Empathize
Students will meet real community members, gather firsthand evidence about snack event needs and budgeting challenges, and create empathy maps grounded in direct quotes and observations to guide their later budget designs.
Days 1 - 3
🛒 Budget Bonanza Store Visit
Launch 45m
🎤 Interview Practice & Question Cards
Knowledge/Skill Building 45m
🧠 Empathy Map with Real Quotes
Deliverable 45m
Define
Students will analyze patterns from their grocery store interviews and empathy maps, identify shared needs for a community snack event, and craft a clear "How Might We" problem statement grounded in real user evidence to guide their budget design work.
Days 4 - 5
🧩 Snack Needs Pattern Sort
Knowledge/Skill Building 45m
❓ Our Snack Event HMW Question
Deliverable 45m
Ideate
Students will generate many possible ways to design a $20 snack budget for a community event, explore different approaches to adding and subtracting within 20, and select top concepts based on real user needs gathered from grocery store staff and families.
Days 6 - 8
🧠 20 Snack Budget Ideas
Deliverable 45m
🎨 Crazy 8s Budget Sketches
Deliverable 45m
✅ Top 3 Budget Storyboards
Deliverable 45m
Prototype
Students will build and test low- and medium-fidelity versions of their community event budget posters and interactive math stations, gather feedback from real users and peers, and revise their plans to more accurately meet community needs while staying within a $20 budget using addition and subtraction within 20.
Days 9 - 12
✂️ Quick Budget Poster Prototype
Deliverable 45m
👂 Peer Testing with Play Money
Research 45m
🔄 Budget Plan Revision Round
Deliverable 45m
✅ Math Accuracy & User-Ready Check
Assessment 45m
Test/Present
Students will validate their refined community snack budget plans with new users, make final revisions based on real feedback, and present their full design journey at the Math in Action Fair, clearly connecting their addition and subtraction strategies to real community needs.
Days 13 - 16
🛒 New Shopper Budget Test
Community Experience 45m
🔄 Final Poster Revisions & Feedback Log
Project Work 45m
🎤 Design Story Practice Circle
Knowledge/Skill Building 45m
🎉 Math in Action Fair
Assessment 45m