Some of the main benefits of integrating financial literacy into the curriculum are that students will learn aspects of how money works and how to manage money from an early age. While it would be easy to dismiss this topic for young learners as they have little experience with handling money, the key concepts of sharing, equity, and poverty are relevant from an early age. Even from the primary grades students would be able to examine topics such as who has money and why, what do they do with it, how do they share it, and what privileges they see from possessing this wealth. Students would then be able to draw more complex connections using these ideas in the junior and intermediate divisions.
Teaching students about financial literacy well before they are employed will help shape their vision for themselves and their society early on. Whether it is through discussion of municipal budgets and LRT infrastructure in Hamilton, or the pros and cons of building the Northern Gateway pipeline, students will begin to see how money plays an important part in not just social studies, but all aspects of their education and life. And because economics is so closely tied to everything we do as a society, financial literacy can be integrated into all of our classrooms, sometimes without even modifying course work. Beyond this, financial literacy is an opportunity to discuss human rights with your students. Rights such as food, housing, health, and education are often taken for granted in Canada, but are we meeting these expectations as a society? Recent news of skin diseases in the Kashechewan First Nation community suggest otherwise. Then there is the discussion of refugees. How should we balance our ethical obligations with being a financially responsible society?
When talking about financial literacy and early societies the first things that will probably come to mind are silver and gold. Precious metals served as a form of currency for many civilizations, and one could spend a fair amount of time studying and discussing this component of those societies. But that isn't all that financial literacy is meant to discuss. It isn't just about money in terms of physical currency, but a more general scope of wealth.
In our unit on early societies the big idea is that the environment played an important role in the establishment of societies. Not all of these societies had forms of currency, but they all did take resources from the Earth. These resources, or wealth, had to then be used efficiently and intelligently by the people, as they recognized that natural resources were limited and therefore possessed some intrinsic value. While forestry is one of Canada's largest industries and we take it for granted that we have access to wood, deforestation on Easter Island led to the decline of the Rapa Nui people there.
The exchange of resources between the Earth and humans, as well as from person to person, is a perfect opportunity to incorporate financial literacy in the classroom. How did early societies get what they needed? Did they take more than they needed? Did they share evenly among their people or trade with others? Why did some societies last longer than others? These are all questions that can be used to not only address the expectations of comparing early societies in the Social Studies curriculum, but would also cover all of the concepts of financial literacy without ever having to talk in terms of dollars or cents.
Teaching students about financial literacy well before they are employed will help shape their vision for themselves and their society early on. Whether it is through discussion of municipal budgets and LRT infrastructure in Hamilton, or the pros and cons of building the Northern Gateway pipeline, students will begin to see how money plays an important part in not just social studies, but all aspects of their education and life. And because economics is so closely tied to everything we do as a society, financial literacy can be integrated into all of our classrooms, sometimes without even modifying course work. Beyond this, financial literacy is an opportunity to discuss human rights with your students. Rights such as food, housing, health, and education are often taken for granted in Canada, but are we meeting these expectations as a society? Recent news of skin diseases in the Kashechewan First Nation community suggest otherwise. Then there is the discussion of refugees. How should we balance our ethical obligations with being a financially responsible society?
When talking about financial literacy and early societies the first things that will probably come to mind are silver and gold. Precious metals served as a form of currency for many civilizations, and one could spend a fair amount of time studying and discussing this component of those societies. But that isn't all that financial literacy is meant to discuss. It isn't just about money in terms of physical currency, but a more general scope of wealth.
In our unit on early societies the big idea is that the environment played an important role in the establishment of societies. Not all of these societies had forms of currency, but they all did take resources from the Earth. These resources, or wealth, had to then be used efficiently and intelligently by the people, as they recognized that natural resources were limited and therefore possessed some intrinsic value. While forestry is one of Canada's largest industries and we take it for granted that we have access to wood, deforestation on Easter Island led to the decline of the Rapa Nui people there.
The exchange of resources between the Earth and humans, as well as from person to person, is a perfect opportunity to incorporate financial literacy in the classroom. How did early societies get what they needed? Did they take more than they needed? Did they share evenly among their people or trade with others? Why did some societies last longer than others? These are all questions that can be used to not only address the expectations of comparing early societies in the Social Studies curriculum, but would also cover all of the concepts of financial literacy without ever having to talk in terms of dollars or cents.
