Intent

Students work on a research, planning, and budgeting problem involving thinking about their own future. This helps them to put mathematics to practical use and to develop their organizational skills.

Mathematics

To engage in budgeting and forecasting, the mathematical aspects of this activity, students must gather information and make decisions based upon those data.

Progression

Students are introduced to the activity and encouraged to begin to gather information immediately. Some class time midway through the project for students to share information and resources can be quite valuable. The project concludes with students sharing their lifestyle plans and budgets.

Approximate Time

10 minutes for introduction

1 to 3 hours for activity (at home)

15 minutes for discussion

Classroom Organization

Individuals, concluding with small-group discussions

Doing the Activity

This POW has a different flavor from others students have done, as it does not involve solving a mathematics problem. It does involve researching opportunities in the community and making decisions based on that research.

Introduce the activity of planning for life after high school and, in particular, developing a budget to support these plans. Have students read the activity on their own. Then ask them to summarize what is expected and to carefully identify the expectations and the structure of the write-up.

You may want to suggest that students work in pairs, perhaps pretending that they will be roommates sharing an apartment. Each student should prepare an individual write-up even if they collaborate on the POW. Also let students know that they will discuss this POW in their groups rather than making class presentations.

Get a progress report from students approximately midway to the due date. Because this is a different kind of assignment, students may need some guidance. They can give each other advice about where to get information, and they might do further research via the Internet or by emailing questions to friends or relatives.

Discussing and Debriefing the Activity

In their groups, have students share what they learned. No specific mathematics needs to arise in these discussions. You might also allow the whole class to discuss what they learned from this activity.

Supplemental Activities

POW: High Low Differences is an additional open-ended POW in which students investigate sequences of calculations and look for patterns.

High Low Proofs (extension) asks students to prove conjectures they made in the POW: High Low Differences explorations.