Greater Ohio
Stock Market Game

We are excited to announce that this fall (2007) the Council and our network of Centers will be switching from the Ohio Stock Market Simulation to The Stock Market Game™. Regarded as the leader in educational resources for teaching students about the world of investing, the Stock Market Game (“SMG”) is designed to support team-based, cooperative learning. Sensitive to the rapid pace of change and extensive use of technology within the investment industry, the SMG program partners Web-based technology with a curriculum design that will enable you to customize interdisciplinary lessons to meet all your students' needs. You can also access industry-based material to keep lessons current, assist students in conducting their own research, and provide for the needs of your students at various levels of expertise and experience.

SMG offers a combination of some of the portfolio management features you have used in the past plus some new help options for teachers not available before. You can also look forward to new educational materials that will help you get the most out of the program.

In making the decision to change stock markets programs, we solicited feedback from teachers and evaluated the features of both websites. Based on this, we determined that The Stock Market Game™ program would provide a better educational experience for both students and teachers.

More detailed information to introduce you to the program follows below.

Once you access the website, follow these instructions to navigate to the program information for Ohio.

• Click on the red “Registration” tab in the top right corner of the home page.
• Choose the Ohio site by selecting “ United States” and then “ Ohio.”
• Under the Find Your Coordinator “Select a Program” link, click on “Greater Ohio SMG.”
• Review our program information by clicking on the tabs across the top of the webpage.
• After you have reviewed the program information and are ready to sign up, click on the tab at the top right called “Register Now.”
• Log-in information will be e-mailed directly to you.
• Once you have your Teacher “User Name” and “Password,” visit the SMG home page to gain access to the “ Teacher Support Center.” Be sure to visit the green section, “Understanding the SMG,” especially the “ Rules of the Game” link. The Teacher Support Center is filled with great information on how to manage the program in your classroom and maximize its effectiveness as a teaching tool.
• Please make Checks and Purchase Orders payable to the Stock Market Game, using the address found at the SMG website.

After you register for the program and become familiar with the website, you’ll note some similarities and differences between SMS and SMG:

Similarities

• Students start with a virtual $100,000 cash account.
• Working in teams, students research and evaluate companies and decide how they want to invest their cash together, based on what they have learned.
• Students follow the news and learn how current events can shape the economy. Plus they apply skills learned in math to calculate how changes in their stock prices affect their portfolio’s values.

Differences

• Improved portfolio management screens for students.
• Expanded Teacher Support Center.
• Slight differences (at least for now!) in trading rules and options.

The Teacher Support Center provides intuitive navigation and a searchable database of lessons. You will be able to search by grade level, subject and skill level. Additional tools include a section of materials to help understand the Stock Market Game and a section for managing student portfolios (organized by class).

The “In the Classroom” section of the Teacher Support Center is where you access classroom lessons and teaching materials. Lessons and teaching materials are organized into four SMG units:

• Before You Invest: The introduction of necessary background material for your students' first trades.
• Selecting Your Investments: Additional background information your students will need as they begin entering trades in their portfolios).
• Tracking Your Investments: Information on evaluating stocks and making buy and sell decisions.
• At the End of the Trading Session: The application of the critical thinking skills learned through SMG.

Each SMG unit contains lessons and materials organized into mastery levels. Mastery levels are distinct levels of investment knowledge. These levels are:

• Novice: First exposure to or limited knowledge of investing and The Stock Market Game.
• Apprentice: Basic knowledge of investing and The Stock Market Game.
• Master: Proficient knowledge of investing and The Stock Market Game.
• Grand Master: Proficient knowledge of investing and The Stock Market Game and the ability to apply, synthesize, and evaluate that knowledge in new situations.

Each grade has Novice through Grand Master level lessons and activities. Lessons are organized by the following grade ranges:

• Elementary: Grades 4-5
• Middle School: Grades 6-8
• High School: Grades 9-12
• Post Secondary: Grades 12 and up

InvestWrite is an innovative national writing competition, produced by The Stock Market Game program, that adds another critical thinking component to help reinforce the concepts learned in the class room. InvestWrite provides students in The Stock Market Game program with a way to demonstrate what they are learning in the classroom by asking them to respond in a thoughtful way to a specified “real life” investing situation.