Fun With Fake Money

In February, I posted some economics-centered games and simulations for classroom use. I wanted to come back (now that I'm finished with my MAT and can comprehend information again!) and write particularly about We Seed because I actually got to use this one during student teaching. Can I just say that I love this website? I wish that it had been around when I was learning high school economics, perhaps I would have understood it the first time around! 

You start by signing up (it's free - you must have a valid email) and you are given "$10,000" to spend on stocks. You can search through companies or even categories (i.e. auto, entertainment) for companies in which you'd like to invest. The site updates in real-time with the stock market (trading closes at closing bell) so you are able to watch you investments gain or lose as the day goes on. There is information about the company, relevant news, outlooks, etc. that students can use to research. Then you simply begin buying and selling. 

A great classroom benefit is that you can set up groups. Each class period had a closed group so it kept all of them together and gave them the opportunity to see what the other students were doing via the news feed. 

The students loved it (particularly the guys). Almost every day I could guarantee that someone would come in to update me on their portfolio. It was great, they were invested! You can't ask for better with second-semester seniors. :) Besides keeping up with their portfolios and investing in other companies (the teacher can keep up with it in the group), students are continuing to blog about the experiences and doing other related activities for the remainder of the semester. After we learned how to read stock quotes in a subsequent lesson, the students who have been really engaged even started using quotes from Yahoo! Finance to research and supplement We Seed. 

I am the number one fan of using authentic activities in the classroom and this is a prime example. Students are gaining fundamental knowledge about the stock market without the repercussions of risking real money.