Week 2 Reflection: Mobile Learning in the Classroom
While exploring the Tech Edge YouTube page, I discovered that there was a wide variety of video options including ones that explored apps for teachers, apps for organization and note-taking, apps for various subjects and content areas, and much more. I chose the "Episode 196, Financial Literacy Apps" podcast to review. I chose this video because personal finance is a part of the Family and Consumer Science curriculum, and in my opinion, personal finance is one of the hardest areas in FACS to get students engaged in. I believe that this is because it offers the least amount of opportunities for hands-on and engaging activities, compared to the other subjects we cover. With the help of some of the apps I discovered, personal finance can become much more engaging and personally relevant to students. Overall, this podcast was really helpful, and I will definitely use the NYC Money Smarts app if I teach personal finance in the future.
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Visit the Tech Edge YouTube page for more videos:
www.youtube.com/user/TechEdge01/videos |
Download NYC Money Smarts here.
Download NeedsVsWants here.
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NYC Money Smarts is a great app for middle and high school students. The app is set up in short quizzes that test users on their knowledge of "money smarts." Categories of quizzes include Banking/Debit Cards, Spending, Identity Theft, Saving, Credit, College Planning, and Avoiding Scams and Money Traps. These quizzes are challenging and fun to take. This app showed me that I even need to brush up on my financial knowledge a little bit. I think that this would be a great tool in the classroom. You could divide students into partners and have them take the quiz together. Then you could have a class discussion on the correct answers and why they are correct. I did not find any limitations to this app. Strengths of this app are that it is challenging and engaging, it is great for FACS classrooms because it was designed for middle school age and up, and that it has many categories for quizzes.
Official app store description: "Be smart about your money. This App helps you build good money habits in an easy and fun way. Learn as you test your money smarts about spending, saving, banking, identity theft, and college planning." NeedsVsWants is a kid-friendly app that helps to explain the concept of needs and wants. Needs and wants are an important part of budgeting, which is a topic that would be covered in a FACS personal finance unit. This app is designed as a game in which you have to choose the monkey's "needs" out of options including "needs" and "wants." While this app is designed for elementary-age children, I think that you could get away with using it in a middle school FACS classroom at the beginning of a unit to give students a basic idea of the difference between needs and wants. I did not find any limitations to this app. Strengths of this app are easy use, the interactive/engaging nature, and that it is free. Official app store description: "Here's a financial literacy app that's fun for kids. Help Joe the Monkey figure out the differences between needs and wants. Pre and early elementary schoolchildren can learn to distinguish between needs and wants - an essential skill to becoming a money smart kid. Financial Literacy for Kids must begin early because kids as young as two are already learning the spend message. The Money Mammals can help them understand that there's more to money than spending from a very young age. Your kids can learn to "Share & Save & Spend Smart Too!" like The Money Mammals. The Money Mammals programs are banking activities for kids with a purpose. The Money Mammals line of products are designed to help kids and families get money smart and money comfortable to live happier, more fulfilled lives." |