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Topic:
Rates, ratios, data analysis
Type
of Web activity:
data collection, calculation
Materials
/ Software needed:
Web
browser, spreadsheet software
Materials
for construction:
See
currency design lesson
Audience:
Students
Grade
Level:
6-8
Time
involved:
Several
days
Created
on:
8/10/2000
The
Web Science Workshop lessons were created in cooperation
with the Exploratorium
Teacher
Institute
.
This
site developed and maintained by
Deborah
Hunt
and
Eric
Muller
.
3601
Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
©2000
The
Exploratorium
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What
is the value of a dollar? Did you know that it costs the
United
States Treasury
four cents to make a dollar bill? Do you place the same
value on a dollar as your parents? Does your money have any
value in another country? What if you could design your own
money, what would it look like? Try these activities to
discover for yourself what the value of a dollar
is.
Activity One: Time
Travel
Does the value of the dollar change
over time? Can you buy as much candy now for a dollar as you
could when you were born? What about when your parents were
born?
Directions
-
Think of an item you bought
recently. How much did it cost?
-
Record this number on a sheet
of paper.
-
Record the year you were
born.
-
Estimate the year your parents
were born. Write it down.
-
Go to the
Consumer
Price Index
page.
-
Calculate the cost of the item
that you bought for the two years that you wrote down on
your paper compared to the present.
-
Record the information on your
paper.
Questions
-
In what year did the item cost
the most? the least?
-
How has the value of a dollar
changed over time? What is the percent change from your
birth to the present? from your parents
birth?
-
Go back to the
Consumer
Price Index
page and calculate
the value of an item costing $1.00 over the last ten
years. Make a
graph
of the results with cost on the
y-axis and year on the x-axis.
(
Sample
graph
or
Excel sample
graph
)
-
What would you predict would be
the value of a dollar ten years from now?
Activity Two: Virtual
Vacation
Directions
-
Pretend you are planning a
vacation
to the United States.
-
Choose a city and country you
are visiting from.
-
Make a list of ten items you
would like to purchase on your vacation to the United
States.
-
Write down the approximate cost
of each item.
-
Go to the
Travel
Expenses
Calculator
.
-
Fill in your name, chosen home
city and home currency.
-
Complete the expenses table
with your list of purchases. Remember that the currency
you paid is American Dollars.
-
Choose cash as the payment
method.
-
Choose a different date for
each purchase.
-
When you are finished listing
your items, scroll to the bottom of the table and press
click here to calculate.
-
Record the cost of each item in
your
"home"
currency.
-
Record the exchange rate for
each purchase.
Questions
-
How does the exchange rate vary
from day to day? Make a
graph
to show how the rate varies from
day to day.
-
What is total cost of your
purchases? Choose a partner from "
another
country"
. Can you find a way to convert your currency
into your partners currency? Your partner should do this
also. How much of your "
home"
currency will you
need to purchase your items in your partners
country?
-
Go to the
Currency
Converter
and exchange some of
your money into your partners currency. What day in the
last year would have been the best day to convert money?
the worst? Why do you think the rates vary? What factors
might be involved?
Activity Three: Make
Your Own Money
Directions
-
Go to
Newton's
Apple
(show #1212) and
complete the activity and questions.
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Additional
Resources:
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