Arithmet

Part 1: Lesson Description

Abstract

Learners will be introduced to the concept of budget in a business context and will assume the roles of assistants being tasked to prepare a simple business travel budget for their managers. Leaners will choose both a domestic and an international city destination and will create a simple business travel budget in an excel spreadsheet using information from different websites as well as using addition, subtraction and or percentage functions in excel. Learners will also be asked to develop a power point presentation of two-three slides on which two cost-cutting measures for reducing travel costs they would propose to their managers. Materials to be included are computers, websites, excel and power point. This lesson will help learners develop basic skills in excel and power point as well to clearly convey ideas and information and refine internet navigation skills.

Learner Audience / Primary Users

This lesson target adult learners in High Intermediate Basic Education.

Educational Use

●      Curriculum / Instruction

Language

English

Material Type

●      Instructional Material

●      Activities and Labs Assessment

●      Data

●      Lesson Plans

●      Video Lecture

Keywords

●      Designers for Learning

●      Adult Education

●      Budget

●      Presentation

●      Arithmetic

●      Computer literacy

Time Required for Lesson

90-120 minutes

Targeted Skills

Key skills covered in this lesson include:

●     Budgeting

●     Employability

●     Career

●     Life

●     Financial literacy

●     Higher education preparation

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to:

●      Describe what a budget is and why it is used in business

●      Create a simple business travel budget incl. meals, hotel, gas, car/or taxi for a domestic and international city destination of own choice in an excel spreadsheet

●      Identify three possibilities to cut business travel costs

●      Create a three-slide power point presentation to present to classmates in oral discussion or by posting online in a class discussion forum, stating the chosen cost-cutting measures and why

College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment

●      Level: Adult Education

●      Grade Level: CCRS Grade Level E

●      Subject: English Language Arts / Literacy and Mathematics (integrated lesson)

●      Domain or Strand:

○      Math, domain:

§  Number and quantity

○      English Language Arts / Literacy lesson,

■      Strand: Writing

●     Math: Model with mathematics. (MP.4); Use appropriate tools strategically. (MP.5)

●     English Language Arts / Literacy: CCR Anchor 6: Use technology, including the Internet,   to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others; CCR Anchor 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Prior Knowledge

Learners need to be proficient in English reading and writing comprehension equivalent to high school grade 11/12. They also need to be familiar with basic math operations such as summing, adding or percentage functions. Learners should also know how to create excel spreadsheets and power point slides and should be able to type in either of these. They should also know about basic formatting and rudimentary budgeting. Learners further need to have good internet navigation skills.

Required Resources

Access to computer with MS Excel and PowerPoint, internet access, projector/beamer, board, flipchart

Lesson Author & License

●      Lesson Author: Viviana Dreyer

●      License: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license

Part 2: Lesson

Introduction

Time: 10 minutes

Tell learners that for the lesson they will continue to work with a travel budget, as several jobs involve traveling. Learners will assume the role of assistants working for a busy manager who is frequently travelling and who needs an overview of his travel expenses. Inform learners that they will work with different websites to research and compile information both in excel and power point. State and write the learning objectives on the flipchart. Create excitement among the learners by pointing out how they will benefit from budgeting skills in their future careers and life as well as pointing them to the chance to practice their technology skills throughout the lesson. Assess learners’ prior knowledge by asking the following questions: What comes to mind when you hear the word “budget”? Do you set aside certain amounts of money for trips? Do you keep track of your spending in general? If yes, in which form (e.g. hardcopy journal, electronic formats or even with an app)?

Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration

Time: 20 minutes

The instructor writes two questions on the board: “What is a budget? What does it mean?” Instructor will then show a short YouTube video to the learners explaining what a budget is and what it is used for. Learners should take notes while watching and compare their notes with their neighbors. The instructor will check then learners’ comprehension by reinforcing the two questions and visualize learners’ answers in the form of a mind-map. Basic arithmetic formulae in excel will be pre-taught and demonstrated to learners by the instructor by displaying his own excel application.

Guided Practice

Time: 30 minutes

Learners sit in front of a computer, laptop or notebook device and open excel as well as an internet browser. They are to plan the basic costs from Washington D.C. to both their chosen domestic destination as well as to an international destination. The total budget amount for both trips is $4,000. accompanied by a worksheet activity (adapted from Deborah Madden).  The students will practice their understanding of arithmetic operations in excel by developing two basic travel budgets to include flights, lodging, food and taxi at the domestic destination and the international destination respectively.

Help on basic excel formulae:

         http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Percentages

         http://www.wikihow.com/Add-in-Excel

         http://www.wikihow.com/Subtract-in-Excel

Activity 1

Please note down your chosen domestic destination________________________as well as your international destination_________________________. Type the word “Item” into cell A1, then your destinations into cells B1 and C1 of your excel spreadsheet.

Activity 2

Perform an airline search on the internet for the travel from Washington to both your destinations. Compare the highest fares from the lowest fare. Fares are located on Kayak.com or Expedia.com Subtract the highest fare found on your search from the lowest airfare. How much is the savings for each trip?  1. For the domestic trip?__________2. For the international trip?___________

For each destination, choose one of the fares to include on your budget spreadsheet. List your fares chosen for each destination beside item in columns B and C.

Activity 3

Search for lodging on the internet. This can be hotel, motel, friends or hostel.  List “Lodging” beneath “flight” in column A and type in the cost of your lodgings for each destination on your list in columns B and C.

Activity 4

Cost one meal for the day by locating a food menu on the internet for both destinations. Hint: McDonald’s counts but try to find another chain or unfamiliar food establishment.   Type in “meal” into the “Item” column A and list the cost for one day for both your destinations in columns B and C.

Suppose on your particular day to eat at your chosen establishment there is a 25 percent discount on the meal if you dine between 3 pm to 5 pm.  What is the meal cost? _________

Activity 5: Decide what amount of money you want to budget for taxi:______________

List “Taxi” in the item column and the amounts for each destination in columns B and C.

Type in the word “Total” beneath your item list in column A and up the cost items for each destination for each destination.

In a second spreadsheet, subtract the $4000 minus your tabulated costs from above.  $3000 – (Total Destination 1+Total Destination 2) = ___________

Are you over or under budget? _________________  

List both your destinations including the total cost for both trips.

Evaluation

Time: 5 minutes

Quiz learners orally on the definition and use of a budget and why excel is helpful in working with budgets.

Application

Time: 30 minutes

Learners’ will perform another internet research on "ways to save money on business travel" using a search engine like Google or Yahoo!

They prepare 2-3 power point slides recommending two cost-cutting measures to their manager, shortly stating why in complete sentences. Learners will post their slides for peer review on the class discussion board and will provide feedback to their work.

Key Terms and Concepts

Arithmetic

Budget

Computer literacy

Excel

Power Point

References

Madden, D. (2016, April 26). Arithmetic and Travel Planning. OER Commons. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/13374-arithmetic-and-travel-planning/1/view

The Audiopedia (2016, July 27). What is BUDGET? What does BUDGET mean? BUDGET meaning, definition & explanation. Retrieved April 23, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0m9qNxqpLs

Attribution Statements

The Audiopedia (2016, July 27). What is BUDGET? What does BUDGET mean? BUDGET meaning, definition & explanation: This work, What is BUDGET? What does BUDGET mean? BUDGET meaning, definition & explanation”: Content created by The Audiophelia, originally published at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0m9qNxqpLs under a Creative Commons CC-BY-license.