Financial literacy (Craig Douma, Carroll, Iowa)
Craig Douma said, on September 12th, 2008
“I am a business teacher at Carroll High School and I am responsible for teaching finance to the Jr. and Sr. students. I am excited about the opportunity to learn more about the Big6 skills and how it will be applied to my content area. It seems like the 21st Century Skills will put an emphasis back into financial literacy at the high school level. What do you think about making a course like Personal Finance a requirement at the high school level?”
ME response: I certainly believe that financial literacy is an essential component of an education for all students. I’m not an expert on how it should be taught or learned. A course is possible or part of a course including other life skills such as consumerism.
I would use the Big6 in financial literacy as a way of focusing on the need to find and use information in finances. For example, suppose students are seeking to determine loan options for buying a car or determining what information is needed when comparing products for purchase? The Big6 offers a familiar strategy for the “information” side of financial problem-solving or planning.
