Stockquest

Stock Market Games allow players and students to gain experience by trading stocks in a virtual world where there is no real risk. A stock market game is a perfect way for students of any age to learn how to trade stocks without the risk of loosing real money.

In a classroom setting, students compete with each other to see who can predict the direction the stock markets will go next and thus increase their investments. Many stock market games are based on real life stocks from the Nasdaq, NYSE or other major market indexes.

Though there are many Stock Market games on the web, StocksQuest is one of the better games for students of all ages. It is simple in it's instruction and the teacher can set up a class competition.

The idea behind the StocksQuest, and the implementation of it in the classroom, is a class competition to see who ends up with the most money at the end of a specific period of time. The teacher sets the parametres of the competition and then each student signs up and joins the class.

StocksQuest uses Yahoo Finance as its source for stock information. StocksQuest updates itself 30 minutes behind Yahoo to allow for some lag-time on the internet. From there students are able to look up stocks they are interested in buying based on the amount of money the teacher has alloted.

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The students should be required to make a minimum of five trades per day so they don't just sign in, buy their initial stocks and then stop. By having a minimum requirement of stocks to trade each day it forces the students to research the companies they are interested in investing in to see if that company is a solid investment or not.

The class (depending on size) could do a vareity of things before they begin buying stocks. They could be required to do a presentation on the stocks they decided on and explain the rationale for their choices. If the class is too large the assignment could be a mini-paper or PowerPoint or something else to be handed in by the students.

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The downside to this is the timeframe in which the game is played. In the real world with real money on the line it is important to invest wisely. With StocksQuest, or any other stock market game, the idea is to make as much money as possible and win a class competition in a very short amount of time. While it gets students resarching and investing, it doesn't deal with the ramifications of losing real money or the slow gains most people see over many years.

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This particular assignment does not fit anywhere properly in the Evergreen Curriculum. Where it does fit is in the Accounting Extended Study Modules that are allowed. According to Evergreen:

The extended study module is designed to provide schools with an opportunity to meet current and future demands that are not provided by current modules in the renewed PAA curriculum.

The flexibility of this module allows a school/school division to design one new module per credit to complement or extend the study of existing pure core modules and optional modules.

The list of possibilities for topics of study or projects for the extended study module approach is as varied as the imagination of those involved in using the module.