Math Prompts

What is something that you didn’t know before this class that you know now? How did you learn it? How does it relate to other expectations in this course?

Before this class, I was unaware of what simple and compound interest was. We learned what it is by first trying to come up with formulas on our own of the questions given to us about "Nana's" investments. Once we tried to figure it out on our own, Jamie then came around and showed us the proper formula with the correct variables. I now understand that simple interest is when someone removes the money that they made on their investment, and compound interest is when a person keeps their money in the bank to make more money on their initial investment plus their gained interest. Through all of these small lessons and working with my peers, I have a better understanding on how investments work.

Describe a learning experience that you had with another student or with the teacher (conversation, observation, something you were working through). Explain how this changed your thinking and what you learned.

At my previous school, we always used to work alone on math worksheets, but now I have the chance to discuss different math problems with my classmates. There is not a specific experience I have to talk about, but by working with with people I have been taught many new ways to solve problems and how to find solutions to simple questions. For example, without the help of a friend, I would have struggled to figure out how to find an interest rate which would have made it difficult to solve problems while learning about investments. When picking up on these new skills from classmates, I become more confident in my work and can teach others these simple tricks as well.