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Teacher Talk
When we developed the curriculum for our 24 Hour Personal Finance course at Eastside Prep., we decided to use the shortened class periods on Friday (45 minutes vs. 90 minutes during the week) to focus on Investing. So, today was the first Friday and therefore the first lesson on Investing. I decided to try something new by focusing on the psychology of investing before diving into the details of various investment vehicles.
Once students got settled with their Chromebooks, I projected onto the screen the “Think You Can Time the Market?” simulation. Quick explainer:
This game takes 10 years of actual prices for the S&P500 and displays them in a gyrating line graph that takes about a minute to display. Students start with a fictitious $10,000 balance at the start of the game. As the line graph gyrates on their screen, they can make the decision to SELL at any point. Once they have sold, they can at any point decide to BUY back in. That’s it! Very simple game to understand and play and once the game is over, you get a message as to whether or not you beat the market. In effect, were you able to time the market to make yourself better off just sitting on your hands?
I created a score sheet for them to complete (see below) and provided them with this URL to go to the simulation (will work for you too): http://wp.me/p67Jri-Th
Then they were off and running to play the game five times and mark down their Actual Balances, Their Balance If They Did No Trades and whether they beat the market (the simulation provides this information at the conclusion of each round). There is an addictive quality to this simulation that the students really enjoy!
Here were just some of the comments that I captured as I walked around the room (these would later provide great discussion starters):
Once the students had played five rounds, I asked them to do the following:
Then, they completed this Word Cloud on Poll Everywhere to describe their emotions while they played the game, which we then discussed more specifically why they felt this way (I made sure to highlight to them that this was low stakes and asked how they would feel if REAL MONEY was at stake):
Here is where it got interesting…
This simulation and discussion went quite a bit longer than I expected, but I thought the lessons established a solid foundation for the investing unit.
Day 2 of the 24 Hour Personal Finance Course: Checking Basics
WebQuest: What's New With Checking Accounts? February 6th, 2016
Question of the Day: Where do most young adults say they learn about personal finance?
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Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.
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