Financial literacy within a Year 10 STEAM project and the missed opportunities.

1. WESThink Year 10 End of Year Project – 6th to 8th December 2017
The purpose:
To provide the studentswith achoice of extendedlearningexperiences toenhance the areasof STEAMeducation.
The cohort:
Year 10 students,bothmale andfemale,including indigenousstudents,giftedandtalentedstudentsandstudents
withspecial educationalneeds.
The activitywasdevisedtobe run as a standalone projectfor all students withinthe year10 cohort. The projectwas
an enrichmentactivity.
Mathematical stands: Numeracy,scale,symmetry, geometry, financial mathematics,costing,profit,loss,breakeven
point,profit/losspercentages,money,timeandmeasurement.
Cross Curricular links:Business,InformationTechnology,English,FoodTechnology,Physical Education,Art,Design,
Agriculture andintegratedSTEAMstudies.
The activity:
The initial planningwasconductedafterattendingasessionfromRalphPirozzo,usinghisplanninggrid. Pleasesee
https://www.slideshare.net/angphil/year-10-enterprise-week-ralph-pirozzo.The original time allocationof 5 full
dayswas not able tobe timetabled,sothe projectbecame shorterthanoriginallyanticipated. The new time
allocationwas:
The time allocationforthe eventwasas follows:
 Wednesday
o 8.55am to 10.00am workingonyourproject
o 10.15am to12pm workingonyour project
o 12.45pm to 3.30pm workingonyour project
 Thursday
o 12.45pm to 3.30pm workingonyour project
 Friday
o 12pm to 1.10pm settingupthe exhibition
o 2pm to 3pm Exhibition
o 3pm to 3.20pm Packingup
o 3.20pm to 3.30pm winnersfromeachcategoryannounced
Three weekspriortothe eventthe studentswere sentanonline questionnaire
https://goo.gl/forms/DXgwLn7eEBtVzUdD2tochoose theirpreference forthe followingactivities:
Create Me, RunMe, Puzzle Me,ReadMe, Eat Me andGrow Me. Althoughthe eventwasoverseenbyAngelaPhillips
(Headof Maths), differentstaff memberswere incharge of eachactivities. Create Me – Art/Designteacher,RunMe
– Maths/PEteacher,Puzzle Me – Maths teacher,ReadMe – Englishteacher,Eat Me – Home Economicsteacherand
Grow Me – Agriculture teacher.
The philosopy behindgivingthe studentschoice of activitywasthatthe studentswouldthenfeelinvolvedwiththe
decisionmakinginthe project. Itwasthoughtthat the studentswouldbe more engagedwithaprojectthatthey
had selectedthemselves.
Each leadteacherfor eachproject, metwithAngelaPhillips,whoconstructedaplanninggridfortheiractivity,which
gave instructionsof howeachindividualprojectwouldbe run,please see
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/ezIDEJElKqkJUe forthe planninggrid.

2. From the cohort of 116 students,72 studentsmade aselection. All studentswhomade aselectionwere giveneither
firstor secondpreference. Studentswhodidnotmake aselectionwere randomlyallocatedtogroups,dependingon
the class maximumsize foreachactivity andanystudentinformationavailable atthe time of allocation.
The studentswere allocatedgroups,priortothe start of the eventandthiswas sharedwiththe studentsviaschool
email andschool dailynews. Thispromptedsome of the studentswhohadnotmade a selectioncontactAMPto
change the activitythat theyhadbeenallocated.
On the firstmorningof the eventall studentsattendedabriefing,where the followingPreziwasshownandfull
explanationswere given https://prezi.com/view/aKU4mPPrzjuBy8tjOP5V/. The studentswere thensplitintotheir
differentactivities,whichwere ledbythe teacherincharge of the individualproject. Angelaandthe Business
Innovationteacherwere troubleshooters forthe project,movingfromgrouptogroup andsolvinganyissuesasthey
arose. The issuesinvolvednotenough resourcesforthe choices,pastoral issueswithstudentsandstaff needing
helpandsupport.
Due to healthandsafetyregulationsall studentswatched https://youtu.be/I-Xngef9IFs toensure thattheywere
confidentusingahotglue gun,as part of the project.
Each projecthad a page devotedtothe projectonthe schoolslearningmanagementsystem. Thishousedvideo
clips,picturesandideastogive the studentssome inspirationfor theirproject. Staff were facilitatorsandkeptthe
studentsrunningtotime foreachstage of the project. Day 1 am consistedof students’ investigationand analysing
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/wZTi8HlFsJZ5UR existingproducts,before movingontocreatingtheirown
producton day 1 pmand day 2 pm. On day 3 pm, studentscompletedtheirproductsandsetupthe display,which
was heldinthe school gymnasium. Thiswasheldatthe same time as the year 8 STEAM showcase.
Once all stallswere setupeach personwasgivena tokenforeach of the differentactivities,Create Me,RunMe,
Puzzle Me,Read Me, Eat Me and Grow Me. The tokenwasusedbythe studentsto‘vote’forthe bestactivityor
swaptheirtokenfora productfromEat Me and Grow Me. A Goldenticketforeachactivity, wasgivenoutbythe
Principal/SLTmember,thisticketequatedto10 votesand wasa veryvisibleaffirmationof the productsproduced.
The videoof the itemsproducedfromthe WESThinkYear 10 project https://youtu.be/Jo5Q_OqoS4k.
A teacherfeedbackform wassenttoall staff involvedinthe year8 to 10 WESThinkproject
https://goo.gl/forms/TGRPW5hqKyEwUw933,whichproducedthe followingstaff feedback
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/KjeUG6ZazYBBjI.
A studentfeedbackform wasalsosenttoall studentinvolvedinthe endof yearprogramfrom year8 to 10
https://goo.gl/forms/gUngqshQ7OgvAM2R2. The full feedbackfromall projectscanbe seenat
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/32t6JyBy7D6RHf.The feedbackfromthe year10 showedanenjoymentratingof
3.88/5 from 65 responses. The learningscore was2.97/5 from 65 responses,please seepage 16.
Outcome and learningfor the future:
The change of time from5 daysto approximately2daysimpacteduponthe original planninganddidnotallowthe
studentstoworktoward SACE(SouthAustralianCertificate of Education) Stage 1creditsinCommunityStudies,as
originallyplanned.
The timingand staffingof the programwasnot decideduntil relativelyneartothe startof the project,so
consultationwasnotpossible. The planningtime withindividual staff wasnotadequate,asonlythe leadteacherfor
each projectwasfullybriefedbefore the projectstarted.
Due to regulationaroundsellingfoodthathasnot beenmade ina commercial kitchen,the studentswereunable to
sell theirproductsforEat Me. This meantthatGrow Me and Create Me were unable tosell theiritemseither,asa
profitcomparisoncouldnotthenbe made. Thiscausedseveral issues,the firstbeingitmade the projectcostly,as
none of the costs involvedinsettingupand runningthe projectwere recouped. Itdidnotallow studentsthe
opportunitytodevelopfinancial literacyskills,asthe studentscouldnotlookatrealisticcostingsorprofitmargins.
ThisdidallowCreate Me to change theirprojecttocreatinga more in-depthpiece of art,thanmany smallerandless

3. consideredpieces. Thischangedthe focusforCreate Me from runninga small businesstoa more creative focused
activity.
The change intime framesandthe lack of use of moneyleadtomost groupsnot completingthe Businesstasksor
concentratingonthe potential financial literacylearningoutcomes.
The trouble shootersforthe eventsensuredthatthe sessionsransmoothlyandanyissuescouldbe dealtwith
quickly.
The showcase didnot allowenoughtime forstudentstoshow theirproducts,asthe time andspace was sharedwith
the Year 8 STEAMshowcase. The Y8 projectneededall the studentstositand listenwhile theirworkwasevaluated.
The year 10 showcase neededstudentstobe lookingcarefullyatall stallsandactivities. The time constraintsfrom
whichcame withsharingthe time and space withthe year8 showcase,leftthe RunMe groupswithoutenoughtime
for the restof the cohort and the SeniorLeaderstobe showntheirprojects. Thisleadtofrustrationand
disappointmentfromthe studentsinvolvedwiththe RunMe groups.
The products producedwere generallyof excellentqualityandthe studentstookpride inwhattheywere creating.
Please see https://youtu.be/Jo5Q_OqoS4k forexamplesof the workproduced.
Some activitiesweremuchmore successful thanothers,Puzzle Me andReadMe were not as well receivedasthe
more practical activitiessuchasGrow Me, Eat Me,Create Me and Run Me. The choice of staffingforthe projects
alsoneededtobe takenintoconsideration. The enthusiasmof the staff involvedinthe projectappearedtoimpact
on the overall enjoymentandenthusiasmof the studentstakingpartinthe activity. Some studentfeedbackreferred
to individualteachersandtheirpassionforthe projectorreluctance.
The projectshowedgreatpotential toenhance the businessandfinancialliteracyof students,however,thiswasa
wastedopportunitydue tosetbackswiththe implementationof the project. The 2018 projectwill looktoaddress
these issuesand extendthe BusinessandFinancial Mathematicselementsof the project.
AngelaPhillips