iPod+Lesson+Plan


 * iPod Lesson Plan **
 * __ Title: __** Simple Interest


 * __ Duration: __** About 2 weeks


 * __ Objective: __** Students will learn about simple interest and how it applies it to their lives. They will explore how different interest rates and loan periods affect monthly payments and total owed on a purchase.


 * __ Materials: __** Class set of iPods, Internet access, classroom set of computers with audacity and money to purchase the required applications.


 * __ State Standards: __**

· Develop effective oral and written presentations that include appropriate use of technology · Apply proportional thinking in a variety of problem situations · Determine measurements indirectly using formulas in applications.

Before starting the unit I will make sure that all students first download the iStudent app onto their iPods. The iStudent application will help students organize their schedule and allow them to keep a calendar of due dates etc.
 * __ PROCEDURE: __**

Warm-ups: During the duration of this unit plan students will have a warm-up that they will complete the first five minutes of the class period. I will have them download the Mathemagics app, which is an application for learning to mentally calculate math problems at phenomenal speeds. Mathemagics contains 15 different math tricks for multiplying, dividing and squaring numbers faster than many people can use a calculator. Students will learn the tricks and then will be able to practice them on their iPods.

**// Simple Interest //** This is a little unit we teach in Applied Algebra. I took what we did with it last year and added some ways we could incorporate the iPod. I tried to start out with some simple ways since this technology is a totally new shift for us.

__ Day 1, 2, and 3: __ I will go over simple interest with the class and show them how to calculate simple interest. Students will work together on a worksheet to figure out the monthly payments on a car for different interest rates and different loan periods. They will be asked to figure out how much interest is saved on a 3-year loan compared to a 4-yr loan etc. Students will also look at depositing money in a bank and finding how much interest they will make over a certain time period.
 * __ Lecture: Simple Interest __**

__ Day 4 and 5 __ : Students will demonstrate what they learned by doing the following project which will be graded as their assessment for simple interest. Students will use their iPods to find their dream car and dream home. They will need to find a description (and a price) of their dream car and home. For both the car and home they complete a chart describing the Principle, Interest rate, annual interest, total interest, total owed and monthly payments. They will complete this information for a 3, 4, and 5 year loan for a car and a 15, 20, and 30 year loan for a house. They can use the interest rates that I provided or they can use their iPods to search for a better interest rate but they have to let me know which bank or credit union they are going with. (See attached worksheet)
 * __ Assessment: Simple Interest __**

__ Day 6 and 7 __ : Students will create a podcast that describes either their dream home or dream car. They will first give a description and then will talk about which type loan they are doing and which bank or credit union they are working with. They will have to tell us their monthly payments and why they choose the loan they did. Did they save money? If so, how much? Students will also find an app on their iPods that would help them calculate simple interest, or monthly payments on a house or car. They will present the app to the rest of the class and show them how it works. Now that they manually know how to calculate simple interest I will allow them to use their app in the future to speed things up.

Below is the simple interest worksheet I use for their dream home/car.