Have your students understand the purpose of mathematics in the real world. Make math meaningful to your students by using the new TechnoKids technology project TechnoSales. This project uses a problem solving model to have students plan a bake sale. To make the fundraiser a success, students use math to answer the following questions:
- What dessert do students prefer?
- Are there differences between desserts boys and girls prefer?
- What flavor of dessert do students like?
- What is a reasonable financial goal for the bake sale?
- What is a fair price to charge for each item?
- How many dessert items are needed for the sale to have enough for each customer and reach the financial goal?
- How many items does each student in the class need to bring to have enough items for the sale?
NOTE: This project has been a favorite for many years. It has been updated for Microsoft Excel 365 and Google Sheets.
The TechnoSales project begins with a “real world” problem for students; how to make a fundraiser successful by selling a product the majority of people want to buy. To select a product they survey fellow classmates to learn about dessert preferences. This information is organized in a Microsoft Excel worksheet and transformed into a bar graph.
Before making a decision about the dessert to sell at the fundraiser, students create a comparison graph of boys and girls preferences. Using various problem solving strategies they study the data to determine the item that is preferred by the majority of customers that are likely to purchase desserts at the bake sale.
Once the dessert is selected, students conduct another survey to learn about flavor preferences. This information is organized into another Microsoft Excel worksheet, but this time, the data is transformed into a pie graph. Students analyze the survey results to select flavors they should have many of at the sale, and flavors where only a few are needed.
To help students set realistic financial goals, past sales data is analyzed. Students organize the amount earned from previous sales into a Microsoft Excel worksheet and transform the data into a line graph. Students then use the AVERAGE formula to calculate the average amount of money earned from the sales. This information is used to set a financial goal for the current fundraiser. Students then use this goal as a guide to determine a fair price to sell each dessert, number of items needed to reach the financial goal and have enough dessert for each customer, as well as how many items each student in the class needs to bring. This information is calculated using simple multiplication and division formulas.
Students complete the project, by writing a report about how to make the bake sale a success. Graphs are inserted to illustrate each point.
The TechnoSales project has everything you need to make math meaningful to your students. When you order TechnoSales, you will receive a teacher guide, student workbook, review questions, skill reviews, extension activities, and other helpful resource files.
TechnoSales is recommended for students in grades 4-8.
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