Guiding Questions for Financial Literacy Class

For a financial literacy class, the main theme could be the stock market. First of all, I would set up an overachieving question that is open-ended and encourages multiple answers, such as “Why does the stock price of a company go up and down?” The aim of this overachieving question is to help my students understand what skills they are required to learn. Then, students can work individually or together to investigate the possible reasons for the stock price fluctuation and share their findings with their peers. They will find out that in the long run, the consistent growth of earning is the robust reason for the stock price’s moving up, and only a good business has the capacity to demonstrate the consistent growth of earning.

The more detailed incremental question for the main theme might be “How can we identify a good business?” This question is situated in local context. Students are required to look for  a good business in their neighborhood and share their observations that this business is lucrative. From an overachieving question to a supporting question and from why to how is the better way to create guiding questions:

The best guiding questions are generally about a why followed up with a how. Even when we are teaching specific skills, the why should come first. “Why did we have a civil war, and how an we help prevent other such wars?” “Why do we have seasons, and how can we predict when they start and end?” “Why are some numbers irrational, and how can we calculate with them?” (Prensky, 2010, p. 85)

Relating supporting questions to local context, students are able to explore real places that are close to them and their funds of knowledge.

 

References
Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. London: Sage Publishers.