Teaching with Technology

Teddy’s Meridian Journal Article Log 02.24.2010

 For class session 02.24.2010

 Our economic woes are taking toll on families all over America. Students are feeling the pressure from the lack of money for lunch and other necessities. According to Caniglia & Leapard (2009), Dr. Robert Duvall states the need for financial education is an urgent one. It is our responsibility to teach financial literacy at an early age so that students can make career plans and budget their finances. In the article Get Real: Teaching Financial Literacy Through Internet Sites, students learn financial planning skills, goal setting, decision making and career planning using the online activities of the Reality Store. This program reinforces positive and negative numbers and their operations. The program examines their attitudes about their future careers, earnings and lifestyles. Students are taught to make informed decisions about the costs and timing of major life events like marriage and having children. Most of all, they realize the importance of education in accomplishing career goals.

 Using the Virtual Reality Store Tour, students experience an online adventure requiring them to choose a career and research a profession. Next, learners must select a standard of living and then calculate a monthly income needed to pay for the cost of living and services. Afterwards, students are encouraged to reflect on how decisions made in the “now” will affect their ability to enter future jobs and professions. Organizations like the National Endowment for Financial Education and Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy are in full support of such open educational environments like the Virtual Reality Store Tour. They hope to gain the support of learners from all “walks of life” and re-tool them in formal and informal settings for the workforce.

 The Reality Store uses two techniques to convey information. They are simulation and debriefing/reflection. A simulation provides for control of the learning environment and adaptations to meet the student’s needs. Part of the value of simulations is that they attempt to make complex concepts understandable. Simulations are considered to be most effective when students are asked to choose among alternatives. Debriefing or reflection allows participants the opportunity to evaluate the simulation itself as well as the knowledge gained in the process.

 Success using the Reality Store is based on the interconnected activities of preparation, visiting the Reality Store’s fifteen stations and follow-up reflections. These stations include taxes, housing, banking, insurance, transportation, auto, medical, legal services, child care, utilities, eating out, clothes, charitable contributions, groceries, life surprises, travel and entertainment. Students will experience a great deal of deep learning. I feel this is an awesome opportunity for young scholars to use their critical and creative intellect to design their future!