Knowledge restructuring in an economic subdomain: banking

This paper presents an intervention study aimed at testing the hypothesis that children's misconceptions about economic institutions are not deeply entrenched, due to the secondary role played by observation in their genesis. Cognitive restructuring (of a radical, or at least a weak type) can therefore be easily and permanently brought about through interventions which explicitly challenge wrong beliefs and propose alternative views. The target institution was banking (involving deposits, loans, interest, and their relations) which, according to previous research even adolescents have difficulty understanding. A curriculum of 10 units on the concepts of banking and shopkeeper profit was carried out with 38 fourth graders, who were unaware of bank interest . The curriculum (lasting about three months) led most children to a full and - according to a delayed post-test carried out 8 months later - a permanent understanding of deposits, loans, both kinds of interest and their relative amounts.