Dr Samuel Hinton

Teaching about Money, Cultural Heritage and Citizenship in Slovakia Before the E Dr Samuel Hinton

The teacher should abdicate the "talking head" role and replace it with one that encourages and validates pupil ownership of knowledge. The purpose of this book is to share some practical ways in which a module on citizenship education may be taught to students in the middle and high school levels in Slovakia. It was written before the country joined the Eurozone Methodology. This module was made possible by a United States Department of Education grant to participate in a summer history and culture seminar in Slovakia. The seminar helped to familiarize the author with various aspects of life in Slovakia including history, economics, politics, culture, and education. The methodology consisted of collecting material from various workshops, lectures, documents and interviews during the seminar. The author decided to work on a project in which the national bank, the national currency, history, and cultural heritage could all be used to teach about citizenship in Slovakian schools. The result was the development of a teaching module using all of the previously mentioned material. One conclusion is that the teaching module on money, cultural heritage and citizenship education is a significant addition to the body of literature on teaching citizenship in the schools. The outcome is a description on how the module may be used by teachers in a middle or high school classroom to teach about citizenship education using Slovakian coins and bank notes. The author's recommendation is for the adaptation of this module using national currencies to teach about citizenship education in different countries. The first unit introduces the use of Slovakian banknotes and coins to teach about the country's cultural heritage. The second unit is a lesson on the functions and roles of the National Bank of Slovakia. The third unit is titled, "The Petition Letter" and is an exercise in which students debate the contents of a fictitious letter calling for the elimination of motifs and illustrations on banknotes and coins in Slovakia. The author provided notes, lesson plans, references, and teaching suggestions to aid the teacher.