Project 1 - The Dice Roll Game

Students play a 6 round dice-based game, keep track of their scores, automate score-keeping and analyze their scores.

Lesson 1 - Introduction to the Game: Students get introduced to the dice roll game. They play a pre-game round to learn about equations and expressions and the definition of algebra. They apply the identity properties of addition and multiplication and the commutative and associative properties of addition.

Lesson 2 - Applying properties of addition and multiplication: Students apply the commutative and associative properties of multiplication and the PEMDAS order of operations as they progress in the game. They play the first round of the dice-roll game and populate a table with their scores.  

Lesson 3 - Spreadsheets and Variables: Students learn the basic functions of spreadsheets, like adding content, inserting rows and columns, resizing cells, and copy-pasting data. Students explore their Round 1 scorecards and learn about independent and dependent variables. 

Lesson 4: Using Equations to Calculate the Score: As students progress through the game, they build multi-variable equations to calculate their scores and learn about the different parts of algebraic equations. 

Lesson 5: Automation using equations and conditional formatting: Students learn how to add equations in their spreadsheets. They learn how to manipulate, copy and paste equations as required. Students learn how to apply conditional formatting in their spreadsheets using if statements.

Project 2 - Lemonade Stand Business Model: 

Students develop a working business model for a lemonade stand and show data for six months of business growth: 

Lesson 1 - Introduction and Data Collection: Students get introduced to the project and are given all the required information to begin working on their business model. They identify the materials, material quantities, and material costs involved in running a lemonade stand. They represent this data in a spreadsheet and format the data using text formatting, borders, and color fill.

Lesson 2 - Calculating Cost Price of Product:  Students write equations to calculate the lemonade costs. They solve for “C,” the cost of one serving of lemonade. Students enter the equation to automatically calculate “C”  in their spreadsheet, setting the stage for later experimentation with cost optimization. 

Lesson 3: Analysing Business Variables and Representing Inequalities: Students identify, write equations for, and calculate all the variables related to their business, such as the cost price, sale price, revenue, and profit. Students then represent the maximum profit, revenue, and sale price using inequalities on number lines.

Lesson 4 - Analysing Business Variables and Representing Sales: Students add the defined business variables to their business model, and link them up using equations. Students set up a variable dashboard, where the costs can be tweaked to reflect projected revenues. Students also generate charts from one week of sales data. 

Lesson 5 - Automating Reports and Scaling Up:  Students learn about algorithms and automate their sales report generation using macros. With the goal of keeping the cost of lemonade to 1 dollar, students re-tool the costs to suit bulk purchasing, add in marketing costs and create a pitch for investment for scaling up their business.