Abstract:
Decision making is an everyday part of our lives. It is one of the most complex, ill-structured and dynamic type of problems. Sound decisions require the problem solver to employ various cognitive and metacognitive skills. In schools, students make decisions about daily expenses, time allocation (whether to do homework or to play), and social situations (the types of friends to associate with). When making decisions, they must compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of alternative solutions and justify their solutions. Usually, problem solvers identify and consider a set of relevant criteria during the process of decision making. Such a process can be highly complex because it requires the problem solvers to consider multiple factors against the criteria they identified. In normative decision making theory, people follow a linear process of decision making. However, real world problems can be complex and multidimensional. Given that most decision making models explained exclusively adult’s decision-making processes, we argue for the need to understand school students everyday decision making. In particular, we are interested to explore primary school students’ monetary decision making given the current emphasis on financial literacy programs globally. In this presentation, we will discuss the roles of metacognition in students’ monetary decision making process, and the emerging factors that help to explain their monetary decision making processes. Data were collected from 48 mixed ability primary school students (average age=10) from two different government primary schools in Singapore through focus group interviews. Using grounded theory, it was found that student’s monetary decision making is a complex process. Students displayed varied skills in that students often reflect upon unwise decisions and unpleasant experiences, and that parental involvement and students’ family background were influential factors in students’ decision making. Interestingly, students displayed the ability to identify criteria for the comparison of solutions and our results also showed evidence of children’s planning when making monetary decisions. The findings of this study have implications on curriculum and instruction that aim to develop students’ financial literacy.