Investing, saving money and understanding how money earns interest is one project suitable for a tenth grade classroom project. Various derivatives of this type of a project can be used to hone math skills relative to concepts like compound interest, debt versus equity and return ratio on investment. One option is to divide the classroom into teams. Each team is allotted a fixed amount of money to invest, and students manage money through the creation of a financial portfolio involving simple savings accounts, cash reserves, bonds and stock market investments. This project spans a period of time, such as three to six months, and the students gain insight on how total funds increase and decrease over time due to market fluctuations and stability. Additional ways to alter this project include having students predict total value based on performance and how to best increase the value of the team's total asset worth.
An alternate math project for students reaching an age where they incur everyday expenses and work part-time is to work on budgets, balancing income and expenses. One version is to give each student a faux paycheck every week, and the student must budget for all fixed costs such as housing, utilities, vehicle payments, insurance and other expenses. This project teaches students to use math to determine what money they have and how to trim costs in order to make ends meet. This real-world math exercise is beneficial as students in tenth grade are moving closer to being independent adults.
Geometry projects can be visually stimulating while honing and polishing students' skills. Though basic geometric concepts have been taught by the tenth grade, it is imperative for students to understand how these concepts translate in to the real world. Using pictures, magazines, newspapers and web sites, students seek out angles and shapes to bring book learning to reality. For example, when stressing the importance of stability in a structure, have students review pictures of buildings ranging from simple box designs to more unusual concepts such as circular buildings. Discussing the ability of such structures to remain standing is a verbal project the entire class can participate in. Other objects to study include bridges, arches, roads and vehicles. Understanding the math element of built objects brings geometry to real-world scenarios.
The complex elements of mathematical equations can be grasped through visual representations. Tenth grade students learning about linear equations and advanced algebraic equations can use the fun found in amusement parks as inspiration for a classroom project. Students create their own coasters by using an assortment of methods. This projects begins by students drawing designs on paper to generate the concept. The second phase uses building sets to test the mathematical feasibility of the hand-drawn design. Computer aided software tests the final stage of the concept to see if the math used for the idea was successful or not.