Suffern Middle School in Second Life

Once again, I give my teachers high praise for their creativity! Two of them came to me and said they were having a conversation about how to address some math concepts surrounding money and budgeting with their classes. One said, “I wish I could give them each $100 and put them on a bus and take them to the mall where they could shop and dine and figure out sale prices and calculate tips and manage their money.” Fast forward to our latest project!

The kids were indeed each give 100(L)$ and were sent to a new Flea Market in Ramapo Islands where they were given a list of items they needed to purchase while staying within their budget, and being careful to retain at least 6L$ for entrance into the culminating Beach Bash where they would have a party with food, drinks, dancing, windsurfing, para-sailing, tubing, jet-skiing and many more activities.

THe students needed to purchase all of the supplies on a list before they could go to the party. Things like, suntan lotion, bathing suits, coolers, hats, sandals, beach towels, umbrellas, surfboards, and water bottles were all set up for sale in the market. At least 4 versions of each item were for sale at various prices and discounts that reflected the percentage off. And so the math began because although they may have wanted the surfboard WITH the particle effects AND the suntan lotion that actually sprayed, they had to be careful not to exceed their budget and to leave enough funds for admission to the party and for possible spending for the optional “high end” items that were only available at the Beach Bash.

As fate would have it, the day of the Beach Bash, I had to be at a conference (NYSCATE Metro) and had no idea if I would be able to login and support the teachers that day. About half- way through the class time, I managed to find a bench out in the hallway and dropped in to Ramapo for a quick look! The party was in FULL SWING - everyone had made it in and the kids were rocking away on the dance floor or flipping around on their surfboards. Mission accomplished! Monday Thursday they were furiously calculating percentages, working their math in a hard copy “checkbook” and going back to check their math when the price they came up with didn’t match the actual price of the item for sale. I had told them that there “may be errors in the prices when they went to pay-just like in the real world” so they were very careful with their pennies (L$s). Below are some photos of the week’s work: