Closing the Salary Gap

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Subjects Mathematics Arithmetic, Statistics Social Studies Current Events, Economics, Sociology Vocational Education Business

Grades 6-8, 9-12

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

• Median Annual Income of Year-Round, Full-Time Workers 25 Years Old and Over, by Level of Education Completed and Sex: 1980 to 2006, online or printed and distributed to students
• letter-writing supplies or computers with e-mail
• chart paper
• markers
• calculators (optional)

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 2006 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)

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