (i.e., mean, mode, and median)
Explore interest calculations

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Questioning College, students learn about the difference between the sticker price and net price at many colleges and universities. Demonstrate how students can look up this information using the National Center for Education Statistics' College Navigator. Invite students to create a data table with college names, the estimated total expense for full-time students, and the average net price. Brainstorm a list of at least ten colleges and have students look up the information and complete the table. Discuss ways you can compare the information and/or create a chart to portray the information. Examples include calculating the net price as a percentage of the sticker price, finding the range and mean of each column, and exploring various graphs (line, bar, stacked bar, etc.).

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Questioning College, students view an image of a savings calculator. Invite students to locate and compare online savings calculators and use them to explore how the different variables influence the total amount that is saved, including the interest rate, monthly deposit amounts, and time period. Challenge students to consider the advice, "Save early and often." How can this statement be supported with what they found?

Subject: Math

Make connections between different services provided by the government and taxes people pay.

Introduction

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Where Does the Government Get Its Money?, students learn that many taxes are calculated as a percentage of the cost of the goods or services. Through these supporting math activities, students apply their knowledge of percentages to calculate the amount of taxes on items and the total cost of the item with tax.

Applicable skills

Perform calculations using percents (i.e., sales tax)
Compare methods for determining the total cost of an item using percents

Activity 1

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Where Does the Government Get Its Money?, students learn about various types of taxes. Invite students to look up the cost of various items online. Provide students with the state income tax percentage in your state along with those of several others. Direct students to calculate the total purchase cost of the items they looked up in several states. Encourage students to explore different approaches to calculating taxes including determining the amount of the tax and adding it to the original sales price and calculating the total price with tax as a percent of the original (i.e. using a multiplier of 1.06 for a six percent tax rate).

Activity 2

In the Earn Your Future Digital Classroom module, Where Does the Government Get Its Money?, students learn about transaction taxes that are charged to people when they purchase a vehicle or home. Invite students to look up the taxes charged in their state or provide them to students. Direct students to perform calculations based on specific vehicle and/or home sales prices.

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Mortgage Mystery

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Truth or Dare?

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Can I Afford a Phone?

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Too Good to Be True?

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

What's Your Interest?

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Mission to Konfido

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

#Link2YourFuture

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Questioning College

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Where Does the Government Get Its Money?

Introduction

Applicable skills

Activity 1

Activity 2

Earn Your Future^® Digital Classroom Curriculum Connectors