FINANCIAL EDUCATION

A CONTEXTUALIZED APPROACH IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Brazilian society does not have a culture of learning about Financial Education and, even if unintentionally, individuals prioritize spending over saving. This translates into inadequate financial decisions and lack of planning, which is reflected in everyday life. The film "Until Luck Do Us Part" illustrates this reality by showing how a family that won the lottery ends up going bankrupt due to unbridled spending. Although presented in a humorous way, the plot highlights the urgent need for better financial education in the country. In view of this, this study aims to elucidate the importance of addressing Financial Education in schools and identify the prior knowledge of 6th grade students at the José Basson School Unit, located in Cocal-PI. Financial education is something that may be considered new to the majority of the population, however, it is a topic that deserves attention since it directly influences the economic decisions of individuals and families. Thus, this study was conducted through bibliographical research on the subject and field research, divided into two stages, in which two contextualized activities were applied: a basic activity on forming amounts of money and a simulation of supermarket shopping, where students had to decide between price and quality. By applying these activities, it was concluded that financial education is something far from the reality of the children participating in the research. This fact is understandable, due to the age group of the students. However, this reality can and should be changed, and encouragement in the school environment is of utmost importance, since it was possible to see that, with the proper encouragement, students can achieve good results, planning better how to use their money, making better choices and saving.