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The Stock Market Game | Illinois Bankers Association

 

The Stock Market Game is back for the 2020-2021 school year!

Illinois Bankers Education Services, a subsidiary of the Illinois Bankers Association, is excited to be the new licensee of The Stock Market GameTM in the state of Illinois. You can expect the same friendly service from the same people you’ve come to know over the years as we move forward with this important program that connects students to the global economy with virtual investing and real-world learning. Thank you to Econ Illinois as the past licensee and to Northern Illinois University, which is continuing as the program administrator. For more information, connect with Debbie Kerman.

Stock Market Game Website for Teachers

What is The Stock Market Game?

The Stock Market Game explores the fundamentals of personal finance and investing, while practicing content and skills in math, English language arts, economics, social studies, and other subjects. Students build and manage an investment portfolio in a real-world, dynamic marketplace, analyze and make decisions, explore the consequences of their choices, and seek new ways to strategize for success.

  • A media-blended project-based learning simulation in which student teams work collaboratively to invest a $100,000 virtual cash account in stocks, mutual funds and bonds.
  • A competition between grade 4-12 student teams by region and grade level.
  • A robust teacher resource center with lessons, activities and assessments, searchable by subject and grade level and aligned to Illinois and national Common Core Standards.

How it works

With The Stock Market Game™ program, students learn core competencies, critical thinking skills and teamwork while engaging your students in real world applications. In building a portfolio, students research, evaluate and make decisions based upon their research. Teams trade equities; earn interest on cash balances; and pay commission on all trades. To better understand stock and overall market performance, they need to know how the economy works, and to calculate their returns they need to do math. Learning is a natural part of the experience.

How Illinois Bankers can help

Illinois banks are encouraged to bring The Stock Market GameTM to their local school districts and partner with them to sponsor the program at no cost to the school.

  • Contact your local school to see if they participate and, if they do not, connect them with the SMG  site to register.
  • Offer to sponsor teams from your local school (just $10 per team).
  • Volunteer to help be a mentor or facilitator.
  • Volunteer/Register to be a judge for the InvestWrite competition, a highly-successful extension of the SMG program designed to help students sharpen critical thinking skills as they compose essays on investment-related topics. 
  • Share your knowledge and expertise with participating classrooms through SIFMA's Invest It Forward program.

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