# 03 Content & Curriculum Spec — InvestPlay

## Overview

InvestPlay treats financial education as a dynamic, modular ecosystem rather than a static textbook. To support diverse institutional needs, varying age groups (16–25), and multiple languages, the curriculum is built on a **Headless CMS Block Model**. 

This document defines the curriculum progression, the component-based lesson architecture, and the localization strategy.

## 1. Curriculum Hierarchy

The content structure is deeply nested to allow maximum flexibility for teachers and self-guided learners.

- **Track (Domain):** High-level category (e.g., "Adult Life Readiness", "Market Fundamentals").
- **Module:** A collection of lessons grouped by a specific topic (e.g., "The Debt Trap", "Diversification 101").
- **Lesson:** A single learning session (5-10 minutes) with a specific learning objective, yielding XP upon completion.
- **Block:** The atomic unit of content inside a lesson (e.g., a paragraph of text, a video, an interactive calculator, a mini-game).

## 2. The Learning Ladder (Curriculum Progression)

The curriculum is designed to prevent young users from jumping straight into advanced trading before mastering basic life economics. Institutions can toggle specific levels on or off based on their student cohort.

### Level 1: The Survival Basics (Ages 16–18)
*Focus: Everyday money management and understanding value.*
- Needs vs. Wants & The 50/30/20 Rule.
- Cash Flow & Reading a Paystub.
- The Emergency Fund (Why you need cash before you invest).
- Banking Basics (Checking, Savings, and Hidden Fees).

### Level 2: The Credit & Debt Trap (Ages 18–20)
*Focus: Surviving early adulthood financial freedom.*
- Good Debt vs. Bad Debt (Student loans vs. Credit card sprees).
- The Dark Side of Compound Interest (APR and minimum payments).
- Understanding Credit Scores.
- Rent, Utilities, and the True Cost of Living.

### Level 3: The Wealth Builder (Ages 20–23)
*Focus: Entering the markets and safe, long-term growth.*
- Inflation: The Invisible Tax.
- Asset Classes 101 (Stocks, Bonds, Cash equivalents).
- Diversification & ETFs (The "Don't put all eggs in one basket" rule).
- The Bright Side of Compound Interest (Time Horizon).

### Level 4: Anti-Hype & Behavioral Finance (Ages 18–25)
*Focus: Psychological resilience against TikTok trends and FOMO.*
- The Anatomy of a Scam / Pump & Dump Schemes.
- Emotional Investing vs. Logic (Panic selling).
- Social Media vs. Reality (Finfluencer awareness).
- Risk Tolerance and Personal Strategy.

### Level 5: Macroeconomics & The Future (Ages 22–25+)
*Focus: How the world works and aligning investments with values.*
- Interest Rates & Central Banks (ECB, Fed).
- ESG Investing (Environmental, Social, Governance factors).
- Taxes on Investments (Capital gains, dividends).
- Advanced Instruments Overview (Forex, Real Estate concepts).

## 3. Dynamic Block Model (The CMS Layer)

Instead of hardcoding screens in React, the React app acts as a renderer for JSON arrays provided by the Headless CMS (Strapi/Payload). This allows non-developers to create highly interactive lessons.

### Example Lesson JSON Payload
```json
{
  "lessonId": "understanding-inflation",
  "title": "The Invisible Tax",
  "estimatedMins": 7,
  "blocks": [
    { "type": "Hero", "title": "Inflation is eating your cash.", "image": "url..." },
    { "type": "Text", "content": "If you leave €10,000 under your mattress..." },
    { "type": "Calculator", "variant": "purchasing-power", "defaultValues": { "amount": 10000, "rate": 3, "years": 10 } },
    { "type": "Quiz", "question": "What happens to debt during high inflation?", "options": [...] },
    { "type": "TeacherNote", "content": "Ask the class to check current EU inflation rates." }
  ]
}
```

### Supported Block Types
1. **Text/Media Blocks:** Markdown text, Images, Videos, Glossaries (tap a word for definition).
2. **Interactive UI Blocks:** Financial calculators, Interactive charts, Drag-and-drop categorization (e.g., sorting Needs vs. Wants).
3. **Assessment Blocks:** Multiple-choice quizzes, True/False, Reflection text inputs.
4. **Game/Simulation Blocks:** 
   - `BudgetGame`: Spawns a Phaser.js/React mini-game where the user allocates a monthly salary.
   - `BlindSimulation`: Triggers a 3-minute historical market simulation without revealing the asset name until the end.
5. **Contextual Blocks:** `TeacherNote` (only visible to instructors).

## 4. Localization Strategy (i18n)

InvestPlay is designed for the EU market, requiring seamless multilingual support from day one (starting with EN and GR).

### Two-Tier Localization
1. **Application UI Strings (Static):**
   - Managed via `react-i18next` in the frontend codebase.
   - Covers buttons ("Next", "Buy", "Sell"), navigation ("Dashboard", "Portfolio"), and error messages.
2. **Educational Content (Dynamic):**
   - Managed natively within the Headless CMS.
   - The CMS maintains linked versions of the same lesson (e.g., `lesson-1-en` and `lesson-1-gr`).
   - The React app sends an `Accept-Language` header (or a user-selected language query param) to the CMS API, fetching the correct block payload.

### Cultural Adaptation
Localization is not just translation. Financial laws differ by country. The CMS block model allows the Greek curriculum to serve a block titled "Greek Tax Basics" while the same lesson in the German curriculum serves "German Savings Rules." 

## 5. Progression & Gating Mechanisms

How users access content depends on their deployment context:

- **B2C / Self-Guided Mode:** Linear progression. Users must pass the Level 1 Quiz to unlock Level 2. XP is awarded for completion, unlocking profile badges.
- **B2B / Classroom Mode:** Teacher-controlled gating. A teacher can lock all modules and explicitly "Assign" Module 3 for the week's homework. The platform tracks completion status and quiz scores, feeding them back to the Teacher Dashboard.
- **Tenant Feature Flags:** A university might only purchase the "Level 3-5 Investing" package. The CMS restricts the API from serving Levels 1-2 to that specific `tenantId`.