(Old) Common Cents

Should the U.S. get rid of the penny?

Login to add lessons to your favorites

(Old) Common Cents

Should the U.S. get rid of the penny?

Login to add lessons to your favorites

A newer, better version of this lesson is available! Explore all updated lessons here, or read more about the updates in Our Community.

2023-2024 Versions

In the fall of 2024, Citizen Math released updated versions of every lesson in our library, plus a few new ones! We know you may have already prepped an earlier version or planned a repeat of last year, so we're continuing to make these earlier versions available through Thursday December 5, 2024.

You can find the new lessons through the regular search, and we hope you love them as much as we do. You can read more about these updates in Our Community.

Click here for the updated version of this lesson!

Should the U.S. get rid of the penny? Each year the United States Mint spends more money producing pennies than the pennies are worth. Confronted with a similar issue, other countries have decided to get rid of their 1-cent coins altogether.

In this lesson, students operate with decimals to calculate the total costs to produce different U.S. coins. Students debate eliminating the penny and then consider a world with no physical money at all.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • Money costs money to make. The penny cost more than $0.01 to make.
  • Money has the value that a society agrees that it has, which can change.

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Add, subtract, and multiply positive and negative numbers to answer real-world questions
  • Operate fluently with decimals in a real-world context

Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Grade 7
Rational Numbers
Grade 7
Rational Numbers
Content Standards
Mathematical Practices

Other Grade 7 Lessons