If your current math lesson is all about concepts related to interests, then studying simple interests can be far-reaching and extensive. While there can be no shortcuts for learning, using a few fun methods like games and activities and seamlessly blending them with crucial yet complex concepts can make learning a joyful ride.
Talking about Simple interest, it is the amount calculated uniformly on the original principal amount throughout the loan period. However, when students are explained the same thing in some fun and engaging ways, they not only learn quickly but also develop a knack for learning more about the subject or concept.
Moreover, Simple interest can be used in many activities in our day-to-day lives. Furthermore, it can be taught in new and exciting ways, which will be discussed in our post.
Simple interest: Applications in daily lives
While simple interest is a concept that is explained during middle school, it is the concept that becomes a life skill in adult life. Hence, let us look at some of the examples to understand where simple interest is used in practical life.
1. Savings Account
When you deposit money in your savings account in a government or private bank, the bank provides some interest as their norms and ongoing rates. A thing to note here is that the interest rate is always at the discretion of the lender. Simple interest knowledge is useful as you can check the correct amount of interest provided by the banks. Similarly, you can calculate your gains by calculating interest on a certain fixed amount.
2. Car Loans
People opt for car loans to buy themselves a set of new wheels. When you borrow money from the bank, you have to pay back the principal, the actual amount you borrowed, and the interest, which is the cost of borrowing the money. This is done through fixed monthly payments over the term of your loan.
3. Home Loans
Home loans work similarly to car loans, but the only difference is the principal amount which is more significant than car loans. In-home loans, when you start making payments, a higher percentage of your fixed monthly payments will go towards the interest. This is because the principal balance is larger at the beginning of the loan; therefore, so is the interest.
4. Certificate of Deposit
It is a money market instrument issued by Banks and other financial institutions instead of the money deposited. The prime objective of a certificate of deposit is to provide banks with a money resource based on market conditions. When banks receive higher interest, they can benefit the customers by offering a guaranteed principal amount with interest. Such deposits have higher interest rates, mostly higher than savings accounts.
Interesting classroom activities to learn simple interest
Let’s say that these kids in the near future sign up for their first savings account or get a car loan by 18, then understanding simple interest will be as necessary as breathing. Moreover, when students learn to calculate simple interest, it makes them monetarily wise and helps them make informed financial decisions. Therefore, let’s look at some activities to help students learn about simple interests.
1. Manage your finances
In this activity, students will be given a career out of 6 different options: postal worker, firefighter, construction worker, farmer, chef, and engineer.
- In addition, they will be provided with a gross annual income.
- This gross income shall now be used by the students to determine their pay stubs and net pay and write a cheque.
The prices of 4 different types of houses and cars will be mentioned on the whiteboard ranging from basic to luxury. They will then calculate their monthly expenditure by buying a car and a house. - Following this, they will calculate if they’ll do a 15 or 30-year term interest and balance.
- They will be provided with the details of 4 different banks and their interest rates. A thing to note here would be that students should provide the interests and loan amounts of each bank on a piece of paper to tally and present to the teacher.
Thus, students will get a rough understanding of calculating their interest loans as per the different rates and periods. Moreover, it would also enlighten them about asset management and suitable investments.
2. Simple interest triangles
This activity allows learners to find simple interests using fun coloring and creative methods. Students will have to make small triangles of different colors and then arrange them into a giant triangle per the details provided. These triangles would depict different things- principal amount, interest, and time as per the details.
Moreover, when the loan amount is being set by calculating interest rates, each year can also be targeted in different colors. So, to conduct this activity,
● The teacher will divide the class into teams of 2-3 members.
● Students will be given pens or crayons of different colors.
● On the white paper, they will draw a large triangle with as many small triangles as required. These smaller triangles would depict the interest portion, principal, and how much money would be paid every month.
● They’ll then put all the small triangles in the larger triangle to see how their calculation would fit in the giant triangle.
Later, the teacher can ask them to calculate the total sum of the big triangle.
As depicted in the image, the red triangle stands for the principal amount, the black stands for interest, and the rest two are the first installment and each monthly installment respectively. The total of all forms the large blue triangle, which is the total sum the student owes.
Hence, through this activity, the student can learn volumes about simple interests. As each triangle depicts a sum of money, students through creativity and colors can absorb a lot of knowledge about interests and calculations.
3. Coloring
For coloring, teachers should provide students with different options in different shapes. This activity requires students to color the right shape that indicates the answer to the question.
- In this activity, teachers will mention the word problems to students or write them on the whiteboard
- Students will be given 2 to 3 minutes to study the problem and color the right shape with the answer.
- There should be 4 shapes and students will have to select the right answer and color it.
This activity mixes art with maths, a new fun technique to learn basic concepts. Coloring makes everything fun, making complex mathematics aspects easy to understand.
Engaging online games for simple interest
Simple Interest is an easy concept when taught with fun activities and games. Online games are feasible to access and students can play them during school time or at home. Check out these amazing online games to learn simple interests in a visually appealing manner.
1. Simple Interest Quiz
The quiz focuses on quick and accurate calculations for simple interest. There will be a total of 9 questions provided to the students. For every correct answer, they’ll be awarded 10 points, and after attempting all the questions, they’ll get a final score.
● Press start on the homepage of the quiz.
● Calculate the simple interest and type your answer in the box.
● Click on submit and move on to the other questions.
Since there is no timer in the quiz, students can take their time to understand the question and answer them. It will improve their conceptual knowledge and improve their calculation speed.
2. Choose the right option
This game also functions like a quiz. Although, the only difference is that students will be provided with four options, and they have to choose the right one.
● Press start on the homepage of the quiz.
● Calculate the simple interest and choose the correct option from the four.
● Move on to the next question and attempt all 10 questions.
For every incorrect option, the students will be provided with a link to a youtube video with the correct explanation of the questions. They can clarify their concepts and attempt other questions accordingly.
3. Simple Interest Battleship Wars
The popular battleship board game inspires this animated game. The animation is quite appealing and keeps the players engrossed.
● Before starting the game, players must choose the difficulty level.
● They can also reposition their battleship, cruiser, frigate, and submarine
● For every move, the player will be given a question and they have to calculate to find the right option.
● If the player chooses the right option, they’ll hit one of the opponent’s ships.
● If the player chooses the wrong option, one of their ships would be hit.
● The player who loses all the ships first will lose.
This game amalgamates strategy and mathematical calculation into one. It will improve learning and sharpen thinking skills and swift calculation.
4. Simple Interest Money Game
This is an interesting game for students to learn about simple interests and calculate it for each problem.
●To play the game, click on the play button on the left side of the screen,
●The game pops each question based on simple interest, wherein students must select the right option.
●The answer to each question is in currency form, giving it a realistic experience.
● After selecting the answer, students can submit or reset their answers.
● For every correct answer will get the point, and a score will be displayed at the top.
The game benefits learning simple interests by providing realistic problems, thereby visually appealing scenarios. It also builds their critical thinking abilities to solve the question.
Summing up,
As simple interest is used in the real world, these games and activities act as an engaging tool to help students understand the concept well. Certain activities can also be designed and reframed by teachers or parents to make the learning more interesting.
While there are various methodologies to teach the significance of simple interest, a fun learning environment happens to be one of the effective ways to impart practical knowledge. Try these activities and games with children and students and make them understand how real math works in the context of simple interest.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,