By Susan Dykshoorn
Students are increasingly facing challenges when it comes to understanding financial literacy. The idea of monetary exchanges, currency values in math, and the language used surrounding money is often overlooked or cut short in order to elevate more pressing content topics (Henderson, Beach, and Coombs 314; Stallings). However, students need this knowledge, and they need to practice these skills to make informed financial decisions in the future, making the foundational work that happens in the elementary classroom crucial (Chua). The choice to limit their exposure can lead to negative experiences for students down the road. As educators, we need to provide natural and meaningful opportunities to expose students to financial terms and understand how money-related concepts work by infusing them into our curriculum (Stallings).
[W]e need to provide natural and meaningful opportunities to expose students to financial terms and understand how money-related concepts work by infusing them into our curriculum.
Challenges Teachers Face
With the rising costs of living and shifts in responsibility for funding post-secondary education and retirement, students have a greater need to leave school with an understanding of how to budget and apply financial concepts for future success and well-being (Henderson, Beach, and Coombs 310). With this in mind, many educational leaders and governing bodies are opting to include specific financial literacy initiatives in the K–12 school curricula. Significant challenges to enable this include that many schools do not have a formal curriculum dedicated to these topics, especially in the early years; that schools do not require this to be taught with rigor; and that individual teachers are often the ones tasked with finding appropriate resources to teach these topics, yet may not know how to go about it (Henderson, Beach and Coombs 311; Carlsons and Eadens 97). With limited training on money concepts in teacher education programs and professional development, teachers often struggle to integrate learning experiences that are engaging and meaningful into their curriculum (Chua). They may be unsure of how to teach these concepts or how to approach the variety of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds present in their classrooms, which may cause additional barriers in teaching, understanding, and accessing resources (Carlsons and Eadens 98; Chua).
Additionally, the context of financial interactions has drastically changed, affecting the way financial education may be approached in schools. Digital technology has changed the way money is used, and children are seeing fewer physical coins and bills being exchanged, as credit cards, digital currency, online banking, and online shopping are being used more frequently (Chua). Without the opportunity to apply their learning in a real-world context, students may be more likely to struggle to understand concepts related to basic monetary transactions (Carlsons and Eadens 108; Henderson, Beach, and Coombs 313). To scaffold this learning, it may be beneficial to introduce these concepts earlier in the elementary experience and intentionally call attention to appropriate relationships between math skills already encountered and the way people use money in their daily lives.
Digital technology has changed the way money is used, and children are seeing fewer physical coins and bills being exchanged, as credit cards, digital currency, online banking, and online shopping are being used
Using a CRA Approach to Build Understanding of Financial Concepts
Financial concepts are complex for students to understand, as they are abstract ideas that require guidance and explanation. Understanding a concept is crucial for connecting meaning and selecting a plan of action to solve the problem (Costello 13). Because money requires an awareness of number sense, computational skills, and place value and decimals, foundational math skills need to be learned and practiced and then connected to a system of exchange and determining value, skills that are often not connected to other domains (Henderson, Beach, and Coombs 312). Because of the abstract nature of money, specific teaching of sequential skills in a real and hands-on way may be the most beneficial for students’ success at the elementary level.
One approach and intervention that can be used is the CRA (Concrete–Representational–Abstract) approach, which considers students’ ability to use concrete materials, known as manipulatives, before moving on to pictorial representations to solve equations, and then using abstract or symbolic notations to represent equations (Prosser and Bismark 1061). This approach allows students to use hands-on, interactive, or digital materials to build understanding and support instructional practices, letting them arrange, partition, and group items in order to represent their understanding and solve computations. By doing this, they are better able to develop mental representations, rather than jumping right to strategy use without understanding the problem (Flores and Hinton 183, 192). For example, primary students could lay out a nickel by the number five or five pennies to represent their understanding of the value of a nickel. At an upper elementary level, students could represent numbers in an addition computation by laying down the correct bills and coins to count the total value of all the money.
Following the concrete stage, students represent their understanding through pictorial images, such as drawings of manipulatives or illustrations, showing a display of a completed task (Prosser and Bismark 1061). This may involve using labeled circles for coins and rectangular bills with the value written inside. This may also involve stacking images of price tags on a whiteboard to line up decimal places with the intention of adding the values together to find a total amount spent.
In the last stage, the abstract stage, students use symbolic representations, applying strategies and internalizing money concepts and computations (Flores and Hinton 184). Students at this stage are forming mental images and implementing strategies without the use of manipulatives and images because they understand the magnitude of numbers, their values, and strategies for solving problems due to an understanding of the previous stages.
[Manipulatives] provide the context and tools to help students comprehend the content and processes, but they need to be connected to instructional practices and explanations.
Important to note is that just because a teacher introduces concrete or virtual manipulatives does not automatically mean student understanding occurs (Prosser and Bismark 1061). Manipulatives, like coins, bills, price tags on items, and itemized lists, provide the context and tools to help students comprehend the content and processes, but they need to be connected to instructional practices and explanations. Only then can they support students’ learning and mastery of financial concepts. Clear, effective instruction and implementation of each step of the CRA approach will contribute to the development of students’ use of numerical and algebraic symbols, or their abstract understanding. The instruction used is best done in real-life contexts and in using everyday tasks to escalate students’ ability to make meaning of their learning.
Ideas for Promoting Financial Literacy
While the CRA approach can be used to teach any math concept, it is effective when teaching literacy due to the abstract nature of coins and bills representing values, credit cards being applied to subtract from total amounts in a bank account, and percentages being applied for sales taxes and being subtracted for discounts. While there are many ways to integrate financial literacy into the elementary curriculum, here are a few ideas to consider adding to your daily or weekly routines and to your planned curriculum.
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Works Cited
Carlson, Elise T., and Daniel W. Eadens. “Relationships Between State Mandates for Financial Education and Young Adults’ Financial Literacy and Capability.” Journal of Pedagogical Research, vol. 7, no. 5, 2023, pp. 97–110, https://doi.org/10.33902/JPR.202321288.
Chua, Michael. “The Challenge of Teaching Financial Literacy to Youth.” LinkedIn, 24 Feb. 2024, www.linkedin.com/pulse/challenges-teaching-financial-literacy-youth-michael-chua-nc69f/
Costello, David. “Meaning Making in the Classroom: What Does Understanding the Problem Really Entail?” Ontario Mathematics Gazette, vol. 62, no. 4, 2024, pp. 13–15.
Flores, Margaret M., and Vanessa M. Hinton. “The Effects of a CRA-I Intervention on Students’ Number Sense and Understanding of Addition.” Remedial and Special Education, vol. 43, no. 3, 2022, pp. 183–94, https://doi.org/10.1177/07419325211038009.
Henderson, Gail E., Pamela Beach, and Andrew Coombs. “Financial Literacy Education in Ontario: An Exploratory Study of Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Practices.” Canadian Journal of Education, vol. 44, no. 2, 2021, pp. 308–36, https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.v44i2.4249.
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McKenzie, Jim. One Generation to the Next: A Guide to Forming Your Faith and Finding Your Way. Genesis Publishing House, 2023.
Prosser, Sherri K., and Stephen F. Bismarck. “Concrete–Representational–Abstract (CRA) Instructional Approach in an Algebra I Inclusion Class: Knowledge Retention Versus Students’ Perception.” Education Sciences, vol. 13, no. 10, 2023, pp. 1061, https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101061.
Smith, David I. On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom. Eerdmans, 2018.
Stallings, Kendall. “Integrating Financial Literacy Throughout the Day in Elementary School.” Edutopia, 28 March 2024, https://www.edutopia.org/article/financial-literacy-elementary-school
“Math: Math and Giving.” What-If Learning, whatiflearning.com/example/math-and-giving/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.
Susan Dykshoorn is a faculty associate and course instructor at Trinity Western University in the Professional Year Program and a grade 1 teacher at Abbotsford Christian School in British Columbia. She encourages teacher candidates and fellow teachers to teach using meaningful, hands-on approaches and to love mathematics.
