The Fordham Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) Division of Curriculum and Teaching is pleased to share the recent work of Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Philip Dituri, Ph.D. During The Council for Economic Education’s 56th Annual Financial Literacy and Economic Education Conference this October, Dr. Dituri presented “Innovative High School Math Curriculum Focuses on Personal Financial Literacy”, the high school financial literacy/personal finance course curriculum he co-authored called FiCycle. Dr. Dituri has also presented two-hour workshops on the course to Math for America master teachers, and provided many professional development workshops for prospective FiCycle teachers. In addition, he will introduce FiCycle to more educators at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting and Exposition, April 25 – 28, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
The course is sponsored by the non-profit organization Financial Life Cycle Mathematics, and the curriculum is currently available free of charge. Founded by financial leader Andrew Davidson, the goal of teaching FiCycle is to provide a way for students to learn the core concepts of personal finance in a mathematically rigorous manner. Specifically, Dr. Dituri and the organization believe that:
- teaching students the math underlying financial instruments will better position them to make good financial decisions in the future.
- showing students how algebra, probability and statistics can be used to evaluate financial problems will increase their engagement in mathematics.
Currently in its second year as a high school course, FiCycle has grown from three participating schools with about 70 enrolled students in 2016-17 to 10 participating schools with several hundred enrolled students in 2017-18.
