Visits to Money Museums
47 money museum events took place in GMW2017.
Visits to money museums offer young people a great opportunity to draw on the past – learn about the history of money – to understand the importance of saving for their futures.
Visits to the museum do not need to be limited to a walking tour, but can include various workshops where students can learn about different currencies and the history of money.
Throughout the GMW2017, young people engaged with Money Museum Gallery exhibitions to explore the history of money, the various currencies of the world, the features of the Nigerian currency and how to identify counterfeit notes.
The British Museum’s Citi Money Gallery has planned many GMW events since 2014 and each year involved more youth.
During GMW2016, young people were able to engage in the Citi Money Gallery exhibitions to explore the ways in which people have saved historically and whether this is the same as our saving strategies today. During the first launch event of the Money Gallery, 300 young people were familiarized with several economic concepts which may appear contemporary, but have actually been in use over the past 4000 years. Students were encouraged to challenge their knowledge through topics such as inflation throughout history, financial crises through the ages and historical savings strategies. Students were able to handle objects from the collection during the lunch break and visit the Citi Money Gallery. Following a talk by Professor Nigel Dodd, the day closed with a debate on the future of money and transactions.
During GMW2015 there was a talk in the Citi Money Gallery on ‘the development of money and the economy’ for 25 sixth form students studying economics and business. On the last day of GMW2015, 26 year 11 math students explored the links between mathematics and money. The activities ranged from a serious look at the budgeting strategies to fun activity event where they had to calculate how many £2 coins would fit into the Citi Money Gallery which was approximately 607,200,000. That’s a lot of £2 coins!
During GMW2014 the British Museum’s Citi Money Gallery organized a number of financial education workshops for students and educators. Practitioners were provided with models and strategies to deliver empowering financial education, which has been a compulsory part of Mathematics and Citizenship in the revised secondary National Curriculum. The workshops introduced fresh approaches to financial education and were linked to the Museum’s large collection. Students learned about the development of money and its role in societies around the world.
For GMW2016 the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) participated for the first time, preparing and carrying out activities at the Investory Investment Discovery Museum and the Maruey Knowledge & Resource Center. One of the activities included an interactive self-discovery museum called INVESTORY whose goal is to inspire children to learn about financial planning and investment, how to earn, save, spend, invest, and build awareness. The second activity organized by the SET in the Maruey Library called “Capital Market LivingLibrary” was targeted to people from all backgrounds: investors, securities practitioners, and the general public. The overarching aim of the activity was to encourage all visitors to start saving, recommending some financial planning books, and building awareness of GMW.
During GMW2016, partner organizations in Mexico reached 26,000 children and youth in a series of educational activities in partnership with Museo MIDE. MIDE deployed a series of interactive and fun activities, where children performed 4 activities which helped them become aware of the responsible use of money:
1) Discovering the World through 15 Currencies: children took a journey to different countries using their local coins. They explored a series of numismatics, their colors, forms and representative icons. Afterwards, there was a dialogue about the various institutions that provide the bills and coins throughout the world, as well as some money exchanging exercises.
2) Value Scale: the children made daily life decisions, analyzing a series of possibilities with different values, each one associated with each decision. The task became complicated when the children saw each decision took balances with their ethic formation and financial decisions. This activity enhanced the children’s reflections on values related to financial decision present in daily life and the importance of keeping it in balance.
3) A Savings adventure: children and youth learned about savings and the road to their own goals and dreams.
4) Mint your own coin: children created their own money.