By Middle School Math Teacher Dustin Delfin
After students in sixth-grade math wrapped up their Minecraft City Simulation, they’ve been busy creating their own businesses. The business project has been another tradition in sixth-grade math, where the concepts we have explored in class are connected to a real-world assignment. The project is broken into eight different phases, which took students the last nine weeks of school to complete.
Phase 1
Students were tasked with thinking of a product that they would like to create/sell, establish a company name and design a logo for their business. Below are some of the logos created.
Phase 2
Once they finalized the product they wanted to sell, each company created a brochure that advertised their product. This brochure consisted of their company name, logo, description/image of the product, and price. All brochures were compiled in a class catalog, which showcased products from all sixth-grade classes. This was used in a later phase.
By collaborating with Dr. Jody Marberry, Middle School Math Teacher, this year, we added a Shark Tank experience to kick off this project. Once the first two phases were completed, each business presented its products to the entire sixth-grade class during a class meeting. The goal of this was to A) give companies an opportunity to advertise their products to their customers (their sixth-grade peers) and B) to see if they could get Sharks to invest in their businesses. The sixth-grade advisors took on the role of Sharks where they were asked to each select their top four products to invest in. Companies aimed to attract multiple sharks.
Phase 3
Each business partner contributed a certain amount of money from their personal bank accounts from the Minecraft Math simulation and transferred the funds into their joint business account. This stage established each company’s value. Sharks would invest a specific percentage of each company’s value where students used percentages of a number and scale factor to calculate that dollar amount. Once those figures were computed, the Sharks deposited their contributions into the appropriate accounts.
Phase 4
Once the values of each company were established, students organized their finances by selecting costs needed to run their business (legal fees, rent, utilities, and other overhead costs). Here, students relied on their skills of adding and subtracting integers and recognized how their money moved along the number line. These bills are automatically withdrawn from their company bank accounts.
Phase 5
In this phase, students visited Branson Lawrence, Middle School Science Teacher and Maker/Robotics Coordinator in the Biggs Family Makerspace to design and build 24 of their company’s product prototypes. The mass production of items intended to build company inventory. Each company was tasked to 3-D print or use other materials in the makespace to represent their product on cardboard cards. Companies needed to pay for the cost of materials (paint, ink, filament, cardboard cards, etc.) from their bank accounts. Students were extremely grateful for Mr. Lawrence’s support with creating their products to specific scales and utilizing his resources to finish their creations.
Phase 6
Once all company inventories were accounted for, the fun continued, where students were able to go shopping. Using the catalog from Phase 2 and recalling what their peers pitched at the Shark Tank presentations, students were able to participate in a mini-economy. All products were loaded onto the MyKidsBank.org Marketplace where students were able to purchase goods from their peers. Each student was tasked with shopping for 12 items using money from their personal bank accounts and not their business accounts.
Phase 7
With digital shopping carts full, each company needed to track the inventory of their sales by documenting company profits on a spreadsheet. This documentation allowed companies to know who purchased from them and the quantity sold.
The back wall of our classroom displayed “shelves” for each sixth-grade student; each of which holds 12 items. Each company was tasked with delivering the goods to their customers’ “shelves.” This created a unique, colorful backdrop in our learning environment.
Phase 8
The last phase is the heaviest with math applications. Each company tracked the amount of sales made, determined their company profit by budgeting their monthly finances and costs to make their mass products. It was assumed that monthly sales of the product would remain consistent to illustrate linear modeling. Students used the data to generate linear equations and function tables specific to each business account. These math concepts allowed each company to extrapolate fiscal performance over time. Companies whose businesses made a profit were asked to calculate how long it will take them to become millionaires while the companies who were not making a profit calculated how long it will take them to be in debt one million dollars.
I love facilitating this project year after year to see how it evolves. Working with Dr. Marberry this year enhanced it even further through her Shark Tank recommendations and getting the whole sixth-grade community involved. Mr. Lawrence’s contributions to this project helped bring our mini economy to life. It is interesting to see how student personalities begin to emerge in our learning environment as the project allows them to express their creativity and individuality. Yet, it also provides them with opportunities to use skills covered in class and connect them with real-world situations.