Gold Seal Lesson:
Let's Make A Business

Copernicus Education Gateway

Subject:

Mathematics

Grade:

5-8

ICLE Standards:

Statistics: Develop an appreciation for statistical methods as a powerful means for decision making.

Communication: Use oral and written communication to create better solutions to problems.

Language Arts: Create a multimedia presentation to disseminate information.

Performance Task:

In this task you will work in groups of four or five students to develop a product that can be sold in school. Before beginning the task, brainstorm with the whole class what is needed to create and run a school business. You may wish to use businesses in your community as references. In your small groups, prioritize these needs and make a graphic display showing the formation of a business. Each group reports back to the class. Using the small group reports, make a classroom organizational chart of your business. Decide upon what business your class will set up. Each group now decides upon a product that can be produced and sold in your class' business. Determine budget costs, materials needed, and time needed to produce a successful venture. Develop strategies; including posters, commercials, brochures, Power Point presentations, and Hyper Studio stacks to market your product. Begin production and sales of each group's product. Set up and maintain spreadsheets showing materials inventory, the number of products sold, and your profit over a period of two to five weeks.

In your English journal, write a few paragraphs describing and evaluating your business venture. Tell what you have learned from this task about establishing and operating a business enterprise.

Knowledge / Skills:

Perform operations with signed (positive and negative) numbers, including decimals, ratios, percents, and fractions.  (m1)

Understand the best procedures for statistical data collection, organization, and display.  (m5)

Use brainstorming, role playing, and standard problem solving strategies to define a problem and suggest solutions.  (ela19)

Understand and produce a variety of informative formats such as business letters, memos, reports, news articles, brochures, proposals and critiques.  (ela22)

Use writing as a tool for learning in formats such as learning logs, laboratory reports, note-taking, and journals.  (ela40)

Plan and apply real or hypothetical models and constructions to facilitate investigation and learning and the solution to practical problems.  (s115)

Rubric:

4 Points  =  The group independently completes all aspects of the task. The concept of running a business is fully grasped. The marketing of the product is well presented and the sales are successful. All work by the group is neat and well organized. The students work cooperatively as a group with all members equally sharing the task. The journal entry is clear, concise, and well written.

3 Points  =  The group needs some help to complete all aspects of the task. The concept of running a business in mostly grasped. The marketing of the product is adequately presented and the sales are successful. Most work by the group is neat and adequately presented. The students work cooperatively as a group, but not all members share equally in the task. The journal entry is complete, but not clearly written. Some minor grammatical errors exist.

2 Points  =  The group needs considerable help in doing the task. Even with this help, only some of the tasks are completed. The concept of running a business is only partly grasped. The marketing of the product is poorly presented and sales are only partial successful. The work by the group is not very neat and is poorly organized. The students get along together, but work more as individuals than as a team. The journal entry is vague and contains many grammatical errors.

1 Point  =  Even with assistance, the group completes only a small portion of the task. The students demonstrate very little of the concept of running a business. The marketing of the product is very poorly presented and sales are not very successful. The work by the group is sloppy and lacks any organization. The students are not very cooperative with each other and demonstrate little, if any, team effort. The journal entry, if made, is meaningless and very poorly written.

0 Points  =  The group completes almost none of the task. The concept of running a business is not grasped. The marketing of the product is not presented and sales are unsuccessful. The students antagonize each other rather than working as a team. No meaningful journal entry is made.

Keywords:

GEOMETRY
ORAL PRESENTATION
JOURNAL
VISUALS
BROCHURE
MULTIMEDIA
TEAM WORK
 STATISTICS
CHARTS
DATA COLLECTION
TABLES
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
COMPUTATION 
MATH IN DAILY LIFE

Grades:

Kg [] - 1 [] - 2 [] - 3 [] - 4 [] - 5 [X] - 6 [X] - 7 [X] - 8 [X] - 9 [] - 10 [] - 11 [] - 12 []

ICLE Application:

D

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