Real-life financial scenarios keep Year 5/6 students absorbed with distance learning
Banqer Primary kept students excited about financial literacy whilst learning remotely during a two-month COVID-19 lockdown. Students in rural Victoria kept an eye on their net wealth, held online property discussions, and got their parents involved in the fun.
Luke Kleinig is a Year 5/6 teacher at Dookie Primary School, a small rural school two and a half hours north of Melbourne. He has 13 students in his composite class, all with diverse interests and abilities. Luke was familiar with Banqer Primary and in his new role as Numeracy Coordinator, instituting Banqer Primary was a no-brainer.
It supports financial mathematics but covers so much other content too that I knew it would engage all the kids no matter their interests.
Luke integrated Banqer Primary into numeracy time but across other subject areas like Home Economics, with the class using the superannuation funds to budget and cater for a class party.
Using Banqer to motivate and teach real-world skills in the classroom
Alongside learning outcomes, Luke uses Banqer as a behavioural management system. Students are allocated weekly Banqer income based on completing classroom tasks. Luke found students were keen to wipe the board, put the chickens away, and get the next day’s planner ready in return for payment. “Banqer Primary was a great little motivator and really reflects the real world, where you get paid for doing a job. And whilst it’s not my main driver, I do enjoy the behaviour management side of things. Whoever does this first gets $100 is a great carrot to dangle!”
Luke covered the modules one at a time, with anticipation building as another was about to be released. “The content supported what we were doing in class - addition, multiplication, graphs, and stats. The more I explored Banqer, the more I implemented it into our day. It made the students realise that our maths had a real-life application.”
Boosting student engagement through real-life scenarios.
Luke added an extra layer of reality to Banqer Primary with an earthquake scenario following Victoria’s 5.9 shake and unleashed a flood scenario when the state got smashed by storms. “Banqer Primary is brilliant for making students think about how what we are doing in class applies to real life. They all really understand the importance of insurance now,” he chuckles. Much to Luke’s relief, Banqer Primary continued to motivate even during Victoria’s two month lockdown.
We had a few online maths programmes available to the students, but it was Banqer Primary that had the highest levels of engagement. We would meet up online - they were completely into it.
Luke also appreciated the additional remote learning content that Banqer Primary provided during the lockdown. “My students were already familiar with Google Classroom so I just uploaded the activities that Banqer sent through, such as planning your groceries for the week. It was brilliant for the kids to be able to jump online and have a crack at these fun activities whilst they were at home.”
Luke was particularly blown away by the parental involvement during lockdown. “The students were having impromptu discussions with their parents, likely because it was a subject area parents felt comfortable with and could add to.” Luke was inundated with positive feedback, with many saying they wished something like Banqer Primary was around in their school days.
One student told me he’d spent two hours talking to his dad about his Banqer plan for the rest of the year.
Luke was pleased to see that the high levels of parent interest continued when the students returned to school in Term 4. “The other week one kid was full of beans after having had a conversation with his parents about property. The parent involvement has probably been one of the most rewarding things about Banqer Primary, alongside its real-life applications, and the ease with which it engages all the students.”
Banqer Primary is available to primary schools throughout Australia at no cost, thanks to our Champion Partner Netwealth. Teachers can sign up via our site or book an online demo to help them get started and set up.
