On the 16th February 2011 all of Year 8 took part in ‘The Trading Game’. Students were placed into groups and given one of three set of resources. The objective for each group was to make as much money as possible by using the materials given to them. No other materials could be used. Money could be made by manufacturing and then selling goods. The goods they were to manufacture were shapes. Each shape had its own value and they had to be given to the banker – Miss Mantle - in batches of five. The quality control was strict and if standards were met the groups would be paid for their shapes.
The students are told no more than this and then shown the value of different shapes. At the beginning, some groups realised that they had far less resources than others. They were a little confused and thought that the teachers had made a mistake! We were bombarded with questions: ‘Why haven’t we got scissors? Can we borrow scissors? What’s the gummed paper for?’ Resisting the temptation to answer these questions we simply repeated the objectives that they needed to make as many shapes as possible.
After a minute or two of some confusion the students started to move around the hall and began trading with each other. The initiative came from them and not us.
It soon became clear to the Year 8’s that the whole set up was unbalanced and that rather than being ‘just a game’ was an acted simulation reflecting the world’s trading system. In our feedback students were able to relate their experiences to the injustices in the way our world trade works between those with the raw materials and those with the economic muscle to buy, process and market them.
The Year 8’s should all be congratulated on the way they embraced this activity. They demonstrated a whole range of valuable skills and qualities including resilience, team working skills, enterprise and motivation. When many could have very easily given up thinking the task was impossible, they chose to rise to the challenge. In fact during our afternoon session the group which made the most money in fact started with the least amount of materials.