Closing the Salary Gap
Subjects
- Mathematics
Arithmetic, Statistics
- Social Studies
Current Events, Economics, Sociology
- Vocational Education
Business
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Grades
6-8, 9-12
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Brief Description
Students explore careers in their community and calculate the average salaries for men and women working in those careers.
Objectives
Students will
- learn about a variety of careers available in their community,
- explore the salaries for both men and women working in those careers,
- calculate the difference between average salaries for men and for women,
- calculate the percentage of difference between those averages.
Keywords
careers, salary, averages, women
Materials Needed
Lesson Plan
- Discuss the information provided in the Median Annual Income of Year-Round, Full-Time Workers 25 Years Old and Over, by Level of Education Completed and Sex: 1980 to 2004 chart.
- Brainstorm with students some types of careers available in your community. Students might mention, for example, education, medicine, politics, manufacturing, retail, farming, and so on.
- Arrange students into groups, and have each group select a different career category.
- Ask each student to choose a job within his or her assigned category. Students in the medical group, for example, might choose doctor, nurse, paramedic, home health worker, and hospital administrator.
- Have each student contact, by mail or e-mail, professional organizations or government offices in your area to learn the salary ranges for both men and women working in that chosen job.
- Ask each group to create a chart displaying the average salary for both men and women working in all jobs researched by the group.
- Have each group calculate the dollar difference between the average salaries of men and women working in the same job and add that information to the chart.
- Have each group calculate the percentage difference between the average salaries of men and women working in the same job and add that information to the chart.
- Encourage students in each group to present their chart to the class. Discuss the results.
Extension activity:
Invite community members working in some of those jobs to visit the class and discuss the pluses and minuses of their chosen careers.
Assessment
Evaluate students based on the information in their charts and the accuracy of their mathematical calculations.
Lesson Plan Source
Education World
Submitted By
Linda Starr
National Standards
MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
- GRADES 6 - 8
NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.6-8.2 Understand Meanings of Operations and How They Relate to One Another
NM-NUM.6-8.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
- GRADES 9 - 12
NM-NUM.9-12.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.9-12.2 Understand Meanings of Operations and How They Relate to One Another
NM-NUM.9-12.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
MATHEMATICS: Data Analysis and Probability
- GRADES 6 - 8
NM-DATA.6-8.1 Formulate Questions That Can Be Addressed With Data and Collect, Organize, and Display Relevant Data to Answer
NM-DATA.6-8.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
NM-DATA.6-8.4 Understand and Apply Basic Concepts of Probability
- GRADES 9 - 12
NM-DATA.9-12.1 Formulate Questions That Can Be Addressed With Data and Collect, Organize, and Display Relevant Data to Answer
NM-DATA.9-12.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
NM-DATA.9-12.4 Understand and Apply Basic Concepts of Probability
MATHEMATICS: Communications
- GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-COMM.PK-12.1 Organize and Consolidate Their Mathematical Thinking Through Communication
NM-COMM.PK-12.2 Communicate Their Mathematical Thinking Coherently and Clearly to Peers, Teachers, and Others
NM-COMM.PK-12.3 Analyze and Evaluate the Mathematical Thinking and Strategies of Others
NM-COMM.PK-12.4 Use the Language of Mathematics to Express Mathematical Ideas Precisely
MATHEMATICS: Connections
- GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-CONN.PK-12.1 Recognize and Use Connections Among Mathematical Ideas
NM-CONN.PK-12.2 Understand How Mathematical Ideas Interconnect and Build on One Another to Produce a Coherent Whole
NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics
MATHEMATICS: Representation
- GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-REP.PK-12.1 Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena
- GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-EC.5-8.13 Income and Earning
- GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-EC.9-12.13 Income and Earning
SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
- GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.10 Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the Present)
See more lessons at Celebrate Women's History Month!
Return to the Women's History lesson plan page.
Originally published 03/08/2002
Links updated 02/13/2007
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