Math Market: Compound Interest in Action

Equipment list

  • iPads or Chromebooks (or whiteboard and markers as a backup)

  • Projector or Smartboard

  • Formula reference sheet

  • Large-font question cards (different levels)

  • Clipboards or whiteboards (for stations)

  • Fake money

  • Scrap paper

  • Exit ticket handouts or Google Form

Explanation

Students participate in a “Math Market” where they move between learning stations, “buying” questions with fake money and earning more as they solve them. Each question involves budgeting, simple interest, or compound interest, encouraging students to apply real-world math while staying active and engaged.

The more difficult the question, the more it costs — and the more movement is required (hopping, lunging, jogging). It’s financial math meets movement!

Instructions:

  1. Pair up — Each team starts with $10 in fake money.

  2. Go to the “Cashier” station to buy a question.

    • Questions come in different difficulty levels — the harder the question, the more it costs.

  3. Take your question to a workstation (whiteboard, clipboard, or wall station) to solve it.

  4. When you're done, bring your completed question and solution to the cashier to check your answer.

  5. If your answer is correct, you:

    • Sell the question back for your money,

    • Buy a new question, and

    • Repeat the process.

  6. Movement rules based on question cost:

    • Free question: hop to and from the cashier

    • $5 question: lunge there and back

    • $10 question: heel-to-toe walk

    • $20 question: jog there and back

  7. Keep solving questions, earning money, and moving until time runs out.

  8. At the end of the activity, teams reflect on how much they earned and what strategies helped them succeed.

  9. Exit Ticket Instructions

    At the end of the lesson, students will complete an exit ticket by responding to two prompts:

    1. One thing I learned or clarified today
      → Take a moment to stand and stretch while you think.

    2. One question I still have
      → Walk and talk with a partner as you discuss your response around the room.

    After your discussion, write your answers on paper and submit your exit ticket to the teacher. 

Progression

  • Start with basic recall (definitions, formula use)

  • Move into multi-step problems (calculating compound interest over time)

  • Introduce comparison tasks (simple vs. compound interest outcomes)

ASK ID 2025-04-29-007-E

Grade 11 - 12Gasta DesignMathematics