Educação financeira escolar e autonomia: provocando possibilidades nos/as estudantes da educação básica

Abstract

This research addresses the theme of School Financial Education, with a particular focus on fostering autonomy among eighth-grade students at a private school in Rio Pomba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Grounded in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Autonomy, the study explores how students make decisions when faced with financial dilemmas. The primary goal was to promote critical thinking and autonomous decision-making among lower secondary students through problem-based learning scenarios related to personal finance. Both the theme—School Financial Education—and the emphasis on student autonomy are highly relevant within the field of Mathematics Education. Guided by the theoretical and methodological principles of Didactical Engineering, the research involved the design and implementation of a set of quizzes on financial topics, titled Educa-Din Quizzes. The methodological process followed the four phases of Didactical Engineering: preliminary analysis, design and a priori analysis, experimentation, and a posteriori analysis and validation. In the final phase, students’ responses were analyzed with an emphasis on their autonomous choices and decision-making processes in response to the problems presented. The a posteriori analysis revealed that students actively exercised their autonomy and engaged in thoughtful, critical reflections on the financial issues explored throughout the project.