35
minutes
2 Developing the financial model
Review pupils’ homework from the previous lesson. Ask selected pupils for examples of the sorts of question they can answer from the model. Tell pupils that, still working in their pairs, they now need to modify their spreadsheets. Say that at the end of the lesson you expect all pupils to be able to tell you: 1 the cost of producing a tray of plants; 2 how much they should charge a customer for a tray of plants, assuming a profit of, say, 20%; 3 how much money they expect to make if people buy the same numbers of trays as they did last time; 4 the smallest number of trays of plants they must sell in order not to lose any money. Show slide 3. Slide 3
By the end of the lesson you will be able to answer: 1 2 3 How much does a tray of plants cost? How much will you charge a customer for a tray of plants? Why? How much money do you expect to make if people buy the same number of trays as they did last year? How many trays of plants must you sell to make a profit?
Slide 3
4
Tell the class that, when they have answered the four questions, they need to use their model to explore a range of possible scenarios, for example: people buy twice as many trays as last time; they grow fewer varieties of plant. Remind pupils that they should base their ideas on their homework. If necessary, remind pupils of any techniques and skills they need to use to amend their model.
Clarify the task and refer pupils again to slide 2, which sets out clearly what they are expected to do first. Teacher resource 6, Sample model 2, is an example of what pupils might produce before teacher intervention.
As pupils are working decide where your teaching time may be used most effectively. For example: Group pairs who are less confident together so that you can coach them through the initial stages. As you circulate, support those groups who finish the first part of the task quickly and need to refocus on developing the second element. With the more able pupils, negotiate the scope and extent of their financial model, ensuring that it is suitably challenging. Extend the scope of any pupils who are inclined to choose too restrictive a task, so that they can develop and demonstrate higher levels of capability. Bring all pupils together to remind them of previous work and how it may be applied within this context, for example, their work on web queries from Sample teaching unit 8.1. Eavesdrop to identify pupils who could discuss their work in the plenary. Tell them what you want them to talk about. After 30 minutes ensure that each pupil has saved and printed a copy of their model. They will need to annotate their own copies for their homework.