Should financial literacy be factored into math curricula?

“California and three other states are among the latest to introduce financial literacy requirements for graduation, bringing the total to 39 states — and math and financial literacy educators see opportunities to combine the two subjects as early as elementary school, creating a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. “We support the idea of introducing things such as financial literacy as early as possible, but as grade-level-appropriate as possible,” said Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, who has taught and coached math in the elementary grades and beyond. Although today’s children might not handle cash that often, she said, “We know money is used in exchange for goods and services. We know students need to be able to make that connection. We know students need to use critical thinking and reasoning to make those decisions.” Andrew Davidson, founder of Financial Life Cycle Education, or FiCycle , a nonprofit focused on improving financial literacy, agrees with the importance of combining it with math and notes that, historically, math was developed for money-related purposes. “People had financial issues they needed to address, so they developed tools,” he said. “If you go back to Babylonian times, people started simple accounting to keep track of transactions. Counting things and having numbers comes from tracking inventory of loaves of bread.” In elementary and middle schools, adding financial literacy concepts to the math curriculum does not need to mean increasing the number of lessons — just regearing them to make them more relevant, Knighten said. “Why not incorporate real-life contexts where students are using those concepts, through the lens of financial literacy?” she said. “They may plan a class party or special event. You’ve got a budget to work with to do that.” Or students could start a mock business selling friendship bracelets, Knighten suggested. “There are so many things involved in that,” she said. “You need to figure out how much money you need to start the business, to purchase materials. How are you going to make sure that you sell at a price point that you make a profit and pay back the money you borrowed?” This, Knighten said, is realistic. “It makes sense to them. They can write ads, if you want to work literacy into it.” In teaching fractions and percentages, teachers could ask students how, if they want a new pair of shoes, they decide what level of discount to hold out for before making the purchase, Knighten said. “Children understand that,” she said. “Why would this be a better deal, as opposed to buying it at a regular price?” In NCTM’s “Catalyzing Change” series about making math relevant, the council suggests many such scenarios, Knighten said. “We stress the importance of students having opportunities to engage in relevant mathematics experiences and using problem solving situations so they are applying the math concepts they learned,” she said. “More students have the opportunity to be successful using it to navigate their lives.” Financial literacy hypothetical activities like budgeting, taking out loans, earning an income and setting aside savings all have intuitive math links, said Davidson, whose organization focuses on four concepts: Wealth, which derives from earnings and expenses. Time, which connects to investing and borrowing. Risk, the uncertainty of life and its financial instruments. Value, the appropriate compensation for taking on or removing risk. “Once you phrase it that way, it’s easier to see how these concepts can be applied to mathematics at different levels, from elementary school to high school and beyond,” Davidson said. In high school, educators can link bookkeeping and algebra, compounding interest to exponentiation and logarithms, and mortgage payments to series and sequences, he said. “You can work backwards from those to see what are the easier levels of mathematics that get you to high school concepts,” Davidson said, adding that in elementary school, counting or multiplyin gets students thinking about time, while fractions and percents relate to interest. FiCycle develops materials and trains teachers on the curricula, Davidson said. “Our goal, when people are covering mathematical topics, is to also describe the financial topic, so that there’s a connection students make across their learning.”

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