Teaching Kids Online About Consumer Education
In a regular school curriculum filled with subjects, consumer education programs are often left out partly due to a lack of time and partly due to a lack of teaching materials. A number of online resources have been developed for teachers and students to use both in the classroom as well as at home. These resources are designed to be easily integrated with other curriculum areas such as social studies, health or science.
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Expert Insight
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Anup Shah, in an article published on the Global Issues website, writes that American children watch an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 television commercials each year, and that children in the UK watch around 10,000 commercials. She adds that teenagers in the U.S. spend around 160 billion dollars a year and children under 11 spend around 18 billion dollars a year. Children are often able to influence purchases by their parents as well as spending their own money.
Definition
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Consumer Education is education about consumer goods, advertising, businesses practices and managing money, as well as teaching about the skills, behaviors and attitudes needed to successfully live in a consumer society. The goal of consumer education is to create responsible, intelligent and discerning consumers.
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Features
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The design and writing of online resources is usually in an easy-to-read format and style similar to that found in teen magazines. Many sites include interactive games that lead students to develop an awareness of consumer issues. Some resources are developed by kids for kids.
Function
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By learning early about consumer issues, educators aim to enable students to become smart consumers that will be well informed about making financial choices whether it be shopping, buying a home, obtaining credit, or planning and following a budget.
Considerations
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Because teens are the largest spending age group of children, the majority of online resources are aimed towards that group. However, there are resources available for students as young as second grade. The Internet is an excellent venue for consumer education because children are what Marc Prensky calls "digital natives." Children are wired for the digital world, and online resources take advantage of that orientation.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Andres Rueda
