The new British Columbia K-12 curriculum and graduation program incorporates financial literacy in mathematics and career education, as well as applied design and technology. This year I decided to use a financial calculator mobile App (as opposed to using TI-83 graphing calculators in the past) to teach Foundations of Mathematics 12 students the importance of being better prepared for everything from buying a car and household budgeting, to saving for future purchases and retirement. There are so many different mobile financial calculator Apps available, but I found EZ Financial Calculator(for iOS) or Financial Calculator (for Android) has a simple and easy to use design for young learners in financial literacy.
If students cannot download (or do not want to download) the free App, there are web-based financial calculators also available to use on the site here.
In the past, students were required to purchase expensive TI-83 or equivalently functioning financial/graphing calculators or the school had to have a class set of these calculators. However, thanks to mobile technology – now everyone has a financial calculator in their pocket as long as they have a mobile device.
