Students get financial pointers from Feds

By Andrea Kasprzak
Published: October 23, 2008

Banking, credit, identity theft and money aren't exactly subjects one would expect to stir up excitement in the average high school freshman.

But last week's presentations by Deborah Bloomberg, an educational advisor from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, had Martha's Vineyard Regional High School students literally leaping out of their seats.

Ms. Bloomberg spent last Thursday and Friday at the school reinforcing and educating students on good credit practices as part of a program sponsored by the high school business education department. She prepared two presentations: "Consumer Savvy," which focused on banking, credit, and identity theft and "Teens and Credit," which advised students on establishing credit during college. She also demonstrated new personal financial education resources at a Thursday after-school workshop for Island teachers.

Web Sites and Online Resources

Ms. Bloomberg advised students and teachers to take advantage of free, downloadable resources available on the Internet. Here are a few sites highlighted in The Ledger, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Economic Education Newsletter:

Consumer Jungle

Consumerjungle.org

This site is geared toward young adults and features six sections - Cars, Computers, Credit, Health, Independent Living, and Wireless Phones. Check it out for quizzes and worksheets that cover everything from pyramid scams to common financial pitfalls.

It All Adds Up

Italladdsup.org

Developed by the National Council of Economic Education to help high school students understand managing their finances, this site features online games and simulations to educate on credit cards and buying a car.

Peanuts & Crackerjacks: Economic and Pro Team Sports

bos.frb.org/peanuts/indexsound.htm

This site uses sports as the hook to give a better understanding of economics.

The Motley Fool

www.fool.com

This site aims to "educate, amuse and enrich." Check out the sections devoted to teens and money, personal finance.

FederalReserveEducation.org

www.federalreserveeducation.org

This site brings together the educational resources of all 12 Reserve Banks and Boards of Governors - not only teaching you everything you could ever want to know, but also outlining curriculums and guides to help securing your financial future.

"I put together a list of my favorite fun online personal finance games and online personal finance lesson plans, including Katrina's Classroom: Financial Lessons from a Hurricane, which features children telling actual stories and helps educate on how to prepare for the unexpected," Ms. Bloomberg said.

The presentations for the students also took the approach of making finance fun by allowing students to participate with an interactive quiz game. Students were given a clicker and invited to anonymously answer multiple choice questions related to credit, money, identity theft and banking by pushing their selection. Ms. Bloomberg used the questions as a platform for her lecture, exploring each correct answer and defining financial vocabulary.

"I like using the interactive approach to talk in little chunks," Ms. Bloomberg said. "By going over the correct and incorrect answers it doesn't just feel like a boring lecture."

The first and second place winners received pens from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. All the students received a free sample pouch of genuine, shredded U.S. Currency. Ms. Bloomberg told students that the bank destroys about $10 million worth of worn-out currency every day and each of their packets contained the equivalent of approximately ten bills of various denominations.

"We are so lucky to bring Deborah here for these workshops and presentations," business education teacher Leo Frame said. "It is valuable to use our resources to bring Deborah to Martha's Vineyard and to help educate students on becoming more intelligent consumers and citizens."

Liam Wallace, the first-place winner in the game, found the experience valuable. "I thought the quiz game was a really great and interesting way to learn," he said.

Another of Mr. Frame's Introduction to Business students, Alyssa Laslovich had a similar response. "I liked it, especially how she fully described and explained every answer. My favorite category was the money," she said.

Mr. Frame hopes to continue with a hands-on and interactive approach to teaching business.

"We have had a lot of tests recently, so presentations like Deborah's help to break it up for the students by reinforcing business education and concepts in a fun way that students will continue to use for their entire lives."

Andrea Kasprzak is a freelance writer for The Martha's Vineyard Times.