History 12
My History 12 class is currently studying a unit on the USA in the 1920s and 30s. The class participated in a simulation of the 1929 stock market crash. "The Bank of Olson" lent them each $50,000 as they got a chance to buy on the margin in this game. I also invested each of them equally into 5 commodities that we traded throughout the block. At the end of the trading, I called in my loan plus 10% interest for a total of $55,000. There were nine rounds of trading simulating the nine years of the decade that led up to the crash. The class listened to rumours and news from each year to determine if prices would rise or fall and then had two minutes to make trades on their trade sheet with their classmates.
The winner pre-crash was Jessica “The Oil Tycoon” E. who was up $251,000 after repaying her loan. The best survivor of the Black Tuesday crash was Kieran “The Wheat Baron” S. who was the only one who was able to repay his loan and still managed to have $6,050 left. The photos are of frantic action as the class got to experience what it would be like on the floor at the exchange!
– Andy Olson