Improving financial literacy was the major educational mission of what was a multi-purpose market day in Botany, the benefits of which will be felt as far away as Mongolia.
Elim Christian College students on a beach clean-up as part of a learning inquiry about water quality and access to clean water.
Year 4-6 students at Elim Christian College pooled their knowledge and skills from across social science, statistics, technology, religious education, research, health, literacy, and communication to plan and run a market at their Golflands campus.
Year 5–6 team leader Rachel Arnold led the project, with students pursuing a line of inquiry based on their passions and interests.
Students created a word cloud to help identify topics that were relevant to them all, and then identified ‘burning questions’ to guide the direction of the inquiry.
“The social action was to raise funds for children in Mongolia through Asian Outreach, as well as here in Aotearoa via the Cyclone Relief Fund. This social need area is what they learned about in depth by exploring poverty and the division of wealth,” says Rachel.
Year 6 students Hope, Ariana, Astin and Anuscke with their Slime Time lucky dip activity.
Students learned about statistics and undertook a statistical investigation to help them identify a product that was popular among their peers, and likely to make a profit.
They surveyed all year groups in the school, as well as teachers and parents, before graphing and analysing the results.
Based on their results, they then used a technology learning process to further identify, develop and refine their chosen products.
Haylee and Mikayla, alongside their whānau, serving a customer homemade lemonade.
Students came up with food-related ideas such as hot dogs to cake pops, game ideas such as slime lucky dip and nerf target shooting, as well as crafts like bracelets and origami.
Students also combined digital technology and visual language learning by using apps and online software, such as Pic Collage and Canva, to create posters to advertise their stalls.
Getwise [ASB’s financial literacy programme] visited the school to teach students about budgeting and, in class, they learned about money in relation to measurement and using decimals.
“They needed to find recipes or instructions, identify materials and ingredients and look at the cost of products. They also needed to look at how much profit they might make. Identifying extra costs, such as the cost of cups or spoons was important too,” says Rachel.
Year 4 students Jeremiah, Tyler and Lucas with their Mario Brothers themed treats.
Students gained an understanding of the numbers and impacts of people living in poverty, through a mission-minded, child-centred programme organised by Asian Outreach.
Learning about the importance of clean, running water led to experiments with water filtering and learning about water quality.
Rachel says the Year 5–6 students particularly enjoyed learning about water quality and the work of the Tony McLean Trust in Nepal, which Elim Christian College fundraises for yearly.
“Therefore, we pursued an idea for the following inquiry called ‘Wonderful Wai’, in which students explored the water cycle.
“They conducted water testing (measuring pH, oxygen levels, temperature, nitrate levels and identifying macroinvertebrates) as well as doing a beach and stream clean-up.”
Hope and Sophia with their persuasive writing.
Literacy and language (alliteration, simile, and rhetorical questions) and visual communication (colour, shape, and space) provided key learning areas for students contemplating the best ways to promote their products.
Students interviewed a parent who works in marketing and shared their new latest advertising campaign with the class. She taught the children about the importance of targeting the market, being immediately eye-catching and having a ‘tagline’. Students viewed and analysed various advertisements.
They also learned about persuasive writing and completed a piece of writing every week; planning, drafting, and editing pieces on aspects of financial literacy throughout the term.
For example, they persuaded the reader on why it is important to save wisely, the value of budgeting, the importance of fundraising for children in Mongolia, and why their market day was a success.
Cole and his sister with some of their market day purchases.
The key competencies and values were important as students needed to utilise soft skills, says Rachel.
“This included effective communication and problem solving in their inquiry groups. They also needed to manage time and resources, delegate, show manaakitanga (respect) to others, demonstrate maia (courage) as they communicated with consumers, take on new roles, share ideas and show aroha (love) by being flexible in making compromises.”
Students constructed their products at school or at home, after allocating tasks to different members of their group.
“Finally, the day arrived! Everyone was ready, the entire school was invited, from Year 1 right through to Year 10, as well as teachers and the wider whānau,” says Rachel.
“The feeling of success for each group as they reflected on the day was immense,” says Rachel.
Students calculated their profits and presented the data by creating bar graphs, pie graphs and pictographs to analyse the data.
“It was exciting to make a sale because other children came to enjoy and purchase the products I had created! My favourite thing was going to other stalls and counting the money we made to help children in poverty in Mongolia.” says Astin, a Year 6 student.
“My friend Zoë and I sold out of our products, and it was fun to go to other students’ market day stalls to see what they had created. I bought food, lemonade, I played a game, and I bought a gift for my family” says Kaleb, Year 5.
Kaleb and Zoë's double delicious drinks bar.
As this inquiry wraps up, students are beginning to turn their attention to kaitiakitanga (guardianship) in relation to marine biomes for their next inquiry.
What started out as a financial literacy exercise ballooned to encompass even more cross-curricular learning.
“The children learned about far more than just financial literacy; they learned about the division of wealth in the world and developed empathy for those struggling financially,” says Rachel.
“This is why the Year 4–6 students chose to give the funds raised to victims of Cyclone Gabrielle and Asian Outreach to help children in Mongolia with winter kits.
“That is the goal of te ao tangata | the social sciences learning area – to create students who are good citizens and contribute positively to our society.”
Astin, Ariana and Anuske enjoyed the 'Wonderful Wai' inquiry, including water testing and clean up at a local stream.
BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz
Posted: 11:32 am, 22 June 2023
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