Teacher reflections on using inquiry-based instruction to engage young children in conversations about wealth and poverty

Promoting Elementary School-Age Children’s Understanding of Wealth, Poverty, and Civic Engagement

“…Guided by developmental theory about children’s beliefs about others (Developmental Intergroup Theory; Bigler and Liben 2006) and a shared commitment to using education to better support students’ understanding of what it means to be civically minded citizens (Why School? 2016), we assessed whether explicit instruction influenced students’ reasoning about the meanings, causes, and consequences of wealth and poverty.Motivated by developmental science on young children’s conceptions of wealth and poverty and by the paucity of extant curricula focused on addressing these topics with young students, we recently undertook an intervention study in collaboration with a team of elementary grade teachers to design, implement, and evaluate an arts-based inquiry guided unit focused on teaching children about wealth and poverty, and civic responsibility (see Mistry et al 2016; Mistry et al 2017; Nenadal and Mistry 2017). …”

“…Lesson topics included looking at the similarities and differences between people in different economic groups, within-group differentiation (e.g., using the terms “none, some, most, all” to talk about people), and the difference between “wants” and “needs.” For example, in one classroom, the students worked together to compile a list of things that people need to survive (e.g., food, water) and a list of things that people want, but do not necessarily need in order to live (e.g., candy, toys). This activity later informed a donation drive that the class participated in (see Nenadal and Mistry 2017, for greater detail about curriculum implementation).…”

“…Given the children’s ages and limited vocabularies for expressing their ideas verbally, art provided an essential medium of expression for students to express their ideas and represent their thoughts through multiple modalities (e.g., drawing, watercolor, clay), which they were later asked to describe and discuss with their peers and teachers. And, finally, the teachers noted that their foray into this topic would not have been possible without the support of the school, fellow teachers, and parents—some of whom expressed reservations initially but who overwhelming supported the teachers’ efforts (Nenadal and Mistry 2017). Given the children’s ages and limited vocabularies for expressing their ideas verbally, art provided an essential medium of expression for students to express their ideas and represent their thoughts through multiple modalities (e.g., drawing, watercolor, clay), which they were later asked to describe and discuss with their peers and teachers.…”

“…In this article, we contribute to this conversation by first reviewing existing resources for elementary school educators, including early childhood educators, on topics related to wealth and poverty. Next, we tie together our discussion of theoretical and empirical evidence on children’s understanding of wealth and poverty and extant curricula approaches by briefly reviewing findings from a recent evaluation study in which researchers collaborated with teachers in the design, implementation, and evaluation of an arts-based inquiry guided unit addressing wealth and poverty with early elementary school-age children (see Mistry et al 2016; Mistry et al 2017; Nenadal and Mistry 2017).…”

examination of innovative pedagogical practices for turning around or enhancing student persistence rates

“…The faculty participants identified surveying student interests and understanding student backgrounds as techniques to use to overcome this issue. Nenadal and Mistry (2017) suggested using an approach called inquiry-based learning to foster students' investigation of key topics and concepts through collaborative and scaffolded learning opportunities. Using this technique, before and during the class, teachers will informally assess students' understanding of the topic, plan lessons according to these understandings and possible misconceptions, guide students' thinking through questions and conversations, and often work with students toward a culminating action-oriented final project.…”