Teaching Financial Literacy Through Game Design

• In Event: Designer Decision-Making and Implementation

Abstract

This study reports on the effectiveness of using game design to teach financial literacy to undergraduate freshmen. A quasi experimental design was used involving two sections of a freshmen level financial literacy course taught at a public university in the northeastern United States. One section (the experimental group) was given a project to design a game to teach financial literacy concepts to high school students. The results of the study show that, compared to the control group, students who participated in the game design project showed significant increase in their financial literacy knowledge. The effect size was large at 1.14. Thus teachers and educational policy makers should consider incorporating game design to teach financial literacy as part of the curriculum.

Authors

• J.D Jayaraman, New Jersey City University

• John B. Black, Teachers College, Columbia University