Chaminade University of Honolulu

Economic Education Center for Excellence

Training the Teacher: Financial Literacy

For a third year, this summer workshop at Chaminade sought to help teachers incorporate financial literacy principles into their classroom lessons.

For one week this July, 26 educators from across the island headed back to class at Chaminade.

They weren’t on campus to teach but to learn—as participants in Chaminade’s annual Economic Education Center for Excellence’s Summer Workshop, which ran from July 22 to 26.

Now in its third year, the workshop offers elementary to high school teachers innovative pedagogical instruction for incorporating key economic and finance principles into hands-on class lessons.

Attendee Daniel Quiamas heard about the summer workshop from a friend, Thomas Yeung, a teacher with Farrington High School’s Business Academy who attended last year’s series of workshops. Quiamas—a math teacher at Waipahu High—said after just two days that he had already learned new ways to incorporate economics and finance into his classroom instruction for ninth to 12th graders.

Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington, far right, and Greg Young President & CEO of HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, far left, pose with participants who held up the EECE Summer Workshop 2024 sign after completing the weeklong program.
Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington, far right, and Greg Young President & CEO of HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, far left, pose with participants who held up the EECE Summer Workshop 2024 sign after completing the weeklong program.

“I was never really taught about financial literacy so this workshop is very informative,” said Quiamas, after listening to Joanne Ching, a financial wellness partner with HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, which was one of the sponsors of this annual Summer Workshop and a strong proponent of financial literacy.

The ECCE’s summer workshop is taught with a combination of lectures, in-class games and group activities, hands-on projects and field classes. Organizers say the curriculum places an emphasis on real-life examples and situations, and includes economics and personal finance concepts based on the Hawaii Department of Education Social Studies Common Core standards.

Some of the key topics covered include market operations and government interventions, environmental economics, personal finance education and financial wellness.

Guanlin Gao, director of the Economic Education Center for Excellence and an associate professor of economics at Chaminade, said the ECCE’s mission is to advance economic justice in Hawaii and across the Pacific. In addition to offering educational programs for teachers, students and the community, the center tackles research projects that dovetail with its mission—and can help inform policy-making.

Gao said the program has so far trained 62 teachers who work in schools statewide. Its economic literacy curriculum and programs have positively benefited more than 7,400 Hawaii students.

“The importance of financial literacy and basic economic principles can’t be overstated,” Gao said.

“It impacts people’s everyday lives.”

The ECCE’s growing outreach efforts come amid a greater push nationally to underscore financial literacy in schools nationwide. According to the Council for Economic Education’s latest biennial Survey of the States, more than two-thirds of all states now require personal finance classes for high school graduation—a sharp increase from 2022 when fewer than half the states had such mandates.

On the last day of the five-day ECCE workshop, participants were asked to give a presentation on how they plan to incorporate what they’ve learned into their own classrooms. Some said they would use it as a “bell ringer,” devoting the first few minutes of class to financial literacy and personal finances. Others planned to take a more comprehensive approach, developing specific age-appropriate lesson plans.

Social studies teacher John Silang, a 10-year veteran with Kapolei High School’s Business Academy, attended the workshop aspiring to learn how to stop systemic poverty.

“I call it Adulting 101,” Silang said. “I wanted to learn how college educators teach economics and how they apply the theories in the classroom.”

For Gao, the moral imperative of teaching financial literacy is clear.

“We recognize that there is still much to be done to improve financial literacy in Hawaii. However, we take pride in our efforts to make a difference and establish ourselves as a center for economic education,” Gao said. “Financial literacy doesn’t have to be daunting or out of reach. It should be accessible to everyone. In reality, we all have innate economic instincts; you might just not be aware of them—yet.”

Workshop participants received their certificates after the weeklong series of workshops.
Workshop participants received their certificates after the weeklong series of workshops.
HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union Financial Wellness Manager, Bryan Yucoco, was one of the guest speakers during the EECE Summer Workshop.
HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union Financial Wellness Manager, Bryan Yucoco, was one of the guest speakers during the EECE Summer Workshop.
Economics Professor, Dr. Guanlin Gao, discussed the basic fundamentals of economics and its functions in society.
Economics Professor, Dr. Guanlin Gao, discussed the basic fundamentals of economics and its functions in society.
For five days, 26 educators from across the island went back to the classroom, not to teach but to learn more about financial literacy.
For five days, 26 educators from across the island went back to the classroom, not to teach but to learn more about financial literacy.

Economic Education

Including indigenous cultures and values into education is not about making the Indigenous populations stronger. They are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”

Guanlin Gao, Ph.D., adapted from G.D. Anderson’s famous quote about feminism

Economics professor promotes financial literacy

Guanlin Gao, Ph.D., likes to play games. And during the recent National Association of Economic Education (NAEE) Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Chaminade Economics associate professor and Director of Economic Education Center for Excellence devoted part of her presentation playing the Public Goods Game (PGG), in which players are given tokens—in this case Kona coffee beans—and given the opportunity to anonymously allocate them in either private or public funds.

“The purpose of the game is to let participants experience the indigenous culture through a hands-on game,” Gao explains. “The game is also related to the shared natural resources and land management of ahupua‘a, where people have shared responsibility and contribute to the common good with their expertise.”

This fundamental economic game has become a classic laboratory environment for studying collective group decisions in which participants decide how much to contribute to a common pool. The countervailing effect, however, is that there is an incentive for group members to “free-ride” on individuals who contribute positive amounts to the common pool. 

Guanlin Gao presents at the National Association of Economic Education Spring Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Those who invested in the private fund could keep the funds, and divide the shares among its members. However, for those who invested in the public fund, they could either share the return among all the groups or simply keep the yield within their own group.

“On the East Coast, players would largely invest in private funds,” Gao says. “But in Hawaii, most players contribute to public funds, which evenly distributes the return among all members. We have a more inclusive culture in Hawaii, as opposed to individualism.”

The NAEE’s three-day Spring Professional Development Conference was attended by economic educators at the state and federal level, as well as educational institutions that house the equivalent to Chaminade’s Economic Education for Excellence. One of NAEE’s primary missions is to provide professional development programs and training for educators to promote economics, personal finance and entrepreneurial education in the classroom.

“Right now, the country is having a movement about economic literacy, and it starts at an early age,” Gao says. “We want the younger generation to have a foundational understanding of personal finance and economics. We want to provide them the tools they need to make informed financial decisions, and create a better life for themselves and for those around them.”

The overall goal of the three-day conference was to promote economic and personal financial education from K-12 through college. Various departments of education around the country already stipulate that students take an economics or personal financial class in order to graduate. Gao is working on this with Hawaii Department of Education but, in the meantime, she’s sharing her knowledge with other teachers.

“I wanted the participants to walk away knowing more about the unique, yet diverse cultures, in this country, and promote economics and personal finance education in a way that relates and speaks to the populations we serve,” Gao notes. “I also talked about the traditions of sharing, not owning in Hawaii (for example, abundance means we have a lot to share, not how much we own), and why the conventional economic assumptions of ‘everyone is self-interested’ and ‘the only goal for a firm is to maximize profit’ do not resonate with our students’ identities and beliefs.”

Consider the Facts*

Many young people lack the basic financial knowledge and skills to prosper in life. Like many educators, the Council for Economic Education cares about equipping students with the knowledge they need to improve their futures.

40% of Americans have less than $300 in savings
24%
of Millennials demonstrate basic financial literacy
50%
of America’s youth will earn less than their parents

2 Million+
Students reached by CEE programs and teachers
Over 50,000
Teachers reached worldwide
1,000+
Lessons, guides & activities for teachers

*Council for Economic Education

Chaminade University Receives $50,000 Grant from the McInerny Foundation

Chaminade University of Honolulu recently received a $50,000 grant from the McInerny Foundation to support the school’s Economic Education Center for Excellence. The grant will fund financial literacy programs at the center for the 2022-2023 school year.

The Chaminade Economic Education Center for Excellence (EECE) promotes economic empowerment for families and communities in Hawaii and the US-affiliated Pacific through accessible and sustained economic and personal financial literacy training that is culturally responsive. The research projects improve understanding of barriers to economic empowerment which shed light on policies and practical interventions to overcome these barriers in Hawaii and beyond. 

The McInerny Foundation grant aims to serve approximately 30 public school teachers with professional development workshops in how to incorporate financial literacy into the K-12 classroom, and 20 high school students with age appropriate coursework in economics and personal finance. Chaminade students also benefit from the programs as EECE workshop teaching assistants.

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Chaminade University of Honolulu believes in the power of education to drive positive change, broaden perspectives and deepen our understanding of one another. With an emphasis on transformative service-learning experiences, we prepare students to serve as tomorrow’s leaders, inspiring and challenging them to use their minds and their hearts to help build stronger and more just communities. We are proud to serve as Hawai‘i’s only Marianist university, and rely on these values to guide us in delivering a high-quality education with an individualized approach and a focus on excellence, innovation and change. Established in 1955, we offer more than 30 undergraduate and graduate programs, including doctoral degrees in education, psychology and nursing practice. Learn more at chaminade.edu.

Economic Center for Excellence: Providing Financial Literacy Resources

What does cooking have to do with economics? Dr. Guanlin Gao is glad you asked.

High school students learning how to budget for a meal

Gao, a professor of economics and director of the Economic Education Center for Excellence at Chaminade, is on a mission to bolster financial literacy, education, and research in Hawaii. That’s why on a recent weekday she was cooking with a group of teens after giving them a budget to plan a menu.

The exercise was part of a hands-on financial literacy workshop for Hawaii high school students—and one of the economic center’s latest educational offerings. EECE also recently welcomed 28 Hawaii State Department of Education teachers to campus from 15 Oahu K-12 schools for an innovative educator training program. The aim: help them incorporate accessible and real-world financial literacy lessons into their curriculum.

“We’re here to help people understand just how important economics is to their everyday lives. Financial literacy education has the power to promote economic empowerment, ultimately strengthening our communities, our families, and the broader local economy,” Gao said.

With the support of community stakeholders and several organizations, Chaminade launched the Economic Education Center for Excellence in 2021 with an ambitious mission: “to advance prosperity and economic justice in Hawaii and the Pacific through integrated economic education, training and research.”

Gao notes that financial literacy in Hawaii is a significant area of need.

Nearly 7 in 10 Hawaii residents are considered “financially unhealthy.” Approximately 59% of Hawaii families report they’re struggling financially. And while 21 states require high school students to complete a personal finance or financial literacy course, Hawaii isn’t one of them.

Economic Education Center for Excellence educator workshop

“We use a train-the-trainer approach at the center,” Gao said. “In other words, our educational approaches, initiatives and projects have exponential power because everyone who comes through our center has the tools and the capacity to pass on what they’ve learned on to others.”

Chaminade President Lynn Babington, PhD, said the university was also the perfect place to house the Economic Education Center for Excellence because of its wealth of academic expertise, strong connections with the community, and institutional mission of public service.

“The center has not been operating for long, but it is already making a positive impact in the community,” Babington said. “Over the last year, we have also learned just how strong the demand for economics education and financial literacy is across the state. We look forward to continuing our expansion of the center’s programming to reach more Hawaii educators and students.”

Gao said the center is focused on:

  • providing accessible training programs to K-12 educators and students;
  • engaging with community networks to bolster financial literacy discussions;
  • undertaking research that explores barriers to economic empowerment;
  • and demonstrating measurable outcomes and impacts.

She added that another key focus is offering educational programming on the Neighbor Islands. “We want to reach people statewide with high-quality teacher training and financial literacy tools, and we’ve already started to make connections with Neighbor Island teachers and schools,” Gao said.

Since kicking off in April 2021, the center has already offered hands-on training opportunities for teachers and workshops for students—like the Summer Research Institute seminar where Gao found herself cooking with teens. She said the students got $15 to cook a nutritious meal for a family of four. Along the way, they learned key skills, from budgeting to product affordability and planning.

Also as part of the workshop, the students visited HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union and walked into the vault. The idea was to explore the importance of personal banking and savings, and make financial institutions less mysterious.

Gao said the teacher training seminar is just as hands-on.

Economic Education Center for Excellence educator workshop

Educators round out the workshop by sharing their lesson plans with their colleagues and walking through the exercise together. “Teachers are passionate about sharing these important financial literacy skills with their students,” Gao said, adding reviews of the courses were overwhelmingly positive.

“They want to share what they’ve learned with their fellow teachers and they have strongly recommended the trainings,” Gao said. “The next step is reaching more educators and then building and building on what they’ve learned. The center’s focus is all about scaling up but also about repetition.”

Gao said the center is also interested in working with the Hawaii Department of Education to incorporate financial literacy lessons into the social studies curriculum, and already sees the workshops with educators as core to weaving grade-level appropriate economics education into classrooms.

Speaking of big goals, Gao has no shortage of them.

Within five years, she wants the center’s training opportunities to have reached hundreds of Hawaii teachers—and their thousands of students. She is also seeking new grant funding, pursuing research for publication in journals, and excited about the potential for welcoming affiliate faculty or advisors.

“We know we have work to do when it comes to financial literacy in Hawaii. But we are proud to be making a difference and serving as a hub for economics education,” Gao said. “Financial literacy doesn’t have to be hard and unreachable. In fact, financial literacy should be accessible to everyone.”

Chaminade University Launches Economic Education Center

Chaminade University’s School of Business and Communication, in partnership with the Hawaiian Council for Economic Education (HCEE), has launched the Economic Education Center for Excellence. The Center’s vision is to create a higher quality of life in Hawai‘i through economic and financial education and research and through support of sustainable nonprofit organizations and projects.

“At Chaminade, we understand that in order to continue to offer an excellent and relevant education we must be able to rapidly respond to the needs of learners, the workforce, and statewide and global priorities,” said Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington. “Our new Economic Education Center for Excellence does all of that by supporting local and national financial literacy mandates and the state’s vision for a sustainable Hawai‘i.”

The Center’s mission is to train teachers and students in financial literacy and to provide meaningful research to aid upward social mobility and an economically healthy society. Initial activities are focused on the Spring 2021 Economics Challenge hosted by HCEE for Hawai‘i high school students and teacher training sessions in alignment with Hawai‘i Department of Education standards for K-5 economic education.

“We’re pleased to partner with Chaminade University on the Economic Education Center for Excellence to provide pathways to reach and equip public and private K-12 educators,” said HCEE Chair Jim Dixon. “The Center will foster economic educational leadership and establish measurable learning outcomes for economic and financial literacy education in the state.”

Future Center initiatives will include high school entrepreneurship camps, upward social mobility research and programming, collaborative curricular development with Chaminade’s School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, and interdisciplinary research in support of economic education, the economics of climate change and the support of sustainable and effective nonprofit organizations. 

“I applaud Chaminade University for establishing its Economic Education Center for Excellence,” said Rich Wacker, president & CEO of American Savings Bank. “Improving education, and especially financial literacy, is incredibly important for the future of our island community.”

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Chaminade University of Honolulu provides a collaborative and innovative learning environment that prepares graduate and undergraduate students for life, service and successful careers. Established in 1955, the university is guided by its Catholic, Marianist and liberal arts educational traditions, which include a commitment to serving the Native Hawaiian population. Chaminade offers an inclusive setting where students, faculty and staff collectively pursue a more just and peaceful society. For more information, visit chaminade.edu.