www economicsnetwork ac uk Improving Student Motivation and

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Improving Student Motivation and Learning through Classroom Experiments and Games John Sloman

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Tell me and I will forget Show me and I will remember Involve me and I will understand Step back and I will act (Chinese proverb)

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Games, experiments and role playing in PBL • Strengths – motivation, involvement, empathy, fun! – encourages active and deep learning – illustration and contextualisation • Potential weaknesses – over-simplification – not taken seriously

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Games, experiments and role playing in PBL • Overcoming the drawbacks – clear guidelines – feedback and reflection – drawing on concepts in later classes – linked to seminar activities

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 1: A trading game • Students divided into buyers and sellers • Students given cards – Black for sellers of the item • Number on card gives cost of item in £s • Want to sell above value of card – Red for buyers of the item • Number on card gives value of item in £s • Want to buy below value of card • Trading takes place – Individual buyers and sellers agree prices – Mark their gain on their sheet – No deal gives no gain or loss

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 1: Reflections • (Link to paper) (Link to handout) • Students get considerable insight into the working of pit markets • Equilibrium prices rapidly emerge – Can vary the cards to see the effects on equilibrium • Easy to demonstrate producer and consumer surplus • Can discuss information issues • Can introduce a tax of £x on suppliers

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 2: Expected value game • TV show: Deal or No Deal? – Channel 4, six days per week (45 mins) • US version playable online (link) – 26 people each with a suitcase of money, the amount not known to them • Sums of money vary from 1¢ to $1, 000 – One contestant us selected to play • … who eliminates suitcases in batches, whose contents are then revealed • After each batch, the contestant is offered a ‘Deal’ by the ‘Banker’, based on the values yet to be eliminated • The contestant chooses ‘Deal’ or ‘No Deal’

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 2: Reflections • Virtually all students will be familiar with the game • Easy to set up: – It can be played online – Or with envelopes and the sums of money on the whiteboard • Illustrates decision-making under risk – Expected value; risk premia; probability; risk attitudes and what affects them

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 3: Production function game • Activity – Production runs (2) in a factory, involving moving balls from one place to another – Extra workers are added one at a time • Equipment: – About 30 balls (e. g. tennis balls) – 4 buckets (or baskets or cardboard boxes) • Students divided into two teams – Object to get as many balls from one end to the other in 30 seconds

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 3: Reflections • (Link to paper) (Link to handout) • Easy to set up and fun to play – Can bring alive a potentially dry subject area – Flexible: can be played with 1, 2 or more teams • Can demonstrate – – Diminishing returns TP, AP and MP Can derive TC, AC, MC, TR, AR, MR and Profit Shifts and movements along product and cost curves from technological change – Effects of changing fixed and variable costs

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 4: Public goods game • Aim – Aim is to make as much money as possible, irrespective of what others make • Activity – Each person (or pair) is given four cards of the same value (e. g. four threes or four queens) – Each person plays two cards each round • Scoring – Black cards have no value – Red cards are worth £ 1 for everyone if played and £ 4 just to the individual if not played.

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 4: Reflections • (Link to paper) (Link to handout) • Very easy to set up and fun to play – Can easily be played in a seminar – Flexible: can be played with up to 13 individuals or pairs • Can demonstrate – Public goods and external benefits – Prisoners’ dilemma and Nash equilibrium – Collusion versus competition – Motivation and altruism

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 5: Auctioning a pound coin • Activity – This is a simple auction of a pound coin – The only difference is that both the winner and the next highest bidder have to pay • At the end – The money earned can be returned to students (but don’t tell them this at the start). – A discussion can then take place about the issues raised

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 5: Reflections • (Link to paper) (Link to handout) • Simple and flexible – Simple equipment: a pile of pound coins and a sheet for recording results – Can be played in a seminar group • Can demonstrate – Sunk costs and marginal costs – Risk attitudes – Collusive bidding – Concepts of equity

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 6: A ‘Keynesian Beauty Contest’ • A game about investor expectations – predicting share prices based on what you think other people will do • Simple to play – No equipment required other than: • a calculator for the tutor • a whiteboard/flipchart for recording results • The game (each round) – Students have to select a number from 0 to 100 – A prize is given in each round to the student who selects a number closest to 2/3 of the mean

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 6: Reflections • Link 1 Link 2 • At the end – Students can be asked to explain their decisions • Can demonstrate: – Expectations formation – Iterative thinking / progression – Movement to Nash equilibrium

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 7: Tradable Permits Game • Six teams – Each represents a polluting firm – Each team is given a worksheet and a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve • Each team is given an emissions allocation – The same for all firms (1480 units) • Round 1 – Establishes cost of abatement with no trading • Round 2 – Teams can now trade allocations – Price is adjusted by tutor until demand equals supply – Establishes the cost with trading at market clearing price

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk Game 7: Reflections • (Link to handouts and worksheets) • Uses MC = MR analysis in a different context • Demonstrates how emissions trading can achieve any given pollution reduction at minimum cost • Flexible: no. of permits can be varied to demonstrate – Effect on equilibrium price – Abatement costs • Seminar can analyses worksheets of all teams after the game

www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk References • Classroom Expernomics – http: //www. marietta. edu/%7 Edelemeeg/games • Charlie Holt’s Games papers – http: //www. people. virginia. edu/~cah 2 k/papers. html • Charlie Holt’s Veconlab – http: //veconlab. econ. virginia. edu/admin. htm • Charles A. Holt, Markets, Games and Strategic Behaviour, Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2006 • Bringing Economic Experiments into the Classroom (FDTL 5 project: Univ. of Exeter) – http: //www. economicsnetwork. ac. uk/projects/fdtl 5/experimen ts. htm