The Stock Market Game

They think they're playing a game.

You know they're learning economic and financial concepts they'll use for the rest of their lives.

"Our students had a wonderful time playing the SMG.  Because of the simulation, they followed the news, stocks, and economy very closely." - SMG teacher

Please Note: Economics Wisconsin now offers the Stock Market Game (www.StockMarketGame.org).

We are no longer associated with the Wisconsin Stock Market Simulation (Wisconsin SMS).

• Returning Teachers: Read an overview of the major changes.
  
• Download Teacher Kit with complete rules*. Teacher Kits will no longer be mailed.
  
• Download the Teacher Guide - designed to answer the typical questions of teachers who are using The Stock Market Game (SMG) program for the first time and don't know where or how to begin.
  
  *If you are unable to download the Teacher Kits, please make sure you are using the most recent version of Acrobat Reader. Download the newest version for free.

2009 - 2010 Game Dates

Register early! Portfolios begin accruing interest on the day team IDs are generated. IDs will be issued no sooner than three weeks before the start of an SMG session. Teams who registered early may receive up to three weeks' worth of interest.  

Register for the Fall and Spring 2009 - 2010 SMG teams now!

Click here to view 2009 - 2010 awards and prizes.

FAQs

What is the Stock Market Game?

Who can use the Stock Market Game?

View Teachers' Classroom Experiences

How much class time does it take?

How is the SMG program integrated into core subjects?

What do students learn?

Does the program help me meet my state's learning standards?

How can the SMG help my business / math / social studies / econ / elementary / gifted and talented students?

How can I measure how well my students are doing?

What level of investment knowledge is required?

How do I get started?

How do students make trades?

What resources are provided?

What training is provided?

How do I register for a FREE Stock Market Game workshop?

What is the cost to participate in the Stock Market Game?

Is there funding available?

Are there prizes awarded?

How does the InvestWrite essay contest work?

How do I register for the Stock Market Game?

How can I learn more about the Stock Market Game?

Who sponsors the Stock Market Game?

What schools have won the Stock Market Game?

Is there a program that allows me to trade commodities, options, and futures?

Sign up for our mailing list.

Stock Market Game (SMG)

The SMG is an easy and simple method of learning how to invest in the stock market without using real money. Students manage hypothetical $100,000 investment portfolios as they compete for a trip to NYC where they will tour the NYSE, visit the Statue of Liberty, and catch a Broadway show. Ten week games are offered each semester. A separate year long program runs each October to April.

The SMG is the only market simulation that is endorsed by the New York Stock Exchange and is correlated to voluntary national and state standards in Math, Economics, Business Education, English Language Arts, Family and Consumer Sciences, Technology and Social Studies. It is run by a non-profit foundation that does not accept advertising or merchandise company products in delivering the program. It has more than 30 years of educational programming built into and around it and is played in schools around the world. This year 700,000 students, along with their 25,000 teachers, used the SMG program to improve their basic skills, learned about our economic system, and had fun!

Further, its hands-on support system for teachers includes workshop training, lesson plans, comprehensive curriculum materials, and a network of state-based distribution organizations, and state SMG coordinators who administer the program and provide "TLC".

Who Can Use the SMG?

The program is available to all public and private school students throughout the state of Wisconsin. Because the SMG program can be used to meet requirements in so many subjects, teaching strategies will vary with the age of the student participants. It's not unusual for students to participate in the program several times over the course of their education, focusing on different areas with each new program. The SMG is recommended for students in grades 4-12.

Teachers who use the SMG often teach:

• after school club activities
• business education
• economics
• financial education
• general elementary classes
• gifted and talented programs
• mathematics
• social studies

We also offer the Stock Market Game to:

• adults
• technical college students
• college studnets
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

View Teachers' Classroom Experiences

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How much class time does it take?

It takes 3 or 4 class periods to introduce students to theSMG, which can be started before the game officially begins. Once the game starts, students should have the opportunity to post trades once a week or more frequently. Teachers have the flexibility of choosing how much or how little class time to devote to the program.

How is the SMG program integrated into core subjects?

The flexibility of the program allows teachers to use it with a variety of subjects, including Social Studies, Mathematics, Business, English/Language Arts, Technology, Family/Consumer Sciences, and Economics. It can be integrated into school clubs, lunch or rainy day programs, after school, and gifted student activities. Lessons are one period (approximately 45-60 minutes) in length, but can be adjusted to suit classroom or afterschool needs. At least one period a week is recommended.

What Do Students Learn?

SMG helps your students learn and understand the stock market, and the costs and benefits involved in investing, decision making, and other related economic concepts. It has cross-curriculum benefits and can help participants learn important life skills such as budgeting, decision-making, and personal finance.

The lessons and activities available in the Teacher Support Center provide students the opportunity to practice skills used in standardized testing (graphics, charts, DBQ, etc.).

Students Learn:

• Introduction of financial markets and institutions
  
• How to choose and buy stocks
  
• How supply and demand operate in real markets
  
• Connection between current events and the economy
  
• The role of Wisconsin and the US in the world economy
  
• Key economic events of history
  
• Personal finance and budgeting skills
  
• Value of investing for the future
  
• And more!

How can the SMG help your students?

Business Education Teachers: Use the SMG to teach students about business organizations, capital formation, marketing, finance, budgeting, personal finance, consumerism, and about the securities industry.

Cross Curriculum, Middle School: The SMG offers a free publication called Learning from the Market, is a collection of lessons that integrates skills taught through The Stock Market Game across several subject areas. This publication is accessible to registered teachers. Logon to the Teacher Resource Center. Click on In The Classroom and then Publications.

Elementary and Gifted and Talented Teachers: Use the SMG to reinforce math skills such as converting fractions to decimals and to introduce children to the value of investing and saving for the future. Students also develop group decision-making, conflict resolution, data collection and analysis, problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Financial Education Teachers: Use the SMG to teach money management skills, to help students analyze and balance risk against benefits in financial planning, and to and develop goals and budgets.

Math Teachers: Students will see real-world applications as they learn to use ratios, decimals, estimating skills, fractions, amounts of money, basic computation, percentages, graphs, and charts. Middle School and High School teachers: The SMG offers a free curriculum called Math Behind the Markets for Middle and High School! This publication is accessible to registered teachers. Logon to the Teacher Resource Center. (Click on In The Classroom and then Publications. Select the middle school or high school version.) Teachers can download free activity samples before registering. Each is correlated to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards and Principles.

Social Studies and Economics Teachers: The SMG will reinforce your introduction of financial markets and institutions, supply and demand, profit and loss, opportunity cost, history, current events and more! The SMG offers a free publication for Middle School Social Studies: The NYC DOE Social Studies Units is a collection of activities for 8th grade students which enables a Project Based approach to Social Studies by integrating The Stock Market Game into a unit of study, while providing review and practice of skills and addressing the key ideas and strands in social studies: historical and political, economic, social, and cultural.

Research shows that students benifit from participating in the SMG

The first “Nation’s Report Card on Economics” released in 2007 found that students participating in a stock market game scored a statistically significant higher score on the standardized test than students who had not participated.

In six consecutive reports over a 12 year period, the biannual survey by the Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy also found that students who participated in a stock market game scored higher on the Jump$tart financial literacy survey than students who did not participate

In August 2009, Learning Point Associates, a leading educational research firm, completed a two-year study funded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to test the efficacy of the SMG program. The findings, available at the SIFMA Foundation website, showed that:

- Students playing The Stock Market Game scored significantly higher than their peers on tests measuring their financial literacy.

- SMG substantially improves student math scores on standardized tests and improves student investor knowledge. The study also showed that teachers were more to likely to engage in financial planning practices as a result of their participation in the Stock Market Game.

- Learning Point’s year-long study found that elementary school students in Grades 4–6 who played The Stock Market Game scored on average above the 55th percentile on the mathematics tests, while students who did not play the game scored on average above the 43rd percentile. Students in Grades 7–10 who played the game scored on average above the 54th percentile, while students who did not play the game scored on average above the 46th percentile.

- Students who played The Stock Market Game also significantly outperformed their peers in their knowledge of financial concepts. In tests to measure investor knowledge, elementary school students who played the game scored on average above the 68th percentile, compared to an average score above the 42nd percentile for students who did not play the game. Students playing the game in both middle and high school scored on average above the 58th percentile, while their peers scored above the 42nd and 40th
percentiles respectively.

-Student achievement increased regardless of how teachers implemented The Stock Market Game. Analyses from the study revealed that most teachers used familiar, basic teaching practices when implementing The Stock Market Game. The study found that the more advanced teaching practices that teachers engaged in, such as playing the game along with students, the better students in the upper grades performed on the mathematics test. Regardless of the classroom techniques—basic or more advanced—an analysis of students’ test results found that students playing The Stock Market Game showed better performance on the mathematics and
financial literacy tests than their nonplaying peers.

Students are not the only ones to benefit from exposure to The Stock Market Game. Teachers of The Stock Market Game reported that the program influenced their financial practices. In a nationwide survey conducted as part of the study, many teachers reported that they were influenced to set financial goals, analyze their risk tolerance, read the business section of the newspaper, and watch financial programs as a result of teaching the game.

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Does the program help me meet my state's learning standards?

The SMG program has been correlated to national and state standards for Economics, Mathematics, Business, English and Language Arts, Social Studies, Technology, and Family and Consumer Sciences. This commitment assures teachers that the SMG program provides a meaningful educational activity. The correlations can be helpful guidelines in using the SMG program to meet state or local standards in these areas. Information is also available from the SMG coordinators.

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What level of investment knowledge is required?

The SMG program is designed so students and teachers learn as they go; therefore, minimal knowledge about investing is needed. In fact, SMG serves as a valuable tool to learn basic investing skills. Teachers and other adults have access to a variety of curriculum guides and materials made available in the Teacher Support Center at www.stockmarketgame.org. Each lesson plan in the Center offers 2-3 paragraphs of background on the topic covered. A link to Investor Background provides further information and detail.

How do I get started?

You must first complete a free teacher training workshop (either online or in person) before you can register teams.

Once you register team, you will be given team numbers and passwords to access your accounts as well access to the SMG Teacher Support Center. The Teacher Support Center is organized into three sections:

1. Understanding the SMG - Everything a first time user needs to know to get started
   
2. Manage Student Portfolios - View your students' portfolios to see what trades have been made, the portfolio value, etc.
   
3. In the Classroom - Lessons, standards correlations, and additional classroom teaching resources.
   

We recommend that you view The Teachers Guide (found in the Understanding the SMG section) which is designed to answer the typical questions of teachers who are using The Stock Market Game (SMG) program for the first time and "...don't know where or how to begin". This will guide you through the steps of preparing your students, as they begin their research and building their portfolios. This guide also includes tips from teachers all across the U.S. with strategies they've found most successful in integrating the simulation into the classroom.

Next, visit the 'Lesson Sequence' section found under the 'In the Classroom' section. You can select the grade level, knowledge level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and subject that you teach. Once you input your information, the system will generate a report of lesson plans, based on your criteria, that can be taught in sequence. The lessons will cover everything you need to teach your students before they invest, how to select investments, how to track investments, and what to do at the end of the game. You are free to use as many or as few of the lessons as you see fit; it is entirely up to you.

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How can I measure how well my students are doing? Are there evaluation tools available?

The Teacher Support Center offers tools to use for assessing student understanding of the concepts taught. Multiple choice, pre- and post- tests are available for each unit (with answer keys), as well as overarching projects (with rubrics for grading).

Lastly, SMG hosts a national essay contest, InvestWrite , to identify the students' grasp of saving and investing.

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Trading

Trades are made via the SMG web site, www.stockmarketgame.org Students can gain access to accounts on our web site 24/7 to review account activity, review class rankings, and research stocks. Internet teams can place orders 24/7 via the SMG web site.

Resources:

We provide a flexible curriculum that can stand alone or supplement your existing curriculum. Free teacher training is available to help you make the stock market a real and understandable piece of your economic knowledge. Online training is available year round or attend a face-to-face session held each January and September. If you need help finding the funds to participate, contact us to find out how we can help.

Free Teacher Training Workshop: Provide teachers with hands on experience with the SMG. View details.

Free Curriculum: Teachers who complete our free teacher training workshop receive a free copy of Learning, Earning, and Investing
Curriculum material is also available to registered SMG teachers in the Teacher Support Center.


Free Copies of Your Local Newspaper: Many newspapers provides free or reduced cost newspapers to classroom teachers through their Newspapers in Education Departments. Contact your local paper's Newspapers In Education Department to inquire about their program.

Help Desk: A live help desk is available regular business hours to answer your questions and assist you in any way. You can also email any questions.



Additional help:

• EconomicsWisconsin also offers lessons specifically related to the Stock Market Game.
  
  
• Links to lesson plans and online activities covering all areas of economics and financial literacy can be found in the resource section of our web site.
  
• Our Online Guide consists of links to lesson plans sorted by grade level and Wisconsin State Standards for teaching economics.
  
  
  
  
  SMG Publications:
  
  The following publications are accessible to registered teachers. Logon to the Teacher Resource Center. Click on In The Classroom and then Publications.

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Free Stock Market Game Training Workshops:

The Wisconsin Stock Market Game is available to all public, private, and home schools in Wisconsin. To be eligible to participate, teachers new to the program are required to attend a training workshop. Workshops are located throughout the state in each fall and winter. Workshops are free of charge and include a complimentary breakfast, lunch, or dinner (depending on location, date and time). Registration is required at least one week in advance. Online training is also available. Click on the workshop below for a complete description and registration information.

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Cost

10 Week Stock Market Game:

There is a fee of $20 fee per team for the 10 week games. SMG teams are generally comprised of one to five students. While larger teams are allowed to participate, EconomicsWisconsin may be required to limit prizes and awards for larger teams due to budgetary constraints.

Enrichment Game:

There is a fee of $20 fee per teams participating in the Enrichment games. SMG teams are generally comprised of one to five students. While larger teams are allowed to participate, EconomicsWisconsin may be required to limit prizes and awards for larger teams due to budgetary constraints.

School Year Challenge (Sept. - April): There is a fee of $35 per team for the School Year Challenge. Teams are generally comprised of one to five students. While larger teams are allowed to participate, EconomicsWisconsin may be required to limit prizes and awards for larger teams due to budgetary constraints.

What sets us apart from other simulations?

• Teams compete against other Wisconsin schools for a trip to NYC to tour the New York Stock Exchange!
  
• We offer awards including t-shirts, certificates, and medals and recognize winning teachers and students at awards banquets.
  
• The Stock Market Game provide students access to a safe and secure site. Other free simulations include message boards where students can interact and communicate with adults and anyone else who chooses to use the site. The SMG site is limited to registered teachers and their students All accounts can be tracked to a Wisconsin school and teacher so they are safe for student use.
  
• The Stock Market Game web site is free of advertising. Other simulations rely on advertisers for funds and can promote products that are inappropriate for students. You don't have to worry about this on the SMG site.
  
• The Stock Market Game offers a Teachers Support Center full of lesson plans, rubrics, projects and more. Available only to registered SMG teachers.
  
• The Stock Market Game offers a live and local help desk .We're here to answer any questions whether it be a question about your portfolio, the rules, or if you are looking for resources to help explain concepts such as short selling or buying on margin. Many other sites offer little or no support.

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Funding

Funding may be available to help schools in need. Contact EconomicsWisconsin to request funds. Please include your name, the name of your school and the number of teams that you would like to register.

You may also wish to contact area businesses to ask for their support. We have composed a letter to help guide you in the process.

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2009 - 2010 Prizes

Click here to view 2009 - 2010 SMG awards and prizes

InvestWrite - A Nationwide Essay Contest

Students participating in the SMG are also eligible to enter the SMG Essay Contest, InvestWrite. InvestWrite is an innovative national writing competition, produced by The Stock Market Game program, that adds a critical thinking component to help reinforce concepts learned in the classroom.

• Every student currently registered in The Stock Market Game program with a valid team login ID and password is eligible.
• Your students participate by writing essays in their grade division: Elementary (4-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12).
• Every assignment introduces or relates to investment principles linked to The Stock Market Game program. Each InvestWrite assignment ties to various lessons throughout the curriculum.
• Teachers can choose to assign the InvestWrite writing assignment as an in-class or homework assignment.
• Both teachers and students will have a chance to win gift certificates, laptop computers, and trips to New York or Disney World.
• Each participating student submission has a chance to be reviewed by the competition's first round judge...you, the teacher.
• Then, as the first round judge, you select the top five responses from each class or group of participants (based on the guidelines and directions).
• Then submit them electronically to the next round of evaluation at the national level on this web site.
  
  
  Visit the InvestWrite web site to learn more and to view current National awards.

InvestWrite State Awards

Past National Awards have included:

 

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Register for the SMG

You must first complete a workshop to be eligible to participate.

If you have already completed a workshop, visit the SMG web site to register teams.

 

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To learn more about the Stock Market Game:

WEB SITE: Visit the Stock Market Game web site.

RULES: Visit the Stock Market Game web site.

CONTACT: Email or call (414) 221- 9785.

Free Teacher Promo Games: Register for a free game! To register, visit the Stock Market Game web site.

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Sponsors:

Department of Financial Institutions, State of Wisconsin

Robert W. Baird & Co

Midwest Airlines

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Security Traders Association of Wisconsin

SIFMA – Central States District

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First Place Winning Wisconsin Schools 1989 to the Present:

Semester/Year	School
Spring 2009	Tullar Elem. School, Neenah, WI
Fall 2008	New Holstein High School
Spring 2008	Brookfield Central High School
Fall 2007	Tullar Elem. School, Neenah, WI
Spring 2007	Stratford High School
Fall 2006	Menasha High School
Spring 2006	Pioneer School, Platteville
Fall 2005	Stoughton High School
Spring 2005	West DePere Middle School
Fall 2004	East Troy High School
Spring 2004	Pioneer School, Platteville
Fall 2003	De Pere High School
Spring 2003	Appleton North High School
Fall 2002	Marinette High School
Spring 2002	Verona High School
Fall 2001	Marinette High School
Spring 2001	Shullsburg JHS
Fall 2000	De Forest High School
Spring 2000	Reedsville High School
Fall 1999	Marinette High School of the Arts
Spring 1999	Marinette High School of the Arts
Fall 1998	Milwaukee School of Entrepreneurship
Spring 1998	Reedsville High School
Fall 1997	Pilgrim Park Middle School, Elm Grove
Spring 1997	South Shore Junior High School, Port Wing
Fall 1996	Randolph High School
Spring 1996	Pius XI High School, Milwaukee
Fall 1995	Appleton North High School
Spring 1995	Mukwonago High School
Fall 1994	Marquette University High School, Milwaukee
Spring 1994	Randolph High School
Fall 1993	South Shore High School, Port Wing
Spring 1993	Randolph High School
Fall 1992	Marquette University High School
Spring 1992	South Shore High School, Port Wing
Fall 1991	Sheboygan North High School
Spring 1991	South Shore High School, Port Wing
Fall 1990	Marquette University High School
Spring 1990	Arrowhead High School, Hartland
Fall 1989	Marquette University High School, Milwaukee

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Commodities Simulation

EconomicsWisconsin will no longer be offering the Wisconsin Commodities Market Simulation (CMS).

 

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EconomicsWisconsin
Wisconsin Council on Economic Education
7635 W. Bluemound Road, Suite 106
Milwaukee, WI 53203

(414) 221-9400
Fax (414) 221-9790
EconEd@EconomicsWisconsin.org