STAGE 5.1 (draft mathematics syllabus) Number and Algebra (Financial Mathematics)

* Today we will be presenting a webquest that we have created which covers most of Stage 5.1(Financial Mathematics). *We have created the webquest through a free webquest maker called ZUNAL. Our webquest can be found at: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=160919. *This block of work is to be completed over roughly 8-12 lessons.

The teacher will separate the students into groups of 2-3 students - throughout the topics the students will have to collaborate with their groups at various times. Students will also be encouraged to ask for assistance within their groups before asking the teacher for help. The teacher will closely monitor the students participation in the group work to ensure all students are taking part equally. The students will have to make decisions and come to an agreement on various issues throughout the webquest.

The students will move through at their own pace so that they understand the exercises (which assists knowledge building). The students have numerous opportunities to create and explore ideas that are new to them, and express what they have learnt. For the students to gain high grades they will need to show higher order thinking in their work.

Various forms of ICT have been incorporated throughout the lessons, including excel spreadsheets, online activities and exercises, power-point presentations, use of search engines, etc. ICT has been chosen to convey this information as it would be impractical to complete various activities throughout this unit without ICT (e.g. searching for a car to buy).

The students will have to work with situations from the real world, such as using the job classifieds, looking for a car and loan, using tax tables, etc. Whilst it is not a requirement for the students to implement their ideas outside of an academic situation, the task will be enabling them to know how to in the future, as buying a car, getting a loan etc. are all things that the students will be doing themselves within the next few years.

The students will be working in pairs at their own pace, and have responsibility for making various decisions (such as what jobs and cars they choose); which will allow them to acquire self regulation skills. There is a rubric that is available to the students, so they will be able to assess how they are doing along the way.