News From the Nest-Spotlight on Learning: Investing and Borrowing Money
Presented by: Ms. Nancy Sharma
Subject: Foundations of Math 12
Title: Investing and Borrowing Money
Driving Question: Optional Inquiry Project - How can individuals strategically manage investing and borrowing to achieve long term financial stability and growth?
TEACHER DESCRIPTION and / or REFLECTION:
During the first few weeks, students focused on calculating investments and borrowing money, exploring various real-world investment and borrowing options. They tackled hypothetical scenarios through word problems, learning to apply their knowledge. For the project, students chose a real-life scenario involving borrowing or investing money, such as taking out a mortgage, a student loan, a car loan, paying off a car, or investing in GICs, stocks, RRSPs, or RESPs, among others. Each student selected a topic relevant to their life, conducted research, and created a presentation explaining why their chosen option was the best and the reasoning behind their conclusion. I think the biggest benefit of this project is not only that students get to apply their knowledge that they have theoretical practiced, but also practice building confidence by speaking to people in the field. For example, calling car dealerships and asking questions of leasing options and interest rates. This helps them build confidence in asking intelligent questions and critically reflecting on what is offered rather than blindly trusting.
STUDENT REFLECTIONS:
I enjoyed this project because we could relate what we did in class to the real world. It showed where you could actually use the math that we learned. This is the most valuable math we have learned. I chose to calculate buying a car vs. leasing a car because that is what I am interested in and wanted to know which one would be cheaper. I want to get a Toyota for university so I found a Toyota at the Abbotsford Auto Mall and then I called them to get the information on how much it would cost to buy vs. lease. Overall, I found out that if you want to keep a car for a very long time, then it is cheaper to buy a car and keep it for that long, however if you want to drive a new car and change it every few years, then it is better to lease. This helped me learn a lot.