The Journal of Economic Education
Volume 53, 2022 – Issue 2
Writers: Panu Kalmi & Jaana Rahko
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220485.2022.2038320
There has been an increased interest in game-based approaches in Finnish schools to increase the effectiveness of financial education. Appropriately for that context, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of game-based approaches on financial literacy compared to the situation where there are only traditional teaching methods.
Therefore, we do not compare the effects of a stand-alone intervention vs. no intervention but rather, the effects of the delivery mode (game-based vs. traditional) and their influences on financial literacy.
The methods that we investigate relate to the paradigm of active or experiential learning, which has been regarded as having promise in economic education (Amagir et al. Citation2018; Collins and Odders-White Citation2015).
Abstract:
The authors of this article studied the effects of game-based financial education approaches using a sample of lower-secondary school students in Finland. The sample consisted of 640 students from 42 schools in different areas of the country.
The authors focused on three different game-based interventions using a pre- and post-intervention survey design. They compared the effects of the interventions (and their combinations) to a control group that received only traditional teaching.
They found robust effects with respect to knowledge gained from game-based approaches. However, the effects on self-reported financial behaviors were weak.
Keywords: schools, economic education, financial education, financial literacy, games, Finland
