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The lesson is based on a 60 minute teaching period and is set at a school that has
a bring your own device policy. The lesson plan will be the introductory lesson to
financial mathematics. Its main aim is to get students engaged and give relevance to
financial mathematics by showing how financial modelling and mathematics affects the
students’ everyday life and can have a huge and lasting impact on their lives for better
The teacher will introduce the new topic of financial mathematics and make the
link to where this branch of mathematics is used both in personal life and the
believe financial maths is to them: high, medium or low importance. The teacher
Students will be asked to write down their future goals in regards to education
and life after school. This is asked to get the students thinking about the future.
school.
Students will be asked to play a game on their computers. The game is called
‘Game of Life’, based on an excel spreadsheet, where they will complete a ten
Once students have worked through the exercise they will be given a balance
sheet. This will display their net worth, the amount they earned, the amount they
spent and what they had to show for it (what tangible items they have in their
possession) as well as any debts they have accumulated along with the interest
paid. Students will be asked to think and answer the following questions:
1. How well do they think they went financially over the ten-year period?
3. What information could they have used to improve their situation at the
The teacher will bring the class back together to lead a class discussion based on
Following this, students will start learning about financial maths. The teacher
can then draw links back to this first exercise throughout the topic
Activity overview
Life’. This game will take students through a snapshot of their financial life over ten
years after finishing university. Through this game, students will be given a yearly
budget that they will get to spend in five categories: living expenses, housing,
entertainment, transport and savings. Each of these categories has smaller sub-
categories that students will further divide their yearly money into. The way that
students use their money in one year affects the next year’s income. For example, if a
student decides to buy a car instead of using public transport then in the coming years
they will have to pay upkeep (such as servicing and insurance) and usage costs such as
petrol. Students will also be able to get loans to buy things such as cars, houses or
holidays. However, as before, the decision in one year will affect their income for the
following years. Students will also have the opportunity to increase their earnings
through savings and investments. By the end of the game, students will be given a
summary of the ten years of life in the game. This will take the form of a balance sheet
showing total income, summary of assets, total expenses including interest paid and net
Rationale
concepts and having students learn the formula used to solve a focused problem. The
link to students’ everyday life and where they will encounter the concept is not really
defined or it is only indicated through an abstract example or hinted at by the end of the
lesson. This learning activity varies significantly from the traditional approach by
introducing the topic of financial maths and its full application at the beginning of the
topic. By taking this approach students begin with an overall view of the topic and its
application. By combining this overall view with real world application and relevance of
their own personal situation and decisions, students will gain an understanding of how
important this topic is to their personal lives, helping to prepare students for the real
world. This is one of the mathematics most important aims (Reinholz, 2016).
useful teaching strategy as it meets many of the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)
(Department of education and training [DET], 2017). The HITS teaching strategies have
been developed through extensive research and are proven to improve students’
learning. This learning activity gives students multiple exposures and encourages them
to question. This task is the first holistic exposure students will have to financial
mathematics in the stage 6 advanced course and as the topic progresses, students will
is introduced into the assessment schedule. The task gets students questioning their
decisions by forcing them to come face-to-face with the consequences of their decisions
The task is also designed to fit within the aspects of the Quality Teaching
incorporating the following elements into the task engagement: relevance, worked
examples and connectedness. By making the task about the students’ personal lives
after university, the students will feel a level of relevance to the task promoting
engagement in the task from the students. The task also shows students worked real
world examples and applications of the financial mathematics topic they are about to
study. The students can be drawn back to the initial task throughout the topic showing
students the worked examples and bringing relevance to each section. Finally the task
will promote connectedness as the students will develop meaning for the topic that
exists outside the classroom and will show students situations they will confront
outside of school.
Throughout the topic, the concept of financial maths and financial literacy is
promoted. The focus of the topic is to develop students’ ability to make informed
Studies NSW, 2017). In order to maintain this focus, financial literacy as well as the
mathematics needs to be taught to students. This is where the initial modelling game is
consequences of such decisions. The aim for the topic is to develop two things, first the
students’ ability to do and apply the maths but also to develop a true understanding of
financial maths and its effect on our lives. To achieve this during each section of the
financial mathematics topic, the initial task will be used as a reference to help students
understand the mathematical principle, how this is applied to real world situations, how
this can benefit them or disadvantage them in their lives and to overall improve their
financial literacy. This ability for students to develop financial literacy and apply
mathematics to the real world influences and underpins many aspects of personal, civic
and work lives for students’ future lives (Geiger, 2018). An inability to use financial
(Paulos, 1990).
develop their financial literacy, an assessment task based around the topic would
strengthen students’ understanding and help to strengthen the focus of the topic. This
task would be for students to create their own financial plan. By embedding financial
mathematics into meaningful assessment tasks, the topic and concepts are enriched
(Stillman, 2004). This assessment task links well with the outcomes in the syllabus
(Board of Studies NSW, 2017). Students will solve problems about their financial
sequences and series (MA12-4) and be able to develop arguments to justify their
This task will link to the Financial Mathematics topic in the Stage 6 Mathematics
Advanced Syllabus (Board of Studies NSW, 2017). The topic focus is centred around
students developing their financial literacy and improving their ability to manage
personal finances prudently and under the consequences of their decisions. The task
presented to the students is aimed at achieving and setting up this focus for financial
maths outlined in the curriculum. It is designed to show students the traps and
By using the modelling game at the beginning of the topic, students are exposed
The task exposes students to all aspects of financial modelling outlined in the
geometric sequences and series and their applications in financial maths. Furthermore
the task exposes students to ICT tools that they can use to develop their own financial
sequence and series. To enable students to model these easily and to provide valuable
ICT skills, the modelling will be done using computer programs such as Excel or Matlab.
The benefit of this is that students would already be familiar with these programs and
students can easily see the results of their modelling graphically. Research suggests that
technology can offer opportunities for students to collect and analysis data, make links
analyse their mathematical thinking (Hennessy, Fung, & Scanlon, 2001). However by
just shifting the work to computers may not have a positive effect if the personal
teaching philosophy of the teacher is not geared towards utilising computers in the
Board of Studies NSW. (2017). NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics
from http://mscplc.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/0/8/4808031/
quality_teaching_guide.pdf
vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/support/highimpactteachstrat.pdf
Geiger, V., Stillman, G., Brown, J., Galbriath, P., & Niss, M. (2018). Using