Overview of Data Gathering Activities
During the 2001-2002 school year, students from around the
world began gathering data on prices and wages in their communities
through a sequence of 5 International Data Collection Activities.
This year we'll add to the data.
Findings from our Investigation: Student-Collected Data
Our Local Shopping Lists and Units of Measurement
"What do we buy?"
What do students and their families typically buy during
the week in Argentina? In Botswana? In Russia? Each class
will send the students' local shopping lists and the units
of measurement used in each country. (See the class introductions
for the shopping lists.)
International Price Comparison
"What does it cost?"
After viewing all the local shopping lists we created a "master
shopping list" with items that were commonly purchased
around the world. Students went through a two step process,
finding the prices for each item in their local currency and
then converting those prices to another currency, to facilitate
the comparison of prices internationally.
Comparison of Wages and Time Required to Earn Items on
Shopping List
"What do we earn?" and "The real costs"
In this activity we will take the investigation deeper. A
TV set may cost the same in Mexico and the U.S. but the wages
in the two countries are very different. Here students calculate
how long someone would have to work in their country to earn
each item on the master shopping list. First, of course, the
students had to investigate the wages in each country for
different kinds of workers.
