Develop a Food Budget, Free Classroom Learning Activity

STANDARDS & CONNECTIONS:

NGSS.3-5-ETS1, NGSS.MS-ETS1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.4

SUGGESTED MATERIALS:

Access to the internet, calculator, Excel

BACKGROUND:

Disposable income is the total amount of money available for an individual or population to spend or save after taxes have been paid. U.S. consumers spend about 10% of their disposable personal income on food, while those in other countries spend much more. Mexico spends 23% of their disposable income and Nigeria spends 57% of their disposable income on food.ii A budget is a plan for how you plan to spend money. Creating this spending plan allows you to determine in advance whether you will have enough money to do the things you need to do, like eat and pay bills, or would like to do, such as go to the movies.

PROCESS:

Identify

Share the background information with the students, then share the puzzle to be solved. Determine constraints (e.g., time alotted, space, materials provided, etc.) and divide students into small groups.

Imagine

Ask a series of questions to help students brainstorm solutions to the puzzle. Encourage students to list all ideas – don’t hold back! Before moving on, make sure each group selects a solution that fits within the contraints.

Ask: How can you can solve this puzzle? Which of your ideas can you build a prototype for given the constraints?

Design

Students diagram the prototype, identify the materials needed to build the prototype, and write out the steps to take. Students describe the expected outcomes.

Ask: What steps will you take to create your solution? What do you expect your solution to look like and be able to do?