Math-in-CTE Lesson Plan Lesson Title: Budgeting Lesson # IT01Occupational Area: Information TechnologyCTE Concept(s): Internet resources, building a computerMath Concepts: Measures of central tendency

Lesson Objective:

Students will research and price the components to make up a computer system. Students will calculate the measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode).Students will collect, explore and organize data.

Supplies Needed:

Access to Excel (or some spreadsheet program), access to the internet, presentation software (PPT presentation included)

Link to Accompanying Materials: Information Technology IT01 Downloads

THE "7 ELEMENTS" TEACHER NOTES(and answer key)

1. Introduce the CTE lesson.How many of you have a PC or video game system at home? How many of you have your OWN computer at home? How many of you have built your own computers? What types of computers do you use? What features do you like or dislike about these PCs? Share some of your experiences about PCs you have owned or used and describe some of their features. What are essential components of a PC system?

What storage device is being phased out in industry?

Have students start naming parts to a system and listing them on the board or display. List parts then separate them into internal and external (peripheral) components. Discuss components that a memory related. Handout.

Floppy drive: Why? Because of the size limitation and lower cost CDR.

Which features might be desirable for a home PC? A college bound student? A

Why would a college student want a laptop or desktop? How hard would it be to walk off with your desktop

small business? A graphic designer?

Discuss the importance of knowing what to look for when buying a computer, from the standpoints of consumer awareness, cost, budget and features.

In this lesson, we will use the internet to research and produce a spreadsheet to evaluate components in building a PC for home use. The spreadsheet should list 5 websites and prices for each given component.

SEE Budgeting Worksheet

Once we have found the values for these different components, we are going to calculate some statistical information to describe the data.

compared to laptop – speed and cost differences – desktop with a handheld is a great option with the same cost (two systems for the price of one)

Concerns are: speed, temporary memory, permanent memory, usage, video needs, monitor size, printing needs, and peripherals.

The components are: ATX case with power

supply(ATX 12V-compliant power supply required for this needed motherboard)

Motherboard (Intel Desktop Board D850MV)

Pentium 4 CPU that runs at 2.4 GHz

Two 128-bit RIMMs AGP 128 Mg Video Card Sound Blaster Live Card Hard Drive (80 GB 7200 RPM

ATA100) Floppy Drive Modem DVD-CD-ROM Drive Monitor 17 in flat screen Mouse and Keyboard

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2. Assess students’ math awareness as it relates to the CTE lesson.

We are going to identify or calculate the Maximum, Minimum, Range, Mean, Median and Mode for each component.

Have any of you heard these terms before?

See Element 5 for basic skills worksheet / key

Math Vocabulary:

Range: The difference between the Maximum and Minimum number in a set of data (D = M - m)

Absolute Value: A number’s distance from zero on a number line. The absolute value of 2 is equal to the absolute value of -2.

Equation: A statement of equality between two mathematical expressions.

Data Collection: Specifically designed surveys or other instruments used to collect information from both students and teacher participants in a research project.

Minimum: The least number in a data set.

Maximum: The highest number in a data set.

Mean: The sum of the set of numbers divided by n, the number of numbers in a the set (M=∑n/n).

Median: The value at the center of an ordered range of numbers.

Mode: Returns the most frequently occurring, or repetitive, value in an array or range of data.

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3. Work through the math example embedded in the CTE lesson.

Have students collect the data for all of the computer components. Review Excel operations (Spreadsheet format) and have them input their data into the excel spreadsheet. Students should set up the spreadsheet to perform the correct calculations and verify their equations using the help menu in Excel.

Show students the Excel help menu and teach them to utilize the help menu to find and check their calculations.

4. Work through related, contextual math-in-CTE examples.Have students find the mean, median and mode of some set of grades

Students can calculate the measures of central tendency of their own grade averages, or they can make the calculations on a single test across the class.

5. Work through traditional math examples.Give students the worksheet to check their ability in calculating the measures of central tendencies.

This should be the task immediately after the introduction. Worksheet.

Worksheet Key

6. Students demonstrate their understanding.Students could write a memo describing the impact the price of different components has on the mean and the median.

Compare what happens to the mean and the median of the system when we substitute the most expensive monitor for of the mean monitor vs substituting the most expensive keyboard for the mean keyboard. The difference should have a large impact on the mean and little or no impact on the median. The monitor change should be much larger than the keyboard change.Use the word ‘skewed’ to describe the change.

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7. Formal assessment.Given the following 2 sets of numbers, complete the following 3 steps.

a. calculate and define the mean

b. calculate and define the median

c. calculate and define the mode

d. Which, of the three above terms, would be a better measure of central tendency?

(SET 1). 5, 8, 10, 15, 300(SET 2). 5, 8, 10, 15, 20

Make sure that the formal assessment for this lesson includes checking the students’ understanding of the terms, not just calculations.

This is similar to something that the students will see on standardized tests. They need to learn the concept and the difference, not just the calculations.

There is no mode for these two sets of data.

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