Category Teaching Tools

Aug 16 2025

A.I. PROMPTS FOR IMPROVED FINANCIAL DECISIONS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is influencing every aspect of life and learning.  A vital skill when using AI is creating prompts to obtain valid information for your specific life situation. When creating an AI prompt, be sure to:

  • specify desired length, style, format, reference dates, reading level.
  • identify intended use, purpose, and audience.
  • begin with action verbs: create, design, explain, compare, summarize
  • split complex requests into subtasks and subproblems.
  • include examples and background information for context.
  • avoid complicated or unusual words.
  • submit follow-up requests to verify, clarify, and expand results.
  • ask for references from resources consulted.

Some suggested AI prompts to guide your financial decisions include:

Budgeting: “Help me create a monthly budget. My monthly take-home pay is [amount] with these fixed expenses [list items, amounts]. I have monthly variable expenses of approximately [amount]. I plan to save at least [amount] each month for [financial goal] in [number] years. Suggest budget categories and amounts.”  

“My variable income averages about [amount] each month. I have fixed monthly expenses of [amount].  What actions are suggested to plan for taxes, savings, and variable expenses?”

Banking Services: “Suggest a bank or credit union that minimizes fees and provides appropriate payment, savings, and loan services. I am a [describe current life situation] with a monthly income of [amount].”

Taxes: “I plan to move to [state/country], my current annual income is [amount]. What factors should I consider related to potential tax obligations in this new location?”

Wise Credit Use: “Each month, I use my credit card for several purchases, and always pay off the balance. How will this affect my credit score? What additional actions would help me build my credit score?” 

Insurance: “I’m currently [age] and [marital status] with [number] dependents. My income is [amount]. What amount of life and disability insurance should I consider? What would be an appropriate amount to pay for this coverage?”

“I currently drive a [year, make, model] vehicle, and am paying [amount] a year for auto insurance. What actions should I consider to review my coverage and reduce my insurance payment?”

Housing:  “My monthly income is [amount], I pay [amount] in monthly rent, and have [amount] saved for a down payment. How should I determine if I can afford closing costs and long-term homeownership expenses?“

Buying a Car: “I’m considering a used [year, make, model]. I’m able to afford [amount] for this purchase. What factors should I consider before buying this vehicle?”

Investing:  “I’m [age] with an annual income of [amount]. I’ve saved [amount] in an emergency fund. Now I would like to start investing for [goal] to be achieved in [number of years]. What investments should I consider?” 

Retirement Planning: “I’m [age], self-employed, and earn [amount] a year. What options do I have available to save for retirement?”

Wise Shopping:  “I’m planning to buy [item, model, other details] with a budget of [amount]. What actions would result in getting the best deal, strong customer service, and a good warranty?

Avoiding Consumer Fraud:  “When researching and buying [describe product or service] online, what actions should be taken to determine if an offer is genuine and to avoid being scammed?”

Wealth Creation:  “Based on my current key skills of [list 3-5 strongest abilities],  suggest three unique actions to use my existing skills to increase my income. For each action, suggest specific steps to implement the action and estimate the potential financial benefit.”

Despite every effort to obtain valid AI responses, be aware of these potential drawbacks:

  • Responses may possess bias and include flawed logic.
  • Incorrect facts or results not based on current financial data.
  • Inaccurate calculations and erroneous predictions.

For additional information on AI prompts for personal finance, go to:

Link #1

Link #2

Link #3

Link #4

Teaching Suggestions

  • Have students create and use an AI prompt to obtain guidance for a financial decision. Compare the response received with other sources (online search, information from friends or relatives).
  • Have students talk to others to obtain ideas on how AI is being used for financial decisions.

Discussion Questions 

  1. What features of AI might be most useful to help people improve their financial planning activities?
  2. Describe actions a person might take to evaluate the validity of an AI response.   
Dec 17 2022

Personal Finance Simulations for Budgeting and Investing

Question:  What is a Personal Finance simulation? 

Answer:  A Personal Finance simulation allows students to fine-tune their decisions when they encounter real-life scenarios while taking a Personal Finance course. 

The authors of Personal Finance, 14e and Focus on Personal Finance, 7e have partnered with StockTrak.com to provide students with an interactive learning experience before they leave the classroom.   

The simulation that accompanies the Kapoor Personal Finance texts includes two components–a personal budgeting simulation and an investing simulation.

The Budgeting Simulation

  • Students assume the role of a full-time employee or part-time employee living on their own.
  • Over a virtual 12-month period, students review their estimated income and expenses, create monthly budgets and savings goals, and try to build an emergency fund. Each month takes about 20 minutes to complete.
  • Each month students manage their checking, savings, and credit card accounts as they deal with life’s expected and unexpected events that affect their budget.  
  • Within the simulation, additional personal finance tutorials are available to make sure students are learning about budgeting, banking, credit, employment, taxes, insurance, and more.
  • A class ranking based on net worth, credit score, and quality of life keep the students fully engaged and professors informed of each student’s progress.

The Investing Simulation

  • Students receive a virtual $25,000 in a brokerage account.
  • They can research U.S. stocks, ETFs, bonds and mutual funds and create their own investment portfolio.
  • All investment trades are based on real-time market prices.
  • Within the simulation, interactive tutorials help students get started and provide additional information during the simulation.
  • Students can monitor their performance versus their classmates.  At the same time, professors can track each student’s progress.

And BEST of ALL, with the new partnership between Stock-Trak and McGraw Hill, classes using the Kapoor Personal Finance textbook get a 50% savings when students register for the simulation – only $9.99 per student instead of retail price of $19.99.

Teaching Suggestions

  • Visit StockTrak.com/kapoor to learn more about the Personal Finance Budgeting and Investing Simulation.  You can learn even more by watching a short video or accessing the Kapoor demo materials located toward the bottom of the above site. 
  • It’s easy to get started.  All you need to do is access the above site, register your classes for Spring 2023, and indicate the dates you want your student to have access to the Personal Finance Simulation.  The site will generate a unique link for you to give to your students.
Feb 2 2019

Participatory Learning Activities

Engaging students in an active learning environment is vital for long-term personal financial success. Various participatory learning activities (PLAs) can be adapted to the classroom and other learning settings.  To better connect student to a meaningful learning experience, consider these PLAs:

  • Brainstorming – Ask students to generate a list of possible actions for a specific personal finance decision. Encourage many ideas. List all the ideas without discussion. Many times unlikely or silly responses can result in an innovative idea.
  • Community surveys – Have students create survey questions related to various personal finance topics and decisions.  Collect the questions and have a few students edit the submissions to create a brief survey instrument. Next, have each student in the class administer the survey to 5 or 10 people.  Summarize and discuss the data that is collected.
  • Describing visual images – Select some photographs related to personal financial situations.  Working in small groups, have the students describe what they believe is happening in the picture.  Then, list questions you would ask others about the picture.  Finally, recommend actions that might be taken to address the financial situations in the pictures.
  • Interview – Have students interview financial experts or acquaintances to obtain insights into various personal finance topics. Students should prepare open-ended questions in advance, and be prepared to use follow-up questions to better engage the person being interviewed. Encourage students to practice with other student before doing their actual interviews.
  • Skits or plays – Working in small groups, have students select a financial situation or decision.  Create a story that communicates the situation to the audience.  Next, present a short skit or role-play on the subject.  Ask the audience to comment on possible actions that might be taken for the situation presented. This skit might also be presented as a mime, without words. Have the audience guess what they believe is happening in the skit that is presented.
  • Systematic walk – Have students walk in a business area to determine the types of financial services, stores, and other organizations that might enhance their knowledge. If appropriate, encourage students to talk with employees and customers to gain further insights.
  • Time line – Have students prepare a time line of major financial events in their lives.  In addition to past events, have student forecast various future events.

For additional information on participatory learning activities, click here.

Additional participatory learning activities

Project based learning for the Personal Finance Classroom

Teaching Suggestions

  • Ask students to suggest ideas to enhance their involvement in the learning process.
  • Conduct online research to obtain additional information on participatory learning activities.

Discussion Questions 

  1. What are potential benefits of participatory learning?
  2. What concerns might be associated with participatory learning?
  3. What participatory learning activities have you used?

 

Jun 10 2017

Creating a Productive Teaching Environment

How does a class setting influence student learning?  What actions create an environment that motivates and engages students?

Some of the factors that create a productive learning environment include:

  • Class begins promptly and in a well-organized way.
  • Learners are able to see the significance and importance of information they are learning.
  • The teacher provides clear explanations and holds attention and respect of students
  • Class time includes a variety of active, hands-on student learning
  • Clear, specific expectations for assignments are communicated.
  • Learners are provided with many concrete, real-life, practical examples.
  • The class environment is comfortable for students and allows them to speak freely.

For additional information on a productive learning environment, click here.

 

Teaching Suggestions

  • Ask students to describe learning environments that were most beneficial for them.
  • Have students describe an activity that would be beneficial for learning personal finance.

Discussion Questions 

  1. What are potential benefits and concerns for various actions that teachers might take?
  2. What actions make be taken to enhance the personal finance learning environment?

 

Aug 27 2016

What is Your Teaching Style?

Every teacher has a distinctive style that will hopefully engage students in the learning process and help them develop critical thinking skills.  As traditional teaching styles are adapted to meet the needs of varied students, consider these five main classroom strategies:

  1. Authority, or lecture style, is teacher-centered and may be appropriate for certain topics and settings. However, little or no interaction with the teacher may limit learning effectiveness.
  1. Demonstrator, or coach style, allows teachers show key concepts with the use of lectures, visuals, media, and exhibits. This approach may be difficult to implement in larger classrooms.
  1. Facilitator, or activity style, promotes self-learning and develops critical thinking skills, such as training students to ask questions and obtain skills to find answers.
  1. Delegator, or group style, provides opportunities for guided discovery and problem-based learning. The teacher serves as an observer role with students working toward a common goal.
  1. Hybrid, or blended style, offers an integrated approach to coordinate the personality of the teacher with the interests and needs of students.

Most important, is the engagement of students in the learning process along with a teaching style to address the needs of diverse students.

For additional information on teaching styles, click here.

Teaching Suggestions

  • Ask students to describe learning environments that were most effective for them.
  • Conduct a personal assessment to determine the teaching style that might best fit your situation.

Discussion Questions 

  1. What are potential benefits and concerns for various teaching styles in your class setting?
  2. How do the various teaching styles best fit your personality and your students?
Jan 2 2016

Personal Finance Quizzes

Need a lecture launcher to start your Personal Finance course?

Here a few links for resources:

Kiplingers Personal Finance Quizzes

LearnVest Quizzes

Financial Football Game

Teaching Suggestions

You may want to use the links in this blog post:

  • as a lecture launcher for the first day of your Personal Finance course.
  • to preview important personal finance topics that will be covered in the course.
  • stress why everyday decisions can make a “big” difference in the quality of a person’s life over a long period of time.

Discussion Questions

  1. How many of the questions did you get right?
  2. Do you understand why your incorrect answers are wrong and why there is a better answer?
  3. How can the questions in this quiz help you improve your ability to manage your personal finances and improve the quality of your life now and in the future?
Mar 14 2015

Critical Thinking in the Classroom

To prepare students for higher levels of analysis, faculty members must explicitly and

intentionally design courses to build critical thinking skills. General agreement exists that critical thinking involves interpretation or analysis, usually followed by evaluation or judgment. After students have mastered the subject matter, critical thinking can be developed with questions such as:

  • What are alternative points of view for this situation?
  • What are the costs and benefits of each alternative?
  • What assumptions are the basis for these alternatives?
  • What evidence exists for each alternative?
  • What additional information might be required in this situation?
  • What actions might be taken to identify the risks in this situation?
  • How might risks be reduced?

In this learning process, students should receive feedback so they can adapt and refine their thinking in future situations. Learning experiences that help to develop critical thinking include class discussions, debates, role playing, targeted journaling, case situations, and problem solving exercises. These instructional methods can encourage curiosity, encourage questions, and require that students explain and justify responses.

For additional information on critical thinking, click here:

Teaching Suggestions

  • Talk with students about their experiences with class assignments that have required them to think beyond just knowing basic facts.
  • Conduct online research to obtain additional information on how technology might be used to enhance critical thinking.

Discussion Questions

  1. What are potential benefits of critical thinking skills for students?
  2. What actions might be taken to improve critical thinking skills?

 

Oct 11 2014

Active Learning Strategies

To encourage student involvement and enhance long-term learning (more than memorization), consider the following:

  •  Case studies and simulation allow students to think and reflect, both individually and in groups. These real-world situations allow student to gain a broader view and increase understanding. An analysis of cases helps student develop higher levels of learning and enhances creative problem solving.
  • Concept maps, or frameworks, are visual representations for organizing knowledge and showing connections among various course topics.  Student-created concepts can be used to assess student understanding of relationships among various course concepts.
  • Short writing assignments can a valid gauge of student learning. Using open-ended questions can encourage reflection and feedback on the subject matter. Possible prompts for these short papers might include: (1) What was the most important learning from today’s class? (2) What topic needs to be further clarified? (3) How did you prepare for today’s class? (4) What was most beneficial about today’s class learning environment.:

For additional information on active learning strategies go to:

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/three-active-learning-strategies-push-students-beyond-memorization/

 Teaching Suggestions

  • Ask students to suggest ideas to enhance their involvement in class.
  • Conduct online research to obtain additional information on active learning strategies.

 Discussion Questions 

  1. What are potential benefits of active learning strategies?
  2. What concerns might be associated with active learning?
  3. What active learning techniques have you used?
Sep 3 2014

Mulligans aren’t just for golf.

How can you improve student engagement and participation?  Are there methods to reduce test anxiety?  The attached article uses a novel approach to address both of these issues through the use of gamification.  The game portion provides an avenue for students to earn small tokens for excellent work by mastering concepts, expanding classroom discussion, or demonstrating improvement in certain skills.  The costs are small: little stickers (which could even be made on a printer).  Here’s a link for free stickers:  http://www.stickersandcharts.com/smiley1.php.  The benefits are great: lively classrooms filled with more knowledgeable students.

For more information go to:
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/using-mulligans-enhance-student-participation-reduce-text-anxiety/

Discussion Questions

  1. What is the difference between gamification and game-based learning?
  2. Why are “flow” and “fiero” important elements of the classroom environment?
  3. What ways will you use this idea in your classroom?

Teaching Suggestions

  • Use this article as a starting point to access how you can improve student participation and reduce test anxiety for your students.
  • Conduct online research to obtain additional information to see how other professors are motivating their students.
Aug 16 2014

Can You Pass a Personal Finance Test?

This quiz can be used as a lecture launcher to start your Personal Finance course.

Originally given to 5,000 high school seniors that participated in the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, the 12 questions in the survey test students on their ability to manage financial resources such as

  • Credit cards
  • Insurance
  • Retirement planning and investments
  • Savings and spending options
  • Educational loans
  • Taxes

For more information go to  http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/pf/20060421c1.asp

Teaching Suggestions

You may want to use the information in this blog post and the original article to

  • As a lecture launcher for the first day of your Personal Finance course.
  • To preview important personal finance topics that will be covered in the course.
  • Stress why everyday decisions can make a “big” difference in the quality of a person’s life over a long period of time.

Discussion Questions

  1. How many of the 12 questions did you get right? (Note:  Correct answers are provided for all 12 questions.)
  2. Do you understand why your incorrect answers are wrong and why there is a better answer?
  3. How can the questions in this quiz help you improve your ability to manage your personal finances and improve the quality of your life now and in the future?