Somebody has to be the first school to try something. These two were, and they let us bring a laptop into a real period with real children. Their coordinators are happy to be rung up before you decide anything.
Both ran a single period with middle-school sections, with me in the room.
Middle-school sections in the computer lab. Students bought stock, set their own prices against a rival stall and read their ledgers back at the end. The arguing about prices started about four minutes in.
One period with Grades 6–8. The debrief — where the day's profit is taken apart line by line and each number is named — did most of the teaching.
Both schools are listed here with their permission. If you would like to speak to either coordinator before booking a period, ask and we will put you in touch.
Children are given a small amount of money, a market with real prices, and weather that changes what people want to drink. They buy stock, mix a recipe in a ratio, set a price against a rival stall, and then watch the day play out.
Nothing on the screen looks like an exam. There is no question paper and no multiple choice. But by the end of a period a child has worked out what one lemon costs, held a margin while prices moved, discovered why a discount that fills the stall can still lose money, and read a chart of their own trading back to decide what to do tomorrow.
The part teachers tend to comment on is the debrief. Every evening in the game, the day's profit is taken apart line by line — what came in, what the drinks cost, what the stall cost — and each line is named. That is a profit and loss statement, built from numbers the child themselves produced.
One section, one period, a week that suits your timetable. I will be in the room, and if the children are flat you never hear from me again.
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