Today, I created outlines of modules for the Educator Guide and started working on Slide presentations and reading quizzes. I spent a lot of time thinking about how best to incorporate different types of activities together for the optimal learning experience for students–including simulations, lectures, videos, projects. It is very interesting to be “behind the teacher’s desk” or in the position of thinking through lesson plans in such a way that the students will absorb the information. I thought about how I could make it relevant to their lives and not present the material so that they just feel inclined to memorize it. For example, with budgeting I wanted them to get hands on experience, so I worked on a simulation game in which the students have a limited amount of income that they must allocate amongst different categories, also enabling them to explore the concepts of opportunity cost and tradeoffs.
One of my main takeaways is the importance of incorporating experiential learning in my lessons. At its core, financial literacy is about empowerment and the ability to control your financial future through developing the ability to analyze and contextualize different situations and subsequently make informed decisions. More broadly, we learn not to be able to regurgitate information, but rather to foster critical thinking skills and be able to make real world connections.
As I move forward, I look forward to continuing to experiment and apply my understanding of experiential learning to my curriculum development.
