This paper focuses on student learning in the context of a curricular module on pawnshops piloted with 15 students in an urban high school. The paper describes pedagogical frameworks guiding the development of the module and summarizes key features of its curriculum. Analysis focuses on student growth with respect to mathematical understanding of percent and opinions about pawnshops. Findings include student adoption of ratio strategies indicative of conceptual understanding of percent, and development of critical opinions about pawnshops as a lending system.
Rubel, L. & Lim, V. (2015). Pawnshops to teach percent and percent to teach pawnshops. In T. Bartell & K. Bieda (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. East Lansing, Michigan.