Nov 27 - Nov 29
Thanksgiving Vacation
All Day
J.A. Finance Park
November 8th 2013
Mr. Robin Nesbitt and his Mathematics Applications students from first quarter traveled to the Junior Achievement Finance Park this Thursday, November 7, for a real-world experiential learning adventure! The Junior Achievement Finance Park is a hands-on experience for students to apply math concepts to real life situations. Mr. Nesbitt explained, "The JA Finance Park exercise allows our eighth grades an opportunity to experience the challenges of monthly financial planning and budgeting that every adult faces in real life. This interactive experiential program asks each student to take on the leadership role in a simulation that requires them to select from a range of options and create a balanced budget and then pay their monthly bills. Although the mathematics may be elementary in nature, each student's focus and decision making skills are tested throughout their day."
Students began the day with a random assignment of a life situation. Each student's life situation assigned them a career, a family status, and a salary. Students then created the financial portfolio and budget of the imaginary role they had been assigned. Creating and operating within those budgets proved challenging and fun for many students. "The best part was choosing which thing to buy, once we got all our papers," Mariah Uustal said. Students "bought" houses, cars, food, and health insurance. They even budgeted for other incidentals. The goal of the day was to budget correctly. Students were expected to have between $0 and $25 remaining after paying all of their bills. Indira Ramgolam learned the importance of knowing one's budget: "it's always important to check your budget before paying your bills!" she warned. Too much left over meant that students could do more with the money they had, so students would then consider charitable donations or larger homes, for instance. If students overspent, they would have to reconsider some of their budget allocations.
One important aspect of this authentic learning activity is connecting the math concepts and lessons from the classroom to meaningful experiences outside. Students definitely appreciated this fact. Alessia Petricca explained, "It is a good lesson and activity because it is something you will need when you grow up." Students enjoyed themselves at JA Finance Park and were able to bring home some prizes from the JA Finance Park shop along with their life lessons on managing personal finances
