ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we present an activity for middle school students that was adopted from an economics problem typically used in calculus courses at a university level. It introduced students to a real-life situation, and encouraged them to develop and explain a mathematical model that would help solve a real-life problem. The results demonstrate convincingly that in spite of the common belief, most students can learn useful mathematics in schools. When given the opportunity, and the adequate task and environment, students are able to even go beyond expectancies from their teachers or school standards.
