Positionality Paper

Education is something that, in one way or another, almost everyone in the country has

access to. Anyone can earn a high school diploma or GED, regardless of where they live. The

same can be said of a college education in this day and age. The opportunity to earn bachelor’s,

master’s, and a variety of other degrees and certificates is only a phone call away.

However, the issue in education does not lie in the fact that everyone has access to it. In

fact, accessibility is one of the main flaws in the American college system. Students who were

provided poor high school educations are being swindled into taking out large loans by college

recruiters, only to receive little to no assistance once classes begin. Additionally, the increasing

rates of college tuition and financing are not being conveyed well enough to 18 year old students

who are just graduating high school.

College has slowly turned into a sector of the business world. This evolution has opened

the door for education to serve as bait to fund their universities (which, in some cases, are

corporations). As an educational (specifically college) administrator, my philosophies would

revolve around removing the corporate stigma. I believe that education should focus around

honesty, the specific needs of each individual student, and the attainment of personal and

professional goals.

First of all, honesty is an important part of my philosophy as an educator because it

correlates directly with the success of the student. For instance, many universities set out with a

goal of recruiting as many students as they possibly can, regardless of whether the program is a

good fit. They will trick students into thinking and even telling themselves that they should

spurn their dreams to go to whichever university is attempting to recruit them. However, by

being honest with the student, it will provide them with the opportunity to find a school and

program that is a good fit for them. This will help them not only get the best experience, but also

matriculate towards graduation. Additionally, honesty in student financing is an important part

of my educational philosophy. When students take out large loans to fund their education and

living expenses, they oftentimes do not realize how these decisions can affect their future.

Providing more direct information and former college student testimonials regarding student

loans will take much stress and anxiety off of the student as they go through college.

In addition to honesty, I believe in the individual needs of the student as an important part

of the college experience. As an educator, it would be foolish to think that the same approach

works for every student. In order to maximize positive student relationships and improve student

success rates, it is detrimental to meet needs culturally, spiritually, academically, socially, and

otherwise. This allows the educational system to focus on the development of the entire student

rather than just the academic portion. Also, by having all of their other needs met to the best of

the university’s ability, they could stand to increase the academic effort of the student.

Finally, as an educator I believe that it is important to focus on student goal attainment.

If students are going to be paying upwards of $80,000 to attend an average 4-year institution, it is

only right that they leave their university with a list of memorable accomplishments. For

instance, a student may initially be enticed into going to school so that they can get a job

working as a mechanical engineer. The educator and university should at least be partially

responsible for taking additional steps to help the student attain their goal of becoming a

mechanical engineer. They could provide tools such as internship opportunities, networking, set

up frequent advisor appointments, and do just about anything in their power to help the student

achieve the goal that they initially had when they arrived at college.
 All in all, I believe that there are many values which make educators important and

unique. But in my case, my student-centric and honest philosophies are what I believe make me

unique. I hope that as I move into my career I am given opportunities to provide these services

and qualities to the students I work with.

 Learning Synthesis Paper

Learning is an objective that can be broken down into and defined by many different

approaches. Educators, psychologists, parents, and anyone who seeks to teach uses their own

takes and mixtures of teaching approaches. Whether they realize it or not, this approach is what

guides the way that they teach and conduct learning. When it comes to classroom learning in

particular, the approach that one takes is critical. This paper will be focused specifically on

psychological constructivism and will seek to analyze what psychological constructivism is, why

I am choosing it as the basis for my curriculum, and how I plan to integrate it into classroom

learning as an educator.

Overview of Psychological Constructivism

Psychological constructivism is a learning theory that was introduced by Jean Piaget, a

Swiss developmental psychologist whose findings served as a turning point in education (Phillips

& Soltis, 2009). Piaget, a developmentalist, “clearly recognized that children came into the

world with minimal equipment to guide their behavior…yet within a few years they are able to

walk and talk, and deal with common everyday objects and situations” (Phillips et al., 2009, pp.

42). Using the different phases of a child’s learning as a framework, Piaget soon realized that

learning occurred in different stages depending on the age and background of the student in

question (Phillips et al., 2009).

The first phase in psychological constructivism is the sensorimotor stage (Phillips et al.,

2009). In this stage of development, which occurs between birth and age two, the child in

question must learn how to conduct basic movement. This can include, “grasping, bringing

objects to its mouth, and so on” (Phillips et al., 2009, pp. 42). It is necessary for the child
progress through each phase to move onto the next. So although this stage may seem basic, it is

vital for progression.

The second stage of development in psychological constructivism is the preoperational

stage, which happens between ages two and seven (Phillips et al., 2009). During this stage, the

child is able to take much of the knowledge and conceptualizations that were learned in the first

stage and develop a program for how to use it. That is to say, the learner will now have a mental

roadmap for how to begin navigating through life and into the third stage of development, which

is the concrete operation’s stage (Phillips et al., 2009).

In the concrete operation’s stage, which takes place between ages seven and eleven,

better depth perception is introduced. Children in this stage begin construction of what Piaget

calls logical structures, in additional to learning how add, subtract, divide, and multiply without

the use of objects (Phillips et al., 2009).

The concrete operation’s stage leads into the fourth and final stage of psychological

constructivism, which is the formal operations stage (Phillips et al., 2009). This is the stage

where the learner is finally able to take everything that they have learned in the previous stages

and utilize it to solve complex or abstract problems (Phillips et al., 2009). Essentially, this is

where adult-level problem solving skills are developed, occurring between ages eleven and

fifteen (Phillips et al., 2009).

Overall, psychological constructivism is the process of learning by doing. The four

stages all represent a part of the learning process that the student must go through in order to

eventually achieve mastery over a problem or subject.

Psychological Constructivism as the Basis of my Curriculum

 For the upcoming curriculum that I will be creating, psychological constructivism is the

ideal approach from which to base it off of. I will be conducting my curriculum on financial

education for students who are just entering college. This is an extremely important topic for

young college students considering the fact that they are being asked to take out massive loans at

a young age. Additionally, “the financial habits- both positive and negative- that form during the

transition to adulthood are likely to persist throughout adulthood” (Shim, Barber, Card, Xiao, &

Serido, 2009, pp. 1457). This shows that not only may students be digging themselves into an

unnecessary amount of debt while in college, but also that the habits that got them into debt have

the potential to persist throughout their entire lives.

The reason that psychological constructivism is the best approach to teaching financial

education to young college students is because they need to develop a roadmap to how finances

work before they can begin solving the problem of getting themselves out of debt. For instance,

a parent can tell a child their entire life that they need to understand the value of a dollar. But the

only experience that most college students have with money is working minimum wage jobs. No

one is teaching college students how to pay off massive amounts of debt, nor are is anyone

putting into perspective for them how long it will take to pay off. Just as a teenager must learn to

juggle food and gas money from their minimum wage job through experience, they must also

learn to manage their larger funds. But unfortunately the experience is not given to most people.

How I Will Integrate Psychological Constructivism into my Curriculum

There are multiple ways that I plan on using in integrating psychological constructivism

into my financial education curriculum. The first will be to use a simulator of college financing.

This would work by starting off the simulation as a student entering college with a set amount of

money (it would be a relatively low amount). From there, the student would have to go through
college and make decisions that could either raise or lower the amount of money that they have

to borrow. For instance, students would have options to eat out a certain number of times per

week, work however many hours they wish, and also determine how getting good grades can

help reduce financial burdens through scholarships. At the end of college, the simulation would

help to put in perspective how much money they owe in loans versus how much they could owe

if they had made other decisions. But the interesting part of the simulator would be what

happens after graduation. Upon leaving college, students would be able to see how their entry

level salary in their given field stacks up with their other expenses. These expenses can include

rent, student loan repayments, car payments, and other basic living expenses. This aspect would

help put into perspective for students how long it will take them to pay off their loans, how long

it would take them before they can buy a house or go on vacations, and any other negative

impacts that massive amounts of loans can have.

In addition to the simulator, there will be other exercises in the curriculum that seek to

educate through experience. The idea is that once students are aware of the negative

consequences of living off of large student loans for four or more years, they will begin to

develop cognitive structures in their lives to help reduce their expenses. Ultimately, the exercises

should aid in building habits that last well into adulthood.

Conclusion

All in all, psychological constructivism will serve as a strong pillar in my curriculum. I

believe that by allowing entry level college students to learn finances by doing rather than

listening (or not learning at all in some cases), they will be better equipped to handle the

financial burdens that college endows. Hopefully as the generations continue to pass, students

will be better off financially as they transition out of college and into the real world.
 References

Phillips, D. C., & Soltis, J. F. (2009). Perspectives on learning. Teachers College Press.

Shim, S., Barber, B. L., Card, N. A., Xiao, J. J., & Serido, J. (2010). Financial socialization of

first-year college students: The roles of parents, work, and education. Journal of youth

and adolescence, 39(12), 1457-1470.

Lesson Plan 1: Introduction to Student Finance

SUBJECT TEACHER GRADE DATE

st
Introduction to Student Eric Gorman Freshman/1 Year August 23rd, 2017
Finance Transfer

OVERVIEW
As a result of the increased need for a college degree to attain jobs in most every field, along with ever-
rising tuition rates, more and more students are finding themselves in the positon of taking out large
student loans to pay for college. Despite the inflation of the number of students taking out these large
loans, it takes little more than a FAFSA and a click to place oneself in debt that they are told they will be
able to repay once the finish college. This lesson will feature a formal presentation and group discussion
encompassing the way that loans are financed, how interest is calculated, and other regulations with
regard to student finance vocabulary and function. The idea and goal of this lesson plan is to educate
students on how college financial debt can affect them in the long and short term. Each student session
will consist of approximately 30 students.

Lesson Guide
OBJECTIVES  Retain basic overview of student financial literacy

 Become comfortable with financial vocabulary

 Identify differences between types of loans and interest rates

ACTIVITY  Teacher will provide large group presentation to student audience based off of
material in the hand-out spiral

 Break students into groups to discuss topics and vocabulary noted in hand-out
spirals. Students will complete worksheets off this material

 Large group discussion will be conducted to attain correct answers to worksheets

EVENT  9:00 AM- 9:30 AM: Large group presentation will be held by speaker based off of
OUTLINE/TIME spiral handout
FRAME
 9:30 AM- 10:00 AM: Student will break off into five small groups and complete
worksheets/discussions based off of spiral

 10:00 AM- 10:30 AM: Come back together for class discussion to give correct
answers and explanations behind problems on the worksheets
 Lesson Guide
MATERIALS  One spiral notebook provided per student indicating all information regarding
financial aid and ensuing presentation

 One pen per student

 One worksheet packet per student

NOTES  The presentation and familiarization with student finance vocabulary will
undoubtedly be the least enticing of the three lesson plans, so expect fairly low energy and
enthusiasm from students in this lesson
Lesson Plan 2: College Finance Simulator

SUBJECT TEACHER GRADE DATE

st
College Finance SimulatorEric Gorman Freshman/1 Year August 24th, 2017
Transfer

OVERVIEW
This lesson plan will feature a more hands-on approach to financial experience and learning. In this
lesson, students will complete a simulation of college based on financial choices, numbers, and factors.
While the students will be the ones making choices such as how many hours they work, how much they
spend on rent and food, and how large of a loan they take out, they will be able to see both ends of the
spectrum. The simulator will provide a look at both ‘cheap’ version of college compared to one with a
high amount of unpaid loans. The simulator will be provided via electronic device (laptop, smartphone,
tablet, etc.) and will give students freedom over the choices they make. Once the simulation is
complete, the class will gather back for a discussion regarding the decisions that students made and
what could have been done differently.

Lesson Guide
OBJECTIVES  Conduct college financial simulation with sound decision making skills

 Identify ways to reduce college debt

 Analyze real-life college situations with a finance-first perspective

ACTIVITY  Teacher will lead an electronic real-life simulation of financial spending and
borrowing in college. Students will follow along on personal device

 Students will evaluate their decisions conducted in the simulator

 Teacher will conduct a group discussion detailing student input on the decisions
that they made in the simulator. Best and worst ways to save on borrowed and spent
money will be heavily discussed

EVENT  9:00 AM- 10:00 AM: Students will conduct electronic college financial simulation.
OUTLINE/TIME They will have freedom to make decisions that will either drive up or lower the total cost
FRAME
of the college experience

 10:00 AM- 10:30 AM: Class will reconvene to discuss the results of the individual
simulations. Further topics discussed will include the ways in which students can run up or
decrease their total student loans
 Lesson Guide
MATERIALS  Electronic device such as a laptop, smartphone, or tablet that has the ability to
connect to a Wi-Fi network

 One Pen

 One piece of paper for notes

 Spiral from Day 1

NOTES  This portion of the program will often generate more questions and individual
opinions from students. It is important to regard all students’ opinions equally
Lesson Plan 3: Student Finance Post-Graduation

SUBJECT TEACHER GRADE DATE

st
Student Finance Post- Eric Gorman Freshman/1 Year August 25th, 2017
Graduation Transfer

OVERVIEW
Now that students have seen the impact that loans and careless spending can have on the amount of
money they must pay back after graduation, it is time to see just how long, difficult, and stressful process
it can be to pay them off. This lesson will feature another electronic simulation, conducted on a
student’s personal device, this time detailing the process of paying back loans. It will feature variables
such as entry-level salary in one’s preferred career field, amounts of loans that were used, how much is
given to monthly payments, and how loans can affect other financial decisions (buying a house, buying a
car, etc.). Upon completion of the simulator, students will have the opportunity to reflect on their
decisions, the consequences of careless spending and borrowing, and how they can do things differently
to build a better life for themselves once they graduate.

Lesson Guide
OBJECTIVES  Identify ways in which student loan debt can affect one’s life beyond college
graduation

 Construct basic financial plan of how they will fund their education and living
expenses during college

ACTIVITY  Teacher will lead an electronic real-life simulation of paying back student loans
after graduating college. Students will follow along on electronic device.

 Students will evaluate simulator decisions

 Teacher will conduct a group discussion detailing student input on the decisions
that were made in the simulator. Overall feelings and strategies of improving borrowed
money in college will be discussed as well as its impact on life after college

EVENT  9:00 AM- 10:00 AM: Student will conduct electronic financial simulation focusing
OUTLINE/TIME on post-college life. Choices made will affect other financial areas of their simulated adult
FRAME
lives

 10:00 AM- 10:30 AM: Class will reconvene to discuss the results of the financial
simulations. Emphasis in discussion will be placed on how the student’s lives are affected
by loans after college and how being careful now will benefit them in the future.
 Lesson Guide
MATERIALS  Electronic device such as a laptop, smartphone, or tablet that has the ability to
connect to a Wi-Fi network

 One pen

 One piece of paper for notes

 Spiral from Day 1

NOTES  This lesson should encompass aspects from the two previous lessons and tie in the
main point of how student loans can affect one’s self inside and outside of college.
Discussion should go in-depth and generate much student participation
For this particular activity, assessments will be handed out after the lesson in the form of a

survey. While there will be other more informal ‘assessments’ used to go along with the

financial electronic simulator, those questions and activities will only be available via the

simulator. The surveys are designed with the intention of discovering whether or not students are

taking the financial simulations seriously. Additionally, they will help to gauge how much the

students are taking away from the lessons. The only other additional surveys that will be given

provided incrementally every year or so to see how students have used their financial knowledge,

though they will be unrelated to the lesson plans. Only the post lesson surveys will be depicted

below.
 DAY 1: INTRODUCTION TO STUDENT FINANCE
Name: Date:

Z-ID: Session/Group Number:

1. Did you already have an understanding of student finance prior to today’s lesson? If so, where did you receive your
information?

2. Do you feel more comfortable with vocabulary associated with student finance?

3. Is the spiral a useful resource to look back on for information? If not, what may have been more effective for you?

4. Was this presentation interactive? If not, what may have been a better way for you to learn the student finance
information?

5. Are there any other future suggestions that you have with regards to the information covered into today’s session or
how it could have been done differently?
 DAY 2: COLLEGE FINANCIAL SIMULATOR
Name: Date:

Z-ID: Session/Group Number:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most cost efficient and 1 being the least), where would you place yourself based on
the results of your simulator?

2. What would you have done differently in your simulator to make your college experience more affordable?

3. Do you feel that you will be able to strike a good balance between school, work, and social life based off the results of
your simulator?

4. What are some of the ways that you can limit student debt while pursuing a college degree?

5. How do you plan to hold yourself accountable to limiting the amount of student debt that you will potentially
accumulate/graduate with?
 DAY 3: STUDENT FINANCE POST GRADUATION
Name: Date:

Z-ID: Session/Group Number:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most impactful), how impactful do you feel that the amount of loans you take out
in college will impact your future beyond graduation?

2. Knowing how long loans take to pay off with an entry level salary, do you still feel comfortable with your current major
and future career choice?

3. Knowing what you have learned, do you feel that college is as worthwhile experience as people have always made it
out to be?

4. How has what you learned about saving money while going through college taught you about life after graduation?

5. Would you recommend college to high school students knowing what you do about financing?