This is how I solved the driving question for the Time is Money Scimatics project. The driving question for this project is: How can we predict our finances for the future?
I will write the answer to this at the bottom of my post. For this project we had to make a product and then make a video showing how much money we would make from that product.
Here is the final video
This is my review and process of creating the video.
I think that if I were to do it again then I would probably make the physical product, but that was not necessary and would cost quite a bit of money and time, as I did not actually intend to spend time selling my product.
I think that the finished video looks pretty cool, and I am proud of the final result.
The Curricular Competencies for this project are:
- Understanding and solving: Apply multiple strategies to solve problems in both abstract and contextualized situations
This means that all time, materials, and equipment are accounted for in the cost of making your product or performing your service.
I think I preformed quite well in this competency, as I did a lot of research to find the cheapest price for the supplies needed to make my product, and I found items that contained just the right amount of supplies so it would take make almost exactly an hour to use all of the supplies.
2) Communicating and representing: Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic form
This means that linear equations are used to determine profit per transaction, hourly wages, and predicted NET earnings (minus deductions) over a year. Graphs are created, labeled, and explained.
I think that I explained my earnings correctly and well in my video, and I also think that the graph in the video was well explained and labeled.
3) Connecting and reflecting: Connect mathematical
concepts to each other and to other areas and personal interests.
This means that the video compares your new business to other careers and considers the value of your time, if your business can cover your costs of living/operating, and its sustainability/impact on the environment.
I believe that I preformed okay for this part, as I spent a lot of time in my video explaining possible hazards from this product environmentally, and I also explained how some, but not all of those hazards could be avoided, and I also compared my business to the average pay of a McDonald’s worker, which is quite a low paying job and hard to have as your only job, but I explained that it was possible to survive with just the money from my business.
The steps that I took to make this game were:
Milestone 1: For this milestone we brainstormed what product/service we wanted to make. I settled on magnetic fidget toys.
Milestone 2: For this milestone we found out how much it would cost to make our products and how much we would sell them for. We also found out how much time it would take to make the product. Using the information we gathered we made charts to show the information.
Milestone 3: For this milestone we used the data from the charts to make an equation.
Milestone 4: For this milestone we put the equation into a graphing calculator.
Milestone 5: For this milestone we made the final video.
Milestone 6: For this milestone we made the blog post which I am doing right now.
As the answer to the driving question, it is actually quite easy to predict your finances for the future, you just have to know how much time it takes to make a certain amount of money, and how much money you are going to have to spend in that amount of time. (Money could be spent on rent, electric bills, taxes, or if you own a business then the money could be spent on startup costs.)
I learned a lot about jobs and how hard it is to make a good living during this project.
Before you go, I just want to say thank you to Mr. Harris for a great year, and I can’t wait for Gr.10
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and have a great day.