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Exploring the classroom practices that may enable a compassionate approach to financial literacy education

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Abstract

From an early age, children are faced with financial dilemmas and are expected to make effective financial decisions about money. In this paper, we explore the classroom practices that may enable a compassionate approach to financial literacy education. We observed an inquiry-based mathematics lesson in a Year 4 primary school classroom. The financial maths task asked students to decide on the best fundraising option for the school. We used the theory of practice architectures to analyse the interactions in the classroom in order to understand what may have enabled and constrained classroom practices. We found that classroom practices such as engaging with peers through positive and collaborative learning opportunities, making ethical, social and mathematical connections of the task, and considering the impact of financial decisions on others may enable a compassionate approach to financial literacy education.

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Notes

  1. Index of Community and Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) was developed to make meaningful comparisons with other schools on National Assessment Program—literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) achievement tests. A student’s family backgrounds and geographical location, and the number of Indigenous students in the school, are all factors in this index.

  2. We are using the word ‘mistake’ in the mindset (Dweck 2006) and mathematical mindset (Boaler 2016) context of sharing mistakes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council (DP140101511). We thank Rebecca for her expertise and insights in teaching this class.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt Campus, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, QLD, 4122, Australia

    Levon Ellen Blue & Mia O’Brien

  2. School of Education, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Katie Makar

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  1. Levon Ellen Blue
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Correspondence to Levon Ellen Blue.

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Blue, L.E., O’Brien, M. & Makar, K. Exploring the classroom practices that may enable a compassionate approach to financial literacy education. Math Ed Res J 30, 143–164 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-017-0223-5

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