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Mathematics


		11-16 schools

		6th form schools

		Colleges

Examples of enterprise learning in key stage 4

Case study 1

A year 10 GCSE mathematics group decided to establish a school bank in their own time. With headteacher approval, they researched bank functions on the internet and were visited by a high-street bank education adviser who explained day-to-day operations and what they would have to do to set up the project. Students designed simple cheques for internal issue to depositors. Monthly statements were provided. A customer care centre was established to offer advice on personal finance and possible investment. The subject teacher monitored all activity and cash received was banked in a new school account opened specially for this purpose. All students were given the opportunity to work in the bank either in customer service or behind the counter. Students gained knowledge of banking systems and experience of handling money, percentages and calculating balances. Some also learned about the importance of customer service.

Case study 2

Year 11 students focused on the mobile telephone market and the role of buyers and sellers. A role-play exercise was used to explore some of the issues. First, information on mobile phone literature and tariffs was collected from leading suppliers. This information was used to provide information sheets for the students. Phone companies were set up, ‘staffed’ by groups of three students. The remaining students took on the roles of six types of customers, eg taxi service, fast food delivery, young person. The ‘companies’ set up their shops in a specific area of the classroom. Companies were free to decide their own tariffs and special offers. Some training in sales techniques was provided. Customers concentrated on the costs and features of the mobile phones. The customers then visited the ‘shops’ to hear presentations and ask questions before deciding which phone to buy. Discussion afterwards looked at key questions about mobile ownership, with a final vote on whether mobiles gave good value for money. Students learned about marketing, buying and selling, and budgeting.

Case study 3

A year 10 mathematics tutor decided to introduce a short course on personal finance education. An introductory quiz assessed students' current financial knowledge and helped to decide future work themes. A set of 30 ‘I know’ cards were designed, each bearing a simple statement such as ‘I know how and where to seek advice if I get into debt’; or, ‘I know how to claim the benefits I may be entitled to’. Each student received a set of cards and sorted them into ‘I know’ and ‘I don't know’ piles. The cards were taken home by the students so that parents could advise and help the students select what they should learn about first from their ‘don't know’ list. Groups gave plenary feedback and a priority order was agreed. Time was allowed for reflection. In this way students became aware of the complexity of financial knowledge and discussed the importance of financial skills.

Case study 4

A mathematics class decided to take part in a national Shares Portfolio Challenge, in which teams invest online an imaginary £100,000 portfolio in UK and international shares. Students chose their own portfolio of equities and then managed this online over a three-month period, in competition with teams from other schools nationally. Their mathematics teacher introduced associated topics and practical activities on spending and saving, linking this to explanations of the stock market, the process of buying and selling shares and investment strategies. Share price fluctuations involved graph work: investment risk introduced calculations of percentage gains and losses and the concept of averaging. The investment team showed an overall loss over the period, underlining the concept of risk associated with decision making. The challenge increased student understanding of investment, business and how the stock market works. Using teamwork the students had undertaken investigation into important economic principles. The majority stated they had not been put off investing in shares even though they had not done very well first time round.

Case study 5

A tutor used the concept of high and low pay to provide data to create various types of graph. Cards giving individual occupations (eg teacher, doctor, miner) were issued to every student. They then lined themselves up in an estimated rank order of income. Actual incomes and the wage market were then revealed and discussed. Data on the top 10 low-paid jobs were converted into a bar chart. Case studies of monthly expenditure for low and highly paid workers became pie charts. Projected comparative lifetime income for a further set of workers was used to produce line graph overlays. Time was allowed throughout for class discussion. As a final step, the latest national statistics relating future earnings to academic qualifications were converted into graphical form. Students gained an insight into how wages are determined in a market economy, work motivation and the workings of the national minimum wage.

Case study 6

After a period of voluntary service abroad a mathematics teacher developed links with a vocational school in South Africa, which trained students for work in the textile industry. When trained, their job was to produce shirts and blouses for sale in the local community. Students in the English school were set the task of exploring the potential for importing these goods for sale in the UK market. Using data provided by the teacher on production and transport costs and import duties, the students calculated the price they would need to charge to reach the break-even point for such an enterprise. They also costed an alternative proposal which involved using logos produced by the African students and attaching them to tee shirts which had been screen printed by the school’s art and design department. The students subsequently developed the latter proposal as a fund-raising exercise, having decided that this was the initiative which would generate most income for their nominated charity

Case study 7

Students visited local supermarkets to survey prices for a range of commodities and from their observations calculated the price variations between the different stores. Back in school, the students worked in small groups to analyse the results and presented their findings as a wall display. This was used by the teacher to stimulate discussion. Students were made aware of the laws of demand and supply and how they affected the price of goods and services. They were asked to consider their own purchasing decisions. Using data from the government’s own national food survey on the purchase of snacks and sweets, they went on to design a questionnaire to establish how much the class spent in a week on confectionery and the extent to which price played a part in their decision making. The data was used to draw different forms of graph and displayed to the class. Students gained an understanding of the way markets operated and of their own role as consumers.

Case study 8

Students were taken on a field visit to the nearby market town to conduct a survey of the local housing market. Working as teams, they were allocated a number of streets and asked to categorise the types of properties (eg detached, semi-detached, terraced) and also count the ‘For Sale’ boards and note the name of the estate agent. They were requested to comment on the range of housing types contained in their sample and to think about the category of buyer who might be looking to purchase in their area. Information was collected on average prices in the area and price movement over the past year. All the data were collated and interrogated to identify any trends. Students were able to calculate typical and average price ranges for different types of properties and calculate market share. Further work was undertaken on taking out different types of mortgages to purchase the properties and calculation of the repayment costs.