Teaching Math with Confidence-Recommendations for Improving Numeracy from the Lens of Confidence Building

• Main Authors: Jacob, Louie Bernard A., Rabago, Miguel Angelo S., Tan, Hans Erickson A., Dacuycuy, Lawrence, Largoza, Gerardo L., Dabbay, Maria Fe Carmen L.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: motivation; Financial Literacy; Confidence; Effort; Behavioral Finance; Hyperbolic Discounting; Experimental; Behavioral Economics; Finance
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/res_aki/84; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/res_aki/article/1094/viewcontent/Teaching_Math_with_Confidence___Recommendations_for_Improving_Numeracy_from_the_Lens_of_Confidence_Building.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Despite the vast amount of literature surrounding the topic of financial literacy and related problems, there is still no universally accepted solution to this issue because the main factors causing financial literacy problems are still not fully understood both by researchers and current policy-makers. A possible new approach was discovered by Skagerlund et al. (2018), as their research suggested that financial literacy is driven by numeracy (the ability to process and perform basic numerical concepts and calculations) rather than direct knowledge about financial concepts. Given that numeracy is an effort based task, this policy brief provides a list of recommendations for developing numeracy from the standpoint of motivating effort to practice and improve the numeracy and mathematical skills of people for them to have the tools necessary to become financially literate, which may be more effective than creating a dedicated course on the topic of financial literacy. The results of the study confirmed that effort is indeed motivated by higher levels of confidence. Furthermore, information, particularly feedback regarding performance, plays a crucial role in shaping future confidence and, by extension, future levels of motivation and effort. Guided by these findings, this brief proposes the following policy recommendations.