July 19, 2021 — Rusk sixth-graders' prowess in investing earned them first- and second-place finishes playing the Stock Market Game in the El Paso Region's Middle School division. In the process they learned about local companies and that in trading "anything can happen."
"It was a fun day when one group had invested in GameStop only to learn what happened in the trading day!" said Avery Pullin, an ELAR and Social Studies teacher who brought the game to her Rusk sixth-graders for the first time.
The Stock Market Game teaches students about investing. Students get $100,000 in imaginary funds to invest in simulated trading.
Over the 10-week course, one student saw GameStop in the news and purchased shares at about $120 amid the late January buying frenzy that sent to price to nearly $350. "Unfortunately, they couldn't sell at the peak because, like everyone else who was trading real GameStop stock, their shares were frozen," Pullin said. "They learned that investing comes with risk, and they still had fun watching their shares and reading about GameStop in the news."
Pullin learned about the Stock Market Game when she was a student teacher in Greenbrier, Arkansas, and decided to implement it here because of the life skills it teaches students. "It is a beautiful culmination of learning our ELAR/Social Studies standards but putting them into a real-life scenario that could really affect their lives on multiple levels."
"In ELAR we paired learning about Texas-based publicly traded companies with persuasive writing techniques," Pullin said. "We're looking at local companies like Diamondback, really analyzing their growth and what analysts are saying about them, creating marketing packages to persuade clients to buy their product and buying shares of their stock — all in sixth grade." As students learn more about companies, they recognize them outside of class, such as on signage at RockHounds games. "Maybe one day they'll work at the local companies they researched!"
Pullin summarized her Rusk students' first-ever try at the Stock Market Game in one word: Exhilarating. "We're in sixth grade. We don't have football state championships or a national debate team or one act plays to compete in yet. So to be in sixth grade and win something in such a large region where you got to compete against not just your classmates, but other kids all over West Texas, that's fun!"
The SIFMA Foundation's Stock Market Game gives students firsthand lessons about the value of long-term investing to boost student's math, economics and personal finance knowledge, as well as to teach them essential skills to be financially independent. More information is available at
stockmarketgame.org.
