Already in their Great Depression unit in class, this exercise was the perfect way for Grade 8 students to get an in-depth look at the influence of the stock market on the United States economy and the impact of financial challenges on the well-being of citizens. Mr. Simmons explained that throughout each round of the simulation, he would share news about the stock market and updates on the companies that students had invested in. “Each round corresponds to a year,” Mr. Simmons said. His hope was that this exercise would help the students understand the modern economy better. “I think it’s very challenging to teach how our economy works because it’s so complex,” Mr. Simmons said. “So, to give the students just a little sense of one aspect is helpful. It gives them a better grasp on a few of these elements that drive our country today.” 

One of the main challenges Mr. Simmons encountered during the experiment was when students from different classes would talk to each other about their investments. “They would say to their classmates, ‘Make sure you buy Durant Motors because it goes up.’” Mr. Simmons laughed to himself and continued, “I don’t get frustrated with that because it’s a great example of what insider trading is.”

Mr. Simmons also wanted to stress the emotional aspect of the simulation, explaining that for students to recognize the real driving forces behind the stock market, it’s most important to understand how prices and market influence are driven by human emotion, not just rational thought. “Everyone’s excited and throwing money into the market at the beginning, so the prices are going up, but when it looks like things are going down near the end of the game, there’s definitely this feeling amongst the students like, ‘Oh, we gotta sell, we gotta sell.’ Which was the exact same situation, historically.” 

The exercise was also an opportunity for the students to think empathetically about the state of the nation after the crash in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. “Certainly in terms of the Great Depression, you want to show students the importance of the societal cost as well,” Mr. Simmons said. Above all, Mr. Simmons wanted the students to understand that the economy impacts more than just numbers; it impacts people, too. “That human aspect of history is really important,” Mr. Simmons said. According to Grade 8 student Mia T., the simulation was a powerful example of how the stock market crash affected real people. “We could see how that was all people had and how quickly all of it could just go away,” Mia said. “It was eye-opening.”