One Big Idea: Phil Dituri on Personal Finance Education

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If you could share One Big Idea to change the future of education, what would it be? 

In the fifth episode of our One Big Idea series, we hear from Phil Dituri, Director of Education for FiCycle. Phil previously served as a Visiting Professor at Fordham University, and was a teacher, instructional coach, and chairperson of the mathematics department at New Design HS in lower Manhattan. While in public school, he was a three-time Math for America Master Teacher. Phil has a B.A. in Mathematics from NYU and a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Columbia University.

Phil describes the big idea of integrating mathematics with financial education, specifically that personal finance should be the context through which algebra is taught. These are “gatekeeper” topics in our society, meaning that people need to have a good understanding of them in order to be successful, and compelling research shows that students learn each of these subjects better when they are taught together―math scores increase when it is taught in the context of personal finance, and financial principles are retained much better when taught with the underlying math. Further, students report higher interest and engagement when their math course is structured in this fashion. This idea has significant promise for various aspects of equity. Learn more about the research behind integrating mathematics and personal finance: https://ficycle.org/ 

What’s your One Big Idea to transform education? Connect with us on social media or on our website, www.futureof.school, to share! Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school and follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555.

Learn more about Future of School and its mission to mobilize change in American K-12 education from a one-size-fits-all system to one that ensures all students reach their unbounded potential no matter where their learning takes place at www.futureof.school.

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