Environmental Task on Problem Solving

The Environmental task we did was motivating and meaningful. I could remember my money concept was learnt from my aunt who used to bring me to supermarket to explore grocery items and I have acquired the knowledge of using money to purchase items which I need. On the whole, I felt that money is an important concept which students should be taught because money is essential in everything we do.

The two main skills that children need to know when it comes to money—and the earlier, the better—is being able to identify money and being able to tender money and make change. Using children’s books and poems can help students learn how money is used in everyday life and provide a starting point for a lesson on money. Teachers can draw on this knowledge to introduce the values of coins and notes and relate their value to items that children recognize, such as candy, toys, or movie tickets.

According to Jerome Bruner, environment is one issue which concerns educators as it creates the willingness to learn in children. In our task, we have applied the three modes of instructions which Jerome Bruner talks about in his theory of mathematics.

First: The Enactive Mode. We are using real-life experience to carry out learning objectives such as developing the responsiveness of money in children; enhance their counting skills; the values of money; cognitive skills as they engage in thinking about, and acting within, a financial environment.

Second: The Iconic Mode. The different sections Daiso supermarket serves provide a set of images for children to visualise what they would like to buy. Instruction list by the teacher is also very important as it helps children to easily grasp the information they need to know.

Third: The Symbolic Mode. The children can do beyond the instructions level through abstract thinking. Children think about what kinds of materials are good for this D-I-Y gift. Problems become more complex as students learn to combine coins and notes to reach certain values. For this instance we have given them $10 which includes coins and notes. The reason why we chose Daiso was because everything costs $2 and the children can practice multiples of two. We felt that preschoolers should not be handling decimals at this point, perhaps when they turn 8 years old.