Course Description
The Consumer Education course has been developed following recommendations from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards and the California Frameworks. The course is designed to address and build upon basic mathematical concepts that are applicable to real-world situations. Students learn about checking accounts, interest, saving and investing, assets and liabilities, and credit cards, as well as practical applications related to chance and probability. Later Units of the course work to help students develop skills and understand concepts related to entering the job market; students who successfully complete the course will develop a job-seeker's portfolio and a simple business plan, which can be valuable for any graduate who is entering the job market. Students will learn important research skills, are encouraged to work in cooperative groups, and to engage in thoughtful, creative exercises. Many of the assignments in the course go beyond mathematical computational skills by requiring students to use the Internet and to develop writing and presentation skills.
Credits: 5
Course Content
Unit 1 – Consumer Decisions
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, Grades 9-12
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Judge the meaning, utility, and reasonableness of the results of symbol manipulation, including those carried out by technology.
- Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems.
- Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.
- Develop fluency in operations using mental computation or paper-and-pencil calculations for simple cases and technology for more complicated cases.
- Monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.
- Compute fluently.
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data.
- Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions.
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, and solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.
- Organize and communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics and use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Review percentages and purchases.
- Understand checking accounts (writing checks, keeping accurate records, etc.)
- Understand simple and compound interest.
- Understand assets and liabilities.
- Utilize research skills and the Internet to solve real-world problems and practical applications of concepts.
Unit 2 – Major Financial Decisions
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, Grades 9-12
Students should be able to:
- Draw reasonable conclusions about a situation being modeled.
- Judge the reasonableness of numerical computations and their results.
- Apply in formation concepts of approximation.
- Make and investigate mathematical conjectures.
- Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas.
- Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data.
- Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions.
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, and solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.
- Organize and communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics and use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Understand concepts related to saving and investing money and how the Stock Market works.
- Understand various types of mutual funds and bonds including stocks, bonds, money market funds, etc.
- nderstand different types of insurance (medical, auto, homeowner’s, life, etc.
- Understand credit cards and installment debt.
- Utilize research skills and the Internet to solve real-world problems and practical applications of concepts.
Unit 3 – Math Potpourri
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, Grades 9-12
Students should be able to:
- Compute fluently and make reasonable estimates.
- Specify locations and describe spatial relationships.
- Use visualization and spatial reasoning.
- Draw and construct representations of two and three-dimensional objects.
- Visualize three-dimensional objects and spaces from different perspectives and analyze the cross sections.
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data.
- Understand and apply basic concepts of probability.
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, and solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.
- Organize and communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics and use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Learn shortcuts when dealing with certain mathematical concepts (Rule of 72 and other “magic numbers,” estimation, etc.
- Understand the mathematics of chance and probability.
- Understand how mathematics applies to art and photography (dimension, perspective, angles, etc.
- Study visual illusions.
- Understand exchange rates/conversion ratios.
- Utilize research skills and the Internet to solve real-world problems and practical applications of concepts.
Unit 4 – Going to Work
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, Grades 9-12
Students should be able to:
- Analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others.
- Solve problems that arise in mathematics and other concepts.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.
- Draw reasonable conclusions about a situation being modeled.
- Understand the differences among various kinds of studies and which types of inferences can be drawn from each.
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data.
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, and solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.
- Organize and communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics and use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Understand the job market and the skills and education required by specific fields.
- Understand how to prepare to enter the job market.
- Understand financial compensation and taxes (income, Medicare, social security, etc.
- Create a personal job-seeker portfolio and resume.
- Utilize research skills and the Internet to solve real-world problems and practical applications of concepts.
Unit 5 – Starting and Operating a Small Business
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, Grades 9-12
Students should be able to:
- Judge the reasonableness of numerical computations and their results.
- Understand how basic statistical techniques are used to monitor process characteristics in the workplace.
- Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole.
- Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems.
- Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data.
- Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions.
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, and solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts.
- Organize and communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly.
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics and use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will:
- Understand how and why people start small businesses.
- Understand how to create a business around an idea, create a target market, etc.
- Understand the legal requirements and options when operating a small business (licensing, partnerships, corporations, etc.
- Understand how people fund small businesses.
- Understand how to keep financial records for small businesses (inventory, liabilities, depreciation, equity, etc.
- Create a 5-year small business plan including projected income statements.
- Utilize research skills and the Internet to solve real-world problems and practical applications of concepts.
