The recent worldwide financial crisis caused increased concern about students ’ financial literacy . Although this topic is often focused on middle and secondary grades , even young students can engage in reasoning about financial issues , while gaining experience with mathematics ( Crawford , 2011 ). Financial literacy allows elementary students to meaningfully implement the Standards for Mathematical Practice in creative and artistic ways . This article describes a financial literacy unit where students in grades three to five drew on real-world resources to develop and implement a plan for creating a school store .
Project Overview
This project was designed to reimagine the school store concept in relation to financial skill development . Shopping has long been used as a real-world context for teaching such skills as problem solving , proportional reasoning , and computation to elementary students . This three-month experience afforded students the authentic experience of planning and running a real school store . Along with enhanced math skills , students gained a sense of entrepreneurship . Further , this experience allowed students to express their creativity when designing and creating their products to sell .
Planning the Store
Students directed each aspect of their whole-class project , with the teacher acting as facilitator . The shared class goal was to open and run a profitable school store that served the school community . The reason for seeking a profit was to create a more authentic business model and to use the profits to purchase additional instructional materials . During the first week , students brainstormed tasks they needed to complete to meet the shared goal . The teacher created and implemented mini-lessons that fit these tasks in order to develop financial literacy knowledge .
After designing the layout for the store , the students engaged in market research to guide product purchases and product pricing . Students conducted market research by surveying a sample of the school body and analyzed the results . The students used the data to identify desirable store products based on the survey results and to research product options , prices , and coupon availability and decided to set product prices based on an appropriate profit margin ( all items were $ 5 or less based on the market research results ), and created a spreadsheet to track inventory and purchases .
STEAMed Magazine
16
January 2017 Edition