Real-World Skills: Financial Literacy

By Kim Jones, CEO, Curriki

The past few years have been very challenging for the US economy and for the employment prospects of new entrants to the labor force. The number of low-income Americans has risen substantially during the last 10 years. One of the major needs that is not well met in the K-12 education system is the development of financial literacy in children. Yet this is one of the most important skills required for life.

Financial literacy is a must to manage debt in earlier stages of life and build resources for eventual retirement. Lifetime employment leading to a pension is uncommon these days. The average American has insufficient financial knowledge, and the financial literacy that is developed comes mostly from real-world experience, the school of hard knocks.

This article from the Huffington Post authored by Randi Weingarten,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-weingarten/financial-literacy_b_1514627.html

notes that the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability has developed 3 key themes around financial education and literacy:

• Financial education should take its rightful place in American schools
• We should build a financially capable workforce and retiree community, which is necessary for a stable and globally competitive economy.
• Americans also should learn the core concepts of personal finance at the heart of their lives — in their families and in their communities.

Curriki has over 75 resources at our site devoted to financial literacy for kids. Let me point out two of the highly rated ones in particular:

1.  A course from the Khan Academy that includes topics like compound interest, bonds, securities, and even the banking bailouts. It is targeted for grades 6 to 12.

2. Within the Free High School Science Texts Mathematics textbook series there are chapters on Finance covering topics such as foreign exchange, and simple and compound interest, depreciation and present value. These are targeted for grades 10 to 12 and are an integral part of the Mathematics syllabus in this text.

You can find these two resources and many more by going to www.curriki.org and searching on “Finance”. These are great resources to use in math or social studies classes.

USA Science Festival Expo and Book Fair in Washington DC April 28 to April 29

By Janet Pinto, Curriki Chief Academic Officer

The 2nd USA Science and Engineering Festival Finale Expo will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC on April 28-29, 2012. It’s free, and open to the public. There will be over 3000 interactive exhibits, over 100 stage events and 36 presentations by top authors. There will also be a College Fair and a Job Fair for high school students.

“Founded by entrepreneur Larry Bock and Lockheed Martin CTO Ray O. Johnson to address the severe shortage in science and tech talent, the USA Science & Engineering Festival is the country’s only national science festival, and was developed to increase public awareness of the importance of science and to encourage youth to pursue careers in science and engineering by celebrating science in much the same way as we celebrate Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes and pop stars.”

One of the exciting aspects is the first STEM Book Fair, running concurrently at the Festival. Thirty-six top authors will be at the Fair to discuss their books, which cover a range of science, math, engineering and technology topics for K-12. They will also be signing copies of their books.

Check it out at: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair and on Facebook (search: USA-Science-Engineering-Festival). And if you live in the DC area, you won’t want to miss this great event! If you don’t, it’s still worth checking out the site for their list of top science books for K-12.

Our Three Favorite New Curriki Resources

By Janet Pinto, Curriki Chief Academic Officer

We’re continuously adding to our collection of K-12 resources and I wanted to let you know about three of our newest:

Karl Fisch Algebra video collection

This is a set of algebra videos that covers a variety of topics ranging from graphing inequalities and quadratic equations, to rational expressions and exponents.  Within each topic, there are 3-5 videos that begin with a Learning Goal.  (Think of these like the Sal Khan videos.)  These are brand new, so please take a moment to rate them!

STEW Lesson Plans

“Wonderful resources! I look forward to using them in my science classroom. I like that the answers aren’t all given to the students… many of these activities ask students to think for themselves.”  – per Christine M.

This collection consists of peer-reviewed lesson plans for K – 12 students of mathematics and science. These lesson plans showcase the use of statistical methods and ideas in science and mathematics based upon the Common Core State Standards. Investigations are engaging and make students think critically about the concepts. Each of these well-organized and thoughtfully prepared activities is immediately useful in the math/science classroom using inexpensive and readily available resources.

3C Skills Lesson Plans

The 3C Skills Collaborative is a group of researchers that work for Professor Bill Coplin at Syracuse University. These lesson plans can be used to teach students the 38 skills associated with the 3C program (career, college, and citizenship). Lesson plans range from Pay Attention to Detail and Use Graphs and Tables, to Politik Wisely and Sell Successfully.

TOP 10 REASONS TO USE CURRIKI

By Guest Contributor Kathy Duhl, lead reviewer at Curriki

I wanted to share with you my top 10 reasons for using Curriki. Join the OER movement (and make your job easier) by becoming a Curriki member today!

Kathy Duhl

1. It’s FREE!  FREE to join, FREE to take excellent curriculum, FREE to post your best material.
2.  Join the OER movement and be recognized as a forward thinking educator.
3.  Build collections from our repository that you can add to, modify and adapt to the needs of your students.
4.  Help other educators around the world gain access to resources they could not otherwise afford by submitting curriculum you have developed.
5.  Get your curriculum reviewed by content experts.
6.  Start a group at your school or district to collaborate on topics, develop curriculum or document important policies and meetings for future reference.
7.  Engage with other educational groups who have similar interests as you.
8.  Peruse the site and get inspired by amazing units, videos, and full courses. Share the content you find with your colleagues so easily.
9.  Get your collections ready to show future employers your skill and knowledge in implementing 21^st century tools for schools. They will be impressed by how you can save them money!
10.  Don’t have enough STEM material in your classroom?  Run out of new ideas to teach the same content?  Learn from others the value of sharing and being part of a growing community that is committed to equalizing the education divide… one lesson at a time.

Please share this with a colleague and tell us how you use Curriki.

The Importance of STEM

Thanks to human creativity and the skills of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians, we human beings know more about ourselves and the world than ever before. We are also collecting more data about more things more systematically than ever before. The ability to analyze and apply mathematical models to such data further helps us to better understand natural phenomena and to devise more efficient processes.

The world has unmistakably become more technological since the advent of the steam engine. In the relatively short span of time since then, human beings have experienced the most dramatic improvement in the quality and length of their lives in history. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have a lot to do with that!

At the same time, STEM represent the best hope for understanding why nature behaves the way it does and overcoming the challenges we face, from finding cures for diseases to building energy-efficient housing!

In September 2010, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in the US issued a report titled Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education for America’s Future. This report highlights the critical importance of early education in STEM as the way to respond to significant challenges as well as historic opportunities facing the US, and the world. As the title of the report suggests, one of the PCAST’s conclusions is that we must prepare and inspire! Among its seven recommendations you will also find an appeal to use technology to drive innovation, and to create opportunities for inspiration through individual and group experiences.

With some 8,000 free open educational resources about math and another 8,100 about science, many of which are interactive, video, or fun games, Curriki has a wealth of engaging content about STEM. You can search for them according to grade range, subject, format (e.g. video or podcast), and type of usage (for example, game or exercise).

STEM education is important because it has a significant positive impact on society by helping prepare an important portion of tomorrow’s skilled workforce, improving the economy, and passing to future generations a sense of comfort with STEM.

Help promote this cause by getting excited about STEM education!  A formal background in STEM is not required, just a curiosity about how and why nature works the way it does!  To start, you can go out and explore, touch, listen, and discover!  Or browse the content on Curriki to see what appeals to you.  Then spread the word and your enthusiasm!

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Have you used a Curriki resource recently? Tell us what you think by rating it!

Like what you read? Consider joining Curriki (it’s free!), become a fan of Curriki on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @Curriki!

(* Image courtesy of Orion Marketing.)

Curriki: Sharing Resources Across Borders

By Kim Jones, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director, Curriki

Next week, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) convenes in Qatar December 7-9. We are honored that Curriki was chosen as a WISE Laureate recipient in 2009 for its innovation in international K-12 curriculum development.  At this year’s conference, Curriki is one of several featured videos:

Curriki: Sharing Resources Across Borders

WISE 2010 will be an exciting event since more than 1,000 participants from every corner of the world will gather to focus on improving existing educational structures and exploring innovative trends.

While I have been invited to attend WISE, regretfully I am unable to, but I’d like to share our progress to date in helping to build the future of education. First, I am thrilled to announce that Curriki has grown tremendously over the past year, with membership increasing 38 percent and our free and open educational assets growing by nearly 20 percent — now reaching 40,000 assets! This year we’re focusing on delivering the highest quality, standards-aligned STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] resources that will emphasize interactive and experiential content designed to engage today’s global students.

But it’s clear that our members can speak more eloquently than I about the impact of Curriki on learning. Here are two stories:

Sanika

Sanika, a young student from India writes: “My mom had joined Curriki for me to study. I opened many sites, stories, newsletter and one day I got an most interesting book that was ‘SOLAR STUDENT’. It taught us how the Earth rotate around the Sun, how the moon rotate around earth. My whole Geography was there in Solar Student. I [also] saw the math free education from kindergarten to 6th. In this way Curriki helped me very much. It is very very very nice. Because of it I scored 20 out of 20 in maths. NICE CURRIKI!!!”

According to David Der Sarkisian, a teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School in New York, “Being able to browse through Curriki has allowed me to bring effective lessons and teaching ideas into the classroom when my brain is too exhausted to develop them on my own. This has made Curriki an invaluable resource that I use on a daily basis. First, Curriki provides a virtual collaboration forum. Second, by providing strong ideas, Curriki has allowed me to tailor lessons to meet the specific needs of my students.”

We encourage you to become a member of Curriki to find, exchange or contribute free K-12 lessons, units, assessments and multimedia learning objects across all subject areas.  Please join today!

Become a fan of Curriki on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @Curriki