The Untold Story of a Loan

This WebQuest is designed to allow students to not only investigate how Compound Interest is calculated in the real-world, but also to understand that the original loan amount is not the amount that will be paid back at the completion of the loan period. Many students graduate high school and continue their college education without understanding how the value of their loans will change over time. The groups are required to collaborate with one another to prepare a knowledgeable, professional, and unique presentation that could potentially be reviewed by a real school board. Students are required to meet certain requirements within the WebQuest, but they are also given opportunities to be creative and make the WebQuest fun and unique to their group!

"The Untold Story of a Loan" WebQuest is created to be completed over 3-4 class periods with presentations taking place on the 5th day. Therefore, the entire WebQuest can be completed during a Monday-Friday school week. Completion of practice problems can be completed at any time, as these are an individual assignment! A sample week could be structured like the following:

Monday- Introduce assignment, assign/pick groups, assign roles

Tuesday- Begin individual research, start collaborating with group members (this would be a great day to reserve a computer lab!)

Wednesday- Begin (and possibly complete) Excel spreadsheet, begin poster, start preparing presentation

Thursday- Finish poster, finish presentation, practice presentation 

Friday- Present!

If you are wanting to try something different and give students a real-world career opportunity, talk with different teachers who may have a prep hour during your class period (s) and/or actual school board members within your district and have them be a REAL PANEL OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS! This will help students to become more motivated to have a successful presentation and make their presentation the best it can be. Also, it will give you more eyes to help you determine the best presentation! 

*PLEASE NOTE: All images were taken from Google Image Search and are NOT meant to be used for commercial use!

Standards

MDE Mathematics Standards:

MMS.A-SSE.3.C:  Use the properties of exponents to transform expressions for exponential functions. For example the expression 1.15t can be rewritten as (1.151^(1/12))^(12t) ≈ 1.012^(12t) to reveal the approximate equivalent monthly interest rate if the annual rate is 15%.

ISTE Standards:

2. Leader- Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning. 

• Shape, advance and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning with technology by engaging with education stakeholders.
• Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students.
• Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.

5. Designer- Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability.

• Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
• Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
• Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.

6. Facilitator- Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.

• Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.
• Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.
• Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
• Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.

INTASC Standards:

1(a) The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to meet learners’ needs in each area of development (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical) and scaffolds the next level of development.

2(a) The teacher designs, adapts, and delivers instruction to address each student’s diverse learning strengths and needs and creates opportunities for
students to demonstrate their learning in different ways.

5(b) The teacher engages learners in applying content knowledge to real world problems through the lens of interdisciplinary themes (e.g., financial literacy, environmental literacy).

*There are MANY standards to examine for this WebQuest. I have highlighted the standards that are directly associated with this WebQuest. However, there are a variety of standards that can be achieved by use of "The Untold Story of a Loan."

Other

Enjoy watching your students discover the mysterious world of loans!