Percent Of Change Project

In this project you are going to do many things. You will first develop a survey to discover the cost of three items from three different decades; the 50's, 70's and the 90's.
You will complete this survey by interviewing family members or others who remember the cost of these items.
This survey will include:

the name and relationship of the person being interviewed
the year purchased
the name and cost of the items
geographic region where purchased
description of region; rural, urban, or suburban

You will then use the cost of living calculator on the designated web site to find the approximate cost of the items in 1965 and 1985.

In the next part of the project you will use a computer to make a line or bar graph to show your results. This graph will have one price from each decade from the 50's to the 90's.

Using your results from above, compute the percent of change in price of each item between each of the decades.
There should be twelve of them. Organize this information in a simple chart. Label your chart clearly.

Next, you will use the pattern of your graphs and/or the percent of change chart to predict the cost of each item 10 years from now. Write a short paragraph explaining how and why you made your prediction.

Places to start:

Cost of living calculator
Chart example

Final Product

Your project will include :

cover page
the completed interview form
price change page
the line or bar graph
the percent of change chart
the prediction paragraph

You will be graded on a rubric.

Teacher Page
This page was created on December 1, 1998.
Written by Dennis Jones and Jeanne Mahlke.
Written for the District 118 Embracing Engaged Learning Professional Development Project, funded by the State of Illinois.