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SIFMA: The Stock Market Game

Details

Main Website:

http://www.smgww.org/index.html

Activity Website:

http://www.smgww.org/expteacher.html

Activity Description

Starting with a virtual cash account of $100,000, students strive to create the best-performing portfolio using a live trading simulation. They work together in teams, practicing leadership, organization, negotiation, and cooperation as they compete for the top spot. The setup is engaging, and learning is a natural part of the experience.

A Screenshot of the Teachers and Educators' homepage

In building a portfolio, students research and evaluate stocks, and make decisions based on what they have learned. Teams trade common stocks and mutual funds from the NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX exchanges; earn interest on cash balances; pay interest if buying on margin and pay a commission on all trades. To determine why certain stocks perform the way they do, or why the broader market has moved up or down, they need to understand how the economy works, and to calculate their returns they need to do the math.

By registering your class for The Stock Market Game (SMG), you will make learning seem like a "game" to your students. SMG is a comprehensive, engaging, real-world program that advances student academic achievement in the core disciplines while providing an understanding of investment concepts among learners in grades 4-12. Working in teams, your students will develop valuable processing skills, such as time management, decision-making, consensus building, and cooperation.

Since its inception over 25 years ago, the SMG program has served over nine million students nationwide.

Preparation

Check that the site is not blocked by your school on student computers.
Register as a teacher on the teacher/educator page.
Teachers in California can participate in The Stock Market Game program at no cost. When asked for your Payment Type on the online registration form, select Other. You can skip the Billing Information section of the registration completely.
Select a game date for your region.

How-To

Review the Teacher's Guide [pdf] for all the information about using the Stock Market Game in class. The guide is divided into:

Introduction and Teacher Support Center
Getting Started
Team Portfolios
Conducting Research
Assessments
Competitions
Conclusion
Appendix, which includes team roles, building consensus, the rules of the game, a research sheet, info on how to ready a stock quote, and necessary vocabulary

Teacher Tips

It will take time to get started, but once you learn how to use it, SMG will become an incredible resource covering math, social studies, technology, reading, vocabulary, writing, business, and life skills.
It may seem overwhelming initially. It would be a good idea to work with other teachers to create different teams in your school.
Visit the Teacher Support Center for more resources.

More Ways

Are you a math teacher? If so, students will see real-world applications as they learn to use ratios, decimals, estimating skills, fractions, money, basic computation, percentages, graphs, and charts.
Are you a social studies or economics teacher? SMG will reinforce your introduction of financial markets and institutions, supply and demand, profit and loss, opportunity cost, history, current events, and more!
Business and life-skills teachers use SMG to teach students about business organizations, capital formation, marketing, finance, budgeting, personal finance, consumerism, and the securities industry.
Co-teach with a language arts teacher and reinforce, vocabulary and writing skills (persuasive, reflective, analysis, journaling) or with a technology teacher as students learn to use the Internet for research, data entry, and keyboarding skills.

Program Areas

ASE: High School Diploma

Lesson Plan

Warm-up

Interactive Brainstorming:

Begin with an engaging class discussion about money and investment.
Ask students: “What do you know about the stock market?” and “How do you think people make money with stocks?”
- Write responses on the board to activate prior knowledge.
Poll or Quick Vote: Use a quick classroom poll to ask students how comfortable they feel about investing or if they would invest in stocks. This helps assess their current understanding and involvement with financial concepts.

Introduction

Stock Market Basics Introduction:

Introduce the concept of the stock market using simple terms, incorporating visuals or short video clips to explain how it works. Explain terms like "stock," "market," "mutual funds," and "dividends."
Introduce The Stock Market Game (SMG) and explain that students will work in teams to trade stocks and track their portfolios.
Emphasize that through SMG, students will learn to make real-world financial decisions and practice skills like math, research, and collaboration.

Interactive Component:

Stock Market Concept Map: Have students, in pairs, create a concept map of terms associated with the stock market, using what they just learned.

Presentation

Research and Stock Evaluation:

Model for the class how to research stocks and mutual funds. Show them how to gather information from various sources (NYSE, Nasdaq, etc.).
Demonstrate how to evaluate a stock’s performance using online financial tools or stock charts.

Interactive Group Work:

Divide students into small groups, each researching different sectors of the market (e.g., technology, healthcare, consumer goods). Each group will choose two stocks from their assigned sector to track and invest in for the SMG.

Collaborative Element:

Groups must present their stock choices to the class, explaining why they chose these stocks, using simple financial data (e.g., company growth, market trends, etc.).

Practice

Simulated Trading Practice:

Using the SMG platform, have students in teams simulate their first stock purchases. Ensure they understand how to make a trade, including paying attention to interest, margins, and commissions.
Have students track their initial investments and discuss how they will monitor their portfolio.

Interactive Poll:

After the first practice round, conduct a quick in-class poll to assess how students feel about their investment choices. Ask them to consider the risks and rewards.

Evaluation

Team Reflections & Math Application:

Teams will calculate the returns or losses on their stock trades.
Conduct a reflection session where teams evaluate their portfolio performance based on stock trends and economic factors.
Quick Quiz or Formative Assessment: To ensure students understand the math behind their investments, administer a short quiz on calculating percentages, returns, and interpreting stock charts.

Application

Long-term Portfolio Management:

Over the course of several weeks, students will continue to manage their SMG portfolios. Each week, they will track the performance of their stocks and decide whether to buy, sell, or hold their investments.
Students will write periodic reflections on why certain stocks perform well or poorly, analyzing real-world economic events.