Grade 8 Foundations students from Crescent Heights High School ham it up for the camera during an online stock market simulation. From left, Aiden Barle, Elly Meldrom pretend to make a profitable investment while Masao Mori and Laila Walton lose it all in a bad trade.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Some students have felt the slump of the stock market while others have seen their investments spike into profit as they participate in a virtual market simulation with a starting portfolio of $100,000.
Over the past 10 weeks Grade 8 students participating in Crescent Heights High School’s Foundations program have been watching the market carefully as they make real-time investments from live data from North American stock markets, as a risk-free opportunity to learn about investing by allowing them to manage a simulated market portfolio.
For 20 minutes each class students split up into groups to research markets that include the Nasdaq and TSX exchanges, and make day trades and investments in companies they believe will make high returns.
There are no restrictions on how long students can spend investing during their free-time. This is the first time the high school has collaborated with Junior Achievement Southern Alberta to offer students its Investment Strategies program to teach youth how to save and invest in the future.
As students report, making money in the real-life stock market requires more than gut feelings when investing.
“Our teachers (suggested) to look up background information, maybe you don’t want to invest in it,” says Adah Klem, Grade 8. “But at this point my friends and I were like, ‘Let’s just invest in some stocks and hope it goes our way.'”
However, despite losing virtual money Klem says she’s enjoyed participating in the hands-on learning experience and has learned about long term investments along the way.
“I actually really liked it,” Klem says, adding that some of her family members actively day trade and she’s found the simulation fun and engaging.
Grade 8 student Aiden Barle told the News he lost “quite a bit of money” investing in trending products and companies that offer high risks with high rewards.
“I’ve kind of gone all or nothing, it was going good at the start,” he says. “I’ve learned that the trending ticker things, they’ll win you a lot of money or they’ll lose you a lot of money.”
Barle says in the future he may consider investing in the stock market with real money and says he will take the knowledge he acquired from the program to make better investments in the future.
“I think it’s cool, I think it’s important and I think it’s important to learn,” he says.
Instructors say the simulation dives deeper than simply purchasing and selling stocks, and teaches students about online banking, credit, loans, interest and saving money.
Renate Kurpjuweit, Foundations Grade 8 teacher, says the simulation adds an engaging element to the financial literacy program.
“This is the first year we’ve done the stock market and they’ve definitely been engaged with it, taking the time, going out on their own time,” says Kurpjuweit. “There is definitely an increase in engagement, especially when there’s no strings attached.”
However, Kurpjuweit points out some students share their disappointment after making a bad investment that lost them some fake money.
The simulation wraps up this week and the top three groups of student investors will be awarded a small prize from the school. Local students will also stack up their financial portfolios against other students in the province taking part in Junior Achievements ISP.
