Iowa's Personal Finance Curriculum of Choice
Stukent’s Personal Finance Simulations
100% of the real-world topics outlined in the K-12 Iowa Core Standards in Social Studies are covered in the Personal Finance simulation and curriculum.
Your students get hands on experience with Stukent's Personal Finance Simulation
Everyone who adopts this courseware will get access to our world class Stukent Support Team
Iowa Schools Using Stukent Personal Finance Courseware
100% of the real-world topics outlined in the K-12 Iowa Core Standards in Social Studies are covered in the Mimic Personal Finance simulation and curriculum.
Your students get hands-on experience with Mimic Personal Finance.
Everyone who adopts this courseware will get access to Stukent's world-class support team, Virtual TA!
Iowa Schools that Use Stukent's Mimic Personal Finance Courseware
Iowa's Financial Literacy State Standards
| Real World Topics Covered (21st Century Skills) | Simulation Match | Curriculum Match |
|---|---|---|
| SS-FL.9-12.13. Develop short- and long-term financial goals. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.14. Evaluate entrepreneurship, career choices, and the effect on the standard of living. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.15. Evaluate the effect of taxes and other factors on income. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.16. Develop a saving & spending plan, using a financial record keeping tool. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.17. Apply consumer skills to saving and spending decisions. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.18. Analyze the cost and benefits of different types of credit and debt. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.19. Summarize a borrower's rights and responsibilities. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.20. Investigate strategies to avoid and manage debt effectively. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.21. Evaluate short-term savings tools. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.22. Apply investment tools to meet financial goals. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.23. Justify reasons to use various forms of insurance. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.24. Establish strategies for protection of personal identity and other forms of fraud. | ✅ |
Iowa's Financial Literacy State Standards
| Real World Topics Covered (21st Century Skills) | Simulation Match | Curriculum Match |
|---|---|---|
| SS-FL.9-12.13. Develop short- and long-term financial goals. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.14. Evaluate entrepreneurship, career choices, and the effect on the standard of living. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.15. Evaluate the effect of taxes and other factors on income. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.16. Develop a saving & spending plan, using a financial record keeping tool. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.17. Apply consumer skills to saving and spending decisions. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.18. Analyze the cost and benefits of different types of credit and debt. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.19. Summarize a borrower's rights and responsibilities. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.20. Investigate strategies to avoid and manage debt effectively. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.21. Evaluate short-term savings tools. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.22. Apply investment tools to meet financial goals. | ✅ | |
| SS-FL.9-12.23. Justify reasons to use various forms of insurance. | ✅ | ✅ |
| SS-FL.9-12.24. Establish strategies for protection of personal identity and other forms of fraud. | ✅ |
Go Beyond Concepts to Real-life Application with
Stukent's Personal Finance Simulation
The Personal Finance Simulation uses decision-theory learning to teach students the basic principles of financial literacy in an effective and straightforward way.
In the Simulation, students get to experience the impact of their financial decisions in both the simulation and in the classroom. Students' decisions have real in-class consequences, creating an environment where their choices dictate their experiences ... and their grades!
This Simulation creates differentiated learning experiences naturally, as students' choices will affect their outcomes. Throughout this role-playing simulation, students will master important personal finance principles, learn more about themselves, and develop a personal approach to financial matters. Stukent's Personal Finance Simulation helps students learn to analyze their financial situation, needs, and goals while giving them real consequences for their choices. As a result, students learn how to make smart financial decisions throughout their lives.
The Personal Finance Simulation comes with a curriculum designed to help you teach personal finances in a meaningful way. The in-class activities can easily be integrated into any existing curriculum and are designed with a teacher’s busy schedule in mind. The curriculum and the simulation work together to reinforce concepts and lay the groundwork for content covered later in the course.
The curriculum also includes lecture videos designed to help you teach personal finance online. Each lecture covers a lesson from the curriculum in under 10 minutes. They’re perfect for teaching online courses and are designed to keep your students engaged.
Personal Finance lesson plans are designed to follow a modified version of the 5E Model of Lesson Planning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, and Elaborate.
How the Personal Finance Simulation Works:
Banking
Students start with budgets to track and basic bills to pay. Academic performance in class determines if they earn a raise or lose income.
Assets & Liabilities
Students develop credit scores based on in-class behavior and simulation decisions. The scores allow them to take on liabilities and purchase assets like cars and real estate.
Income Growth
Students may choose to explore other sources of income such as starting a business in class, taking a second job, or investing in the stock market.
Life Happens
Just like the real world is full of surprises, students experience unexpected events that influence their finances.
Buying Grades
By applying budgeting skills, students regularly purchase their Personal Finance score.
"Stukent's Personal Finance Simulation — it’s literally the best technological tool I've ever used in my classroom! When the Personal Finance Simulation came across my desk in the fall of 2019, I knew Stukent could bring something special to my classroom. The simulation was everything that I wanted to be as a teacher: authentic, organic, and engaging. I was so very proud to keep bringing the Simulation into my classroom each and every semester as a critical adjunct to my financial literacy coursework. The simulation is literally the centerpiece of the course."
Keith Brady
H.S. Business Education Teacher
Each unit contains:
- Lesson plans
- Presentations
- Lecture videos
- Assignments and activities
- Teacher guides
- Assessments
Units:
Unit 1: The RWC experience through Personal Finance Simulation
Unit 2: Money as a resource
Unit 3: Post-secondary
Unit 4: Employment
Unit 5: Managing finances
Unit 6: First major obligations
Unit 7: Insurance
Unit 8: Revolving credit
Unit 9: Personal credit
Unit 10: Taxes
Unit 11: Home ownership
Unit 12: Charitable giving
Unit 13: Investing
Origin Story
Brian Bean was teaching high school science when he became the victim of an elaborate Ponzi scheme. As a result, he lost everything and had to start life over at the age of 30. “I was embarrassed and thought that as an educated man, I should not have been so easily duped,” Brian says.
Brian was frustrated with the way our education system approaches the topic of personal financial literacy and decided there had to be a better way. He went back to school and got certified in banking and finance, earned a master’s degree in teaching methodology, and began developing the Personal Finance Simulation and the Real-World Classroom Teaching Model.
“The Personal Finance Simulation is based on my core belief that the greatest educational experiences in life are a direct result of our own choices,” Brian says. “Life is the greatest teacher of all, but the tuition can be expensive! My goal was to find a way to bring the real world into the classroom and give students opportunities to make some of these critical life decisions in the safe environment of the classroom.”
In 2016, Stukent’s Personal Finance Simulation was launched as a pilot program with a small group of schools in Utah and Texas. Over the next couple of years, the program expanded to more and more states. In 2019, Stukent launched the Personal Finance Simulation as a national product. Now students all over the country have the opportunity to not just learn about financial literacy but actually experience it!