Financial Literacy Activity

"Financial literacy activity" is a broad search, and most teachers typing it are looking for something they can run in class tomorrow that gets students actually talking about money, not just filling in a worksheet alone at their desk. The Students in Finance Interview does that by sending kids out of the classroom and into a real conversation with someone they trust.

Instead of asking students to answer questions on their own, this activity asks them to interview a parent, grandparent, neighbor, or another trusted adult in their life about how that person handles banking. Students have to introduce the assignment out loud, explain why the class is studying it, and then actually listen to the answers. That shift, from silent worksheet to spoken interview, turns a personal finance lesson into a family and community conversation.

For a lot of students, this is the first time anyone has asked them to think about where the adults in their life bank, why they trust or don't trust financial institutions, or what interest rate their account actually pays. Those questions surface real financial behavior that a textbook can't teach: fee structures, credit union eligibility, and the reasoning behind a choice of bank. Students bring that information back into the classroom, and you get a discussion built on real, local data instead of a hypothetical.

This activity comes from Rapunzl's Diversification & Risk unit, but it works as a standalone entry point into personal finance for any class that is just getting started with real-world money topics. It requires no equipment, no login, and no prior lesson. It only requires a willingness to ask questions and listen.

Below is the interview exactly as it appears in the Rapunzl curriculum, followed by notes on how to run it and debrief it in class.

This financial literacy activity is the Student Activity from Module 7: Diversification & Risk in Rapunzl's grades 6–12 curriculum.

Students In Finance Interview

Go to a trusted adult. This could be a family member, other school staff, co-workers, church members, or anyone else in our community you would trust as an adult. Read this to your trusted adult:

This semester, we are studying financial education, how to make better decisions with our money. We are asking trusted adults in our community to share some of their thinking on what we’re studying in class. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, that’s quite all right. If you do, your answers will be used to help our class bring in knowledge from the community or better identify the needs of the community.

Record your adult’s name and their relation to you. You are required to actually speak to an adult. Even if you hand them the paper to record their answers, it is important that you show respect, ask the questions and listen to what they have to say, and listen to their answers.

Name of Trusted Adult:

Relationship to Adult:

What bank do you bank with? If you don’t have a bank currently, please explain why.

Do you trust banks in general? Why or Why Not?

Do you know the fees and requirements of your current bank account and what are they?

What interest rate does your bank account currently pay?

Do you know of any other bank or credit unions in the area which you could qualify for?

How do you think young people should go about choosing their first bank account?

Teacher Notes

Since this is an interview activity, there is no answer key. Every response depends on the adult a student interviews, so there is no single correct answer to check against.

Run this as homework or as a family-conversation assignment rather than independent classwork. Students need real access to a trusted adult, not a stand-in, so give them a few days' notice to find a good time to sit down with someone.

Because answers vary by household, debrief by asking students to share patterns across the whole class rather than individual answers. How many trusted adults use a credit union versus a traditional bank? How many knew their own interest rate off the top of their head? Where did opinions about trusting banks diverge, and what reasons came up most often?

The final question, on how young people should choose a first bank account, works well as a bridge into your next lesson. Have students combine what they heard from their trusted adult with what they learn in class before making that decision for themselves.

If a student can't find an adult willing to answer every question, that's fine. A partial interview still generates real material for a class discussion, and respecting a family's comfort level matters more than a completed page.

This interview is one piece of the full Diversification & Risk unit inside the Rapunzl teacher portal, where activities like this one sit alongside articles, guided practice, and a classroom investing simulator built for grades 6–12.

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